Oyinkan Braithwaite born March 1 1988 is a graduate of Creative Writing and Law from Kingston University. Following her degree, she worked as an assistant editor at Kachifo, a Nigerian publishing house, and as a production manager at Ajapaworld, a children’s educational and entertainment company. She now works as a freelance writer and editor.

In 2014, she was shortlisted as a top-ten spoken-word artist in the Eko Poetry Slam, and in 2016 she was a finalist for the Commonwealth Short Story Prize. She lives in Lagos, Nigeria.

Awards and nominations

2014: Shortlisted as a top ten spoken word artist in the Eko Poetry Slam

2016: Nominated for the Commonwealth Short Story prize

2019: Winner for LA Times Award for Best Crime Thriller in 2019

2019: Shortlisted for the Women's Prize for Fiction in 2019

2019: Longlisted for the Booker Prize in 2019

2019: Shortlisted for the 2019 Amazon Publishing Readers’ Awards

2020: Winner, 2020 Crime and Thriller Book of the Year in the British Book Awards

2020: Shortlisted for the 2020 Theakston's Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year Award