New perspectives with Tomiwa Owolade

From a childhood love of reading to becoming a writer and publishing his debut book on race in Britain, Tomiwa Owolade shares how he pursued his passion – and the role UCL played in his journey.

25 October 2024

As a freelance journalist, writer and critic, Tomiwa Owolade (UCL English: Issues in Modern Culture MA 2019) writes about social, cultural and literary issues for numerous publications. In 2023, his debut non-fiction book, This is Not America Why We Need a British Conversation About Race, was published, described as a “radical reappraisal of how we talk about race in Britain.”

“Every day I wake up and feel immensely fortunate that I get to do something I profoundly enjoy,” Tomiwa says about his job.

Across all his writing, Tomiwa says he is fuelled by a desire to “embrace complexity and reject simplification and generalisation,” – a mindset that he feels was encouraged during his Master’s studies at UCL.

A love of reading

Tomiwa didn’t always dream of being a writer, however. His first childhood dream was to be a spy, inspired by his love of spy films, particularly James Bond.

As he grew up, he discovered the Alex Rider series, which turned his fascination with espionage into a love of reading. “That was the moment I realised I enjoyed reading books and fiction,” he explains.

This newfound passion sparked a new ambition: to become a writer. “I realised I wanted to be a writer because I enjoyed reading so much. I thought, if this is something I love, why not try to be part of that world?”.

Driven by his passion for literature, Tomiwa studied English Literature for his undergraduate degree at Queen Mary University of London and later came to UCL to study an MA in English: Issues in Modern Culture.

Thinking through writing

The MA appealed to Tomiwa’s love of modernist literature, discovered during his undergraduate studies, but it was the programme’s focus on diverse media, forms and genres that truly drew him in. The course allowed him to study literary works alongside film, visual arts, and television, analysing texts within a broader historical, social, political, philosophical and technological context.

“I think my MA significantly improved my analytical skills. Now, when I analyse something in my writing, I always consider its wider context rather than viewing it in isolation.”

Tomiwa also recalls studying writers like Walter Pater, who “dazzled” him and “really brought home the importance of good writing.”

He adds: “It’s not enough to have good ideas; you need to express them in a gripping and engaging way. Whenever I read – not just fiction, but essays, narrative history books or journalism – I value the quality of prose. It’s something I strive for in my own writing, however imperfect my attempts may be!”.

Tomiwa credits his seminar discussions, where disagreement was encouraged, for improving his critical thinking. “Being able to see people disagree helped me evaluate my own position.

“I learned the importance of seeing disagreements in action and also of not taking disagreement personally. To disagree without being disagreeable!”

This skill of “disagreeing agreeably” has shaped his career. “Open-mindedness is such an important skill and quality for any writer,” says Tomiwa.

Tomiwa has even played a part in UCL’s Disagreeing Well campaign as an alum, speaking on a panel as part of the inaugural Disagreeing Well in Higher Education event in 2023.

Becoming a journalist

At UCL, Tomiwa’s writing aspirations turned to non-fiction and journalism. Alongside his studies, he developed a passion for journalism by writing about current affairs, politics, culture and the arts on a blog shared on Twitter.

This ultimately launched his journalism career—a path he describes as “a bit unusual,” since he didn’t follow the traditional route of obtaining a journalism qualification. “Twitter (now X) has been invaluable for my career. I always tell aspiring journalists to use it as others use LinkedIn. It helped me connect with journalists, editors and media professionals. That was my way in, so to speak.”

Throughout his journalism career, Tomiwa has written for numerous publications, including The Times, The Sunday Times and The Observer, covering diverse topics such as identity politics, freedom of speech, religion, film, poetry, novels, philosophy and history.

When choosing a subject to write about, he aims to bring a new perspective. “I always ask myself, is there an original way to approach this topic? If someone else has already expressed the ideas, what’s the point of me doing so if they’ve already done a good job of it?”.

Tomiwa now sees a connection between his career as a writer and journalist and his childhood dream of becoming a spy. “Like being a spy, curiosity is the fundamental quality of any journalist. If you don’t want to find out about something, there’s no point in being a journalist. Maybe the fact that I became a journalist is because I first wanted to be a spy!”

This Is Not America

Following the summer of 2020 and the resurgence of the Black Lives Matter movement, Tomiwa began writing his debut book, This Is Not America. Although the events of 2020 catalysed the book, Tomiwa says, “These were ideas I had in my mind for a very long time – since I was a teenager, in fact.”

In the book, Tomiwa argues that the debate about race in Britain has often been viewed through the lens of American experiences and history. He proposes a reframing of current discourse to reflect the Black British experience in order to build a more lasting and effective anti-racist agenda.

“I want to move the conversation about race in Britain to a more nuanced place. When we talk about diversity, I argue we don't talk about it with enough diversity. I think that if we want to genuinely address many of the inequalities in our society, we need to be more specific in our focus rather than making generalisations based on race or ethnicity.”

In 2021, This is Not America won Tomiwa the top prize at the Royal Society of Literature Giles St Aubyn Awards – an annual prize recognising first-time writers of non-fiction.

Black history is British history

Speaking in October 2024, during Black History Month in the UK, Tomiwa reflects on what the month means for him. “I would like a situation where every month is Black History Month,” he says.

“I would like to see Black history become so integrated into the culture, education system and institutions of our country that there isn’t a need for a specific month. Black history, I would argue, is simply an extension of British history, so it shouldn’t be seen as an exotic addendum. It should be viewed as an integral part.”

Writing the future

Tomiwa is looking forward to writing another book in the future – though he’s not yet sure on the subject. “I don’t have an idea right now; I’m waiting for an idea to come to me!”

He also says that when he’s a bit older, he would like to have a go at writing fiction as well. Who knows - perhaps it will be a spy novel!