Tomiwa Owolade is helping to shift the national conversation around race, inequality, and identity, encouraging more nuanced ways of understanding society in Britain.

Tomiwa Owolade’s debut book This is not America, an exploration of black British identity and “radical reappraisal of how we talk about race in Britain”, won the Royal Society of Literature’s prestigious Giles St Aubyn Award. He began work on the book in 2020, just two years after completing a BA in English at Queen Mary University in 2018 and a UCL Masters in English: Issues in Modern Culture the following year.  

He is currently an assistant comment editor at The Telegraph and has written for The Times, The Observer, The Independent and The New Statesman as well as speaking on BBC Radio 4 and Times Radio.  

Tomiwa grew up in London after his family moved from Nigeria when he was 9 years old. His love of storytelling began with James Bond movies and, later, the Alex Rider spy novel series: “That was the moment I realised I enjoyed reading books and fiction”, he explains. His childhood dream of being a spy never quite materialised, but journalism felt like the next best thing, “combining my main interests in current affairs, reading, and writing - and being curious!”

At UCL, he honed these interests and credits his seminar discussions for improving his analytical and critical thinking skills.

UCL was founded on the values of pluralism and free exchange of ideas and viewpoints - being able to disagree with somebody without being disagreeable. Seeing this in action was hugely valuable. Open-mindedness is such an important quality for any writer.

Tomiwa Omolade - Faces of UCL
Tomiwa Owolade on the UCL Portico steps. (c) Jørn Tomter

He also cites the essayist and art critic Walter Pater as an inspiring influence on his writing.

This ability to see nuance, and consider what underpins seemingly obstinate tensions in the world, has been a feature of his journalism. He wrote extensively in the wake of the murder of George Floyd, and the “Black Lives Matter” movement, providing comment on real world reportage, and assessing controversial discourse online. 

Tomiwa may be in the early stages of his career, but he is already having an impact. At a time when public debate feels increasingly polarised, he hopes to restore some shades of grey:

It would be extremely arrogant of me to assume that everyone will agree with my point of view. Yeah, I hope to persuade some people to rethink how they look at race, class, inequalities, but if some people think that my arguments are nonsense, then that's fine if the dialogue is constructive.

I just want us to move away from narrow, generalised ways of trying to understand society.

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