Bolu Babalola

Bolu Babalola (born 24 February 1991) is a British author, screenwriter, and journalist. Her debut anthology Love in Colour was published in 2020 and became a Sunday Times Bestseller. She appeared on the 2021 Forbes 30 under 30 list for Media and Marketing in Europe.

Early life Babalola was born in Guy's Hospital in Southwark to Nigerian Yoruba parents and grew up in East London. She went on to graduate with a Bachelor of Laws from the University of Reading in 2012 and later a Master of Arts in American Politics and History from University College London in 2018.

Career Babalola began her career working as an assistant writer and producer for BBC Comedy, contributing to The Javone Prince Show and Tracey Ullman's Show. She pitched the Cecile Emeke web series Ackee & Saltfish, assistant producing the pilot episode. As of August 2020, she was working on a television programme with Tiger Aspect.

She has written for publications such as Vice, Vulture, GQ, Cosmopolitan, and Stylist.

A television and film columnist for Dazed, Babalola is a self-professed "Romcomoisseur". She named Insecure by Issa Rae and Larry Wilmore, Brown Sugar, When Harry Met Sally, My Best Friend's Wedding, Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist, Lovesick, and New Girl as her favourite romcoms. She praised Michaela Coel's I May Destroy You. She called the characters Ashley Banks from The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air and the titular character of the series Moesha, played by Brandy Norwood, important examples of "just dark skin black girls living".

On September 10, 2021, the television show she wrote, executive produced and created, Big Age, premiered on Channel 4.

In 2018, Babalola sent a tweet with a photoshopped image of her and Michael B. Jordan, asking Twitter to help find her "holiday romance" as a joke. and was featured on Entertainment Tonight and The Steve Harvey Show. Jordan and Babalola later met when he was promoting a film in London. Babalola explained: "At the Q&A at the end, I stood up and said: "Hi, it's me, the love of your life." It was mortifying, but he was so lovely."

A Twitter humourist, she has said that Twitter is an important space for building community, especially among Black women. Babalola changed many of the stories to make the female characters more empowered, and to demonstrate consent and love without suffering. She has said that its important to her to write about and for Black women, Fellow writers Candice Carty-Williams, David Nicholls, and Meg Cabot have praised Love in Colour, with Babalola saying "That's when it felt real... Meg Cabot who I adored growing up, who I still adore, loves the book… That's the moment when it sunk in." The anthology has been translated into Dutch, German and Portuguese (Brazil).

Honey & Spice In August 2020, Babalola began teasing her next novel, "a collegiate rom-com set in an Afro-Caribbean Society in a UK university, where enemies become friends and eventually lovers". William Morrow and Company acquired the North America rights. Honey & Spice was published in summer 2022.

The sequel to Honey & Spice, Sweet Heat, was published in fall 2025. A film adaptation is in development at Working Title Films.