The Many Worlds Of Tomilola Coco Adeyemo

Some writers discover storytelling. For Tomilola Coco Adeyemo, it seems storytelling has always known where to find her.

Born in Okemesi-Ekiti and raised in Ibadan, Adeyemo was writing stories before she was ten, filling exercise books her teacher-mother brought home and passing them around to eager school friends. Those girls, she would later recall, became her first readers.

She went on to study Dramatic Arts at Obafemi Awolowo University, majoring in playwriting, before earning a diploma in screenwriting. Nollywood soon beckoned. Her credits would eventually include Hush, Shuga Naija, Man Pikin and Lady Buckitt & the Motley Mopsters, Nigeria’s first feature-length animated film.

But books were never far away.

Her debut novel, A Very Gidi Christmas, arrived in 2024, followed by A Nollywood Christmas in 2025. Adeyemo has become particularly interested in writing romance through the female gaze—giving women room to desire, question, make imperfect choices and still remain fully human.

Now comes perhaps her most intriguing work yet.

Released on August 11, Efun’s Jazz takes readers into a world of marriage, longing, Yoruba spirituality, music and destiny. Set partly around Osogbo and its spiritual landscape, the novel follows Nicole Oyetunji as she confronts an unhappy marriage, her longing for motherhood and an unexpected connection that forces her to reconsider the life she has accepted.

It is a fitting evolution for a writer who loves old music, romance, Nigerian culture—and, delightfully, coffee and amala with ewedu.

Tomilola Coco Adeyemo isn’t simply writing love stories. She is asking a more interesting question:  what happens when an African woman finally chooses the life—and love—she truly wants?