Vauxhall

Born in London, Gabriel Gbadamosi is an Irish-Nigerian poet, playwright and essayist. He was AHRC Creative and Performing Arts Fellow at the Pinter Centre, Goldsmiths, and a Judith E. Wilson Fellow for creative writing at Cambridge University. His plays include Shango, Hotel Orpheu and for radio The Long, Hot Summer of '76 (BBC Radio 3), which won the Richard Imison Award. He has presented Nightwaves on BBC Radio 3 and Art Beat on the World Service. Vauxhall is his first novel. Author location: London, UK

'An incredible and surprising pleasure to read' Fay Weldon, A Good Read BBC Radio Four 'Only a poet could have written Vauxhall - clean, swift and with flashes of lightning' Bonnie Greer 'A tenderly observed, fascinating portrait of a childhood in South London' Blake Morrison 'A remarkable achievement' Brian Chikwava, author of 'Harare North' 'A powerful novel ... Gabadamosi describes with poetic rhythm a child's awakening in a violent, confusing London' Daily Mail 'Vauxhall is an affecting work, that shines a light on the multi-shaded, multi-ethnic London we have come to know. - In pages of vivid prose, Gbadamosi conjures Vauxhall's cultural pasticcio of Jamaicans, Africans, Irish and Guyanese. - Like B.S. Johnson before him, Gbadamosi puts the most humdrum if revealing of autobiographical details into the writing. Memories of listening to Yoruba-style dance-floor music and of eating Ambrosia cream custard out of tins intrude seamlessly. Vauxhall is a book of rare poetic insight and humour that absorbs from start to finish.' Ian Thomson, The Spectator