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Bim Adewunmi

Bim Adewunmi
BornLondon, England, United Kingdom
OccupationWriter, producer, journalist
LanguageEnglish
NationalityBritish Nigerian
Years active2014―present
Notable worksThirst Aid Kit

Bim Adewunmi is a British writer and journalist. She is a producer for This American Life and previously worked as a culture writer at BuzzFeed and The Guardian. She co-hosted the podcast Thirst Aid Kit with writer Nichole Perkins (2017-2020). Her debut play, Hoard, premiered at Arcola Theatre in May 2019.[1][2][3]

Career

In 2014, Adewunmi began writing an opinion and culture column in the Lifestyle section of The Guardian.[4] She became a culture editor for BuzzFeed in 2015.[5] She left The Guardian in October 2018[4] and joined the American public radio program This American Life as a producer in April 2019.[6]

Thirst Aid Kit

Main article: Thirst Aid Kit

In November 2017, Adewunmi co-developed and began co-hosting Thirst Aid Kit, a podcast about celebrity lust, with writer Nichole Perkins. BuzzFeed ended its relationship with the podcast in January 2019.[7] The podcast was picked up by Slate in August 2019, and it returned on September 26, 2019, until the hosts decided to formally end the podcast on September 17, 2020.[8]

Hoard

Adewunmi's debut play, Hoard, premiered at the Arcola Theatre in May 2019.[2] The play centers on a Nigerian-British family, the Bakares, who reside in East London. A comedy about the relationship between an eccentric mother, who is a hoarder, and her daughters, it received mixed critical reviews.[9][10]

Peter Mason, giving the play four stars out of five in the Morning Star newspaper, described it as "a very good debut", and wrote: "Essentially, Hoard explores whether a mother can ever live her own life beyond the orbit of her children and vice versa. Its conclusions are surprisingly heartwarming and it provides an uplifting insight into how we should all perhaps let go of our controlling instincts in favour of a philosophy of live and let live."[11]

However, Arifa Akbar, in a three-star review for The Guardian, declared that "...the hoarding theme ends up feeling confected and simply not dramatic enough to warrant the emotional ruptures it creates".[12]

Writing for Time Out London, Rosemary Waugh also rated the play three out of five stars, and stated: "Adewunmi describes her play as ‘a love letter to east London’, and it shows. It's also a love letter to the characters who are all so warm and lovingly sketched it would be hard to genuinely begrudge spending time in their company."[10]

Personal life

Adewunmi was born and raised in Stratford, East London to Nigerian immigrant parents who are of Yoruba descent.[2] As of May 2016, she resides in Brooklyn, New York.[13] She is mother to a child born in 2023.[14]

References

  1. ^ "What does Luminary's very bad week tell us about podcasters' collective power?". Nieman Lab. Retrieved 27 May 2019.
  2. ^ a b c "Bim Adewunmi recalls the east London that shaped her". Evening Standard. 15 May 2019. Retrieved 15 July 2019.
  3. ^ Kang, Inkoo. "Lusting Out Loud". Slate. Retrieved 15 July 2019.[permanent dead link‍]
  4. ^ a b Adewunmi, Bim (20 October 2018). "Thank you and goodbye, readers: you helped make my dream come true". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 27 May 2019.
  5. ^ McAleavy, Emma L. (23 August 2018). "What's on TV Thursday: 'Follow This' on Netflix and the Season Finale of 'American Woman'". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 15 July 2019.
  6. ^ Adewunmi, Bim [@bimadew] (29 April 2019). "~some personal news~ today is my first day as a producer with This American Life. So, uh, feel free to hit me up with stories etc. pic.twitter.com/032muBCZS2" (Tweet). Archived from the original on 18 November 2020. Retrieved 15 February 2020 – via Twitter.
  7. ^ Becca James (30 January 2019). "Want to Try Bim Adewunmi and Nichole Perkins's Thirst Aid Kit? Start Here". Vulture. Retrieved 27 May 2019.
  8. ^ "Exclusive: Nichole Perkins And Bim Adewunmi's 'Thirst Aid Kit' Is Joining Slate". Essence. Retrieved 28 August 2019.
  9. ^ "Hoard Puts A New Spin On Meeting The Parents At Arcola Theatre". Londonist. 24 May 2019. Retrieved 15 July 2019.
  10. ^ a b "Hoard review: Bim Adewunmi's flawed but lovable debut drama about a British-Nigerian family living in east London". Time Out London. 22 May 2019. Retrieved 15 July 2019.
  11. ^ Mason, Peter (27 May 2019). "Review of Hoard". Morning Star. Retrieved 27 May 2019.
  12. ^ Akbar, Arifa (22 May 2019). "Hoard review – emotional wreckage from a drive-by family visit". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 15 July 2019.
  13. ^ Adewunmi, Bim [@bimadew] (10 May 2016). "I've been living in Brooklyn for just under a month now, but when cap said "Brooklyn", I almost stood on my seat and yelled with pride" (Tweet). Archived from the original on 24 November 2020. Retrieved 27 October 2020 – via Twitter.
  14. ^ Adewunmi, Bim (14 May 2023). "Is the A train as fast as it needs to be?". ...the fuck is this?. Substack. Retrieved 14 May 2023.
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