Profile of Abimbola Alao
www.abialao.co.uk

Abimbola currently works as a lecturer in Creative Writing at University College Plymouth St. Mark & St. John (UCP Marjon) Plymouth. Before joining UCP Marjon, she worked as an associate lecturer at the University of Plymouth, teaching Qualitative Research Method and Narrative in Educational Practice. Abimbola started out as a storyteller at the age of ten. She took advantage of the fact that her parents refused to invest in a television set to sharpen her storytelling skills, using her siblings as a sounding board. She is a graduate of the University of Ibadan, Nigeria, where she read classics and bagged a B A (Hons) in 1988 and an MA in 1991. She later took a PGCE (post 16) and an MA in Creative writing at the University of Plymouth. While at university, Abimbola relegated the oral tradition to the backseat. However she re-discovered this art when she became a mother and started sharing stories with her children.

Adopting the oral tradition manner rather than just reading bedtime stories to her children, Abimbola engaged them in story-making and watched as they blossomed into confident, avid readers and good storytellers. Her storytelling and craft workshops are now enjoyed by thousands of children in the Devon and Cornwall counties of the UK, and beyond. Please see 'Schools' link on this website for details of programs and workshops for schools and colleges.

Abimbola is the author of several books, including a young adult fiction, plays and poems. In 2003, her teenage fiction, ‘The Legendary Weaver’ was published and a New Edition was published in 2011. Her non-fiction book ‘The Goshen Principle’ was also published in 2010. Abimbola has also written a number of plays; her short play, ‘Legal Stuff’, won the BBC and Royal Court ’24 Degrees’ Writing Competition in 2008.

Abimbola has translated eight children’s books to Yoruba for dual language publisher, Mantra Lingua. She says her best work is the children’s classics ‘Hansel and Gretel’, but found the dual language dictionary challenging because she has had to create words that do not exist in Yoruba e.g. ‘radiator’! These books are available from the publisher’s website www.mantralingua.com. In 2011, Abimbola wrote a collection of children’s stories for web publication and audio production by KidsOut UK. She has also translated this collection into Yoruba.

Abimbola is a certified Performance Coach and she works with clients all over the world. Please see the ‘Life Coaching’ Link on this website for more information about services and cost.

Newspaper Interview with Abimbola: Please click on the link below
http://www.thisisplymouth.co.uk/news/life-stories/article-221596-detail/article.html

Awards: Winner, BBC/Royal Court 24 Degrees Writing Competition. Please click on the link below.
http://www.thisisplymouth.co.uk/news/Lecturer-stars-writing-contest/article-259970-detail/article.html