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How 24-year-old Tomi Adeyemi landed a 7-figure movie deal for her book

author April 5, 2018
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Tomi Adeyemi’s fantasy novel Children of Blood and Bone has gained notoriety after being published earlier last month.

Now, Tomi’s book is a New York Times best seller and just landed her a 7-figure movie deal.

Adeyemi’s book been compared to the Black Panther and Game of Thrones at the same time.

The novel follows Zélie, a fisherman’s daughter who lost her mother in the city of Orïsha, where the king has outlawed magic and those who practice it. The reader follows Zélie as she works on her ability to bring magic back into her world.

Tomi, a Harvard graduate, spent some time in Brazil on a teaching fellowship after college, where she found herself inspired by the musings of African Culture.

She tells The Guardian,

“I was in a gift shop there and the African gods and goddesses were depicted in such a beautiful and sacred way… it really made me think about all the beautiful images we never see featuring black people.”

Expanding on the current reality of our oppressive forces, Adeyemi was able to mirror our harsh reality of Black culture and people.

“For the past 10 months I’ve spent a lot of time thinking, is this for real? I had a lot of different reasons for writing the book but at its core was the desire to write for black teenage girls growing up reading books they were absent from. That was my experience as a child. Children of Blood and Bone is a chance to address that. To say you are seen.”

She mentions that in the novel, there’s plenty of scenes which depict actual events that we’ve witnessed over the past couple of years, from brutal murders and violent issues which have been brought to light through the Black Lives Matter movement.

“Every moment of violence in the book is based on real footage. It’s not my intention to be gratuitous but I want people to be aware that these things are happening and that the actual videos are much worse.”

As for the movie, Tomi holds close to her heart her requirement for a Black director.

“It’s a deeply, deeply personal thing – there are parts of the book that black people get instantly because they’ve lived it.”

She hopes that we’ll continue to see a rise of Black girl novels more often now that she’s broken the glass ceiling with her book.

“In my perfect world, we’d have one black girl fantasy book every month. We need them, and we need fantasy stories about black boys as well.”

https://twitter.com/NACHOAVERAGEMA/status/978787915139571713

Those who have read it are already anxiously awaiting the sequel. Her family has been so proud of her accomplishments that her father even read her book 16 times.

If you haven’t gotten a copy yet, be sure to grab/order Children of Blood and Bone today.

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