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Melan Mag Interviews: Authors of Slay in Your Lane, Yomi Adegoke and Elizabeth Uviebinené". Melan Magazine. 23 February 2018 . Retrieved 10 November 2018. I would say I wrote it for the people who are looking for the grey areas within a very complicated and sensitive conversation. I guess when I’m writing, I am really honestly trying to change minds or speak to people I wouldn’t normally.” It is a world Adegoke knows well, having begun her career in journalism, sometimes covering the sorts of stories at the centre of The List, profiling people who are no strangers to the court of public opinion. Much of the inspiration has come from her own conversations around social media and sexual abuse in recent years, around the power of the internet and the divisions that have become entrenched, online and off, when it comes to racial, sexual and cultural politics.
The List by Yomi Adegoke review – a gripping social media
Ola Olajide, a high-profile journalist, is marrying the love of her life in one month's time. Young, beautiful, successful – she and her fiancé Michael seem to have it all. I’d like to do a Normal People-esque Paul Mescal and Daisy Edgar-Jones type thing – I want to find people who’re incredible and not that famous. Sheila’s too famous and Arinzé has an MBE [laughs]. I haven’t asked yet, but I’d love to involve them in some way because they’re phenomenal, but I really want to launch two new actors, too, and then maybe get someone more established to play Frankie or their parents or something. And finally, I know you’re also working on your next novel now. What can you tell us about it? LoveReading exists because books change lives, and buying books through LoveReading means you get to change the lives of future generations, with 25% of the cover price donated to schools in need. Join our community to get personalised book suggestions, extracts straight to your inbox, 10% off RRPs, and to change children’s lives. Yes and no. It would be intellectually dishonest to say one or the other. It’s more diverse than it was when I made that statement, so it has changed in that regard. We are seeing a push towards more books written by, say, minoritised authors. But does that mean those authors are necessarily given the freedom to write about anything, or is there a push for writers of a particular identity to write to that identity?”
It began as a list of anonymous allegations about abusive men. Now it has been published online. Ola made her name breaking exactly this type of story. She would usually be the first to cover it, calling for the men to be fired. Except today, Michael’s name is on there. What follows is an erosion of relationships, trust and reputation. Ola, known for breaking similar stories of abusers in power, heartbreakingly battles between her moral compass and her love for Michael. Michael, who strongly denies the allegations, struggles to cope as his world falls apart around him. I’d always wanted to write about whisper networks and anonymous online lists that made allegations of abuse, basically since 2017. That was when I first saw one—there were several different lists at that time that came out concurrently and affected different industries, from journalism to music. As a feminist, I was like, this is amazing and important and people are speaking truth to power. It means women can get their stories out there and protect other women, in a way that HR and the legal system often hasn’t when it comes to abuse in the workplace. Then, on the other hand, being a journalist—I used to work at Channel 4 News, so there are regulations and you’re very cautious of liability and you need the facts before you can report on something. So, I always felt really conflicted and uneasy about those lists. I thought I’d write a long read on it at first, but the issue felt a bit fraught. About a year later, I thought I’d write a play, but that didn’t really work. Then, I thought maybe if the story around it was fictionalized, it would create more fruitful conversations. There’s so much that went into this novel that might not have gone into a non-fiction piece. It’s truly no surprise that it’s being adapted for TV with Adegoke as Executive Producer. I, for one, am looking forward to seeing how the TV adaptation develops the characters of Fola, Ruth, Celie and Kwabs. Sitting across from me at a small round table, glass in one hand and phone in the other, she is a force of personality – charming, chatty, a whirlwind of laughter and hustle – so I don’t mind when it becomes clear that we’re only going to get through about five of my questions in the time she has. Or when she’s straining so hard not to answer directly that she runs us both around a loop of half-thoughts and non sequiturs until I agree that, yes, yes I do know what she means.
The List by Yomi Adegoke audiobook review – a very public
When you read the book you realize what an addictively bingeable TV show it would make. I know you’re creating and executive producing the series. What’s that been like so far? This is a book that takes our basest emotions and looks at how we deal with them when pushed to our limits. Though the conflict may not be our own, it is a story so engaging and so relatable that readers can’t help but become emotionally invested. Utterly compelling, immersive and addictive' Sara Collins, author of The Confessions of Frannie Langton There was a time when every industry had its own list [of alleged sexual abusers and predators] circulating, right? Music, film, media. I’ve seen names on lists where I’ve gone: ‘Gosh, I’ve heard about this before.’ And then there are others where your kneejerk is: ‘Oh. OH.’ I remember seeing one particular allegation and then later some information coming out that really complicated things.”Financial anxiety has fuelled a lot of my decisions,” she admits. “Because of stuff when I was growing up, I have always been really afraid of debt. I know you’re supposed to get credit cards and stuff like that, and there’s good debt, bad debt – but for me, I’ve always just seen it as bad. I’ve literally been saving since my first job when I was 15, very much with the aim of buying a house.” She’s grateful but won’t take it for granted; it’s partly why, I think, she’s prone to speaking like a brand strategist rather than a novelist. “The fiction book isn’t out yet but it’s allowed me to do things I just didn’t think were possible,” she says hurriedly. “Certainly not as a single woman in her 30s.” For all her wariness around her public image, things are going extraordinarily well for Adegoke. A year before she had finished writing her book, the TV rights were bought by the powerhouse combination of HBO Max, BBC and A24. You couldn’t dream up a more prestigious production force. The making of the show is now under way with Adegoke on board as creator and executive producer. Social media is like putting your hand in a fire. You learn from it. I’ve healed. What I love most about this book is its ability to provoke the topical cultural issues of today. By the end of the book, your thoughts have been challenged by cancel culture, toxic masculinity, the complicated morality of digital anonymity (its vitriolic application by trolls versus an advocacy, justice and support tools for survivors), parasocial relationships and the impact that a filtered social media life has on life offline. From ambiguous faux pas to unequivocally abysmal transgressions, we’ve all sat in the peanut gallery, casting aspersions on those who have let us and others down, or callously abused their power, or in some cases, those we couldn’t wait to see take a fall. Revelations throughout the book guide the reader through a moral and thought-provoking journey of their own. One inevitably to be discussed at book clubs across the country. “Would you marry him?” and “How far would you got to find out the truth?” are two questions that I’m in no doubt will cause much debate when we’re discussing this book in ours.
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