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Jason Okundaye

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Jason Okundaye
Born (1997-01-30) 30 January 1997 (age 27)
Tooting, London, England
EducationPembroke College, Cambridge (BA)
Occupations
  • Journalist
  • columnist
  • author
  • archivist
Notable workRevolutionary Acts (2024)

Jason Osamede Okundaye (born 30 January 1997)[1] is a British writer. The Evening Standard named him one of London's leading emerging writers.[2] He works as a freelance journalist and essayist, covering topics such as politics, history, and popular culture and media, and previously had a column in Tribune. His debut book Revolutionary Acts was published in 2024.

Early life and education

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Okundaye was born at St George's Hospital, Tooting, London, to Nigerian parents and grew up on the Patmore Estate in Battersea.[3][4] He attended Sacred Heart Roman Catholic Primary School and won a scholarship to Whitgift School in Croydon.[5] He went on to study Human, Social and Political Sciences at Pembroke College, Cambridge.[6][7][8] During his time at the university, he led the Cambridge Students' Union Black and Minority Ethnic society.[9]

Okundaye first caught the media's attention in 2017, after a series of post on social media about racism in the United Kingdom in which he claimed that racism manifested in all social groups.[10] Following the coverage, Okundaye experienced racist abuse, death threats and rape threats.[11][12]

Career

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Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, Okundaye worked in policy, seeing his writing as a side hobby. He then quit his job to freelance as a writer full time.[13]

He has been a regular contributor to The Guardian, the London Review of Books, Vice, Dazed, i-D, GQ, the Evening Standard, and Bustle.[14][15][7] He has also written for NME, the New Statesman, British Vogue, The Independent, The New York Times, the Financial Times, Time Out, and The Sunday Times.[16][17] In 2020 and 2021, he had a column in Tribune Magazine.[18]

Okundaye is vocal about a number of social and political issues in the UK, writing about them from a left-wing perspective. He has written about topics such as race in British society, politics, the housing crisis, the monarchy, and Black British LGBT+ culture with a specialty in the experiences and history of Black British gay men.[19][20][21] In addition, he covers popular culture and media in the film, television, theatre, music, and literary worlds and has interviewed public figures.

In 2021, Okundaye co-founded the digital archive and podcast "Black & Gay, Back in the Day" with Marc Thompson.[22][23]

His debut book entitled Revolutionary Acts (2024), documents Black British gay history and culture from the 1970s to the present.[24][25][26] The book is structured around profiling the following figures: Ted Brown, Dirg Aaab-Richards, Alex Owolade, Calvin "Biggy" Dawkins, Dennis Carney, Ajamu X, and Thompson.[27] Revolutionary Acts had a positive critical reception with The Guardian calling it a "groundbreaking debut" and Bricks magazine saying it is "a dynamic and crucial narration of Black queer history for the 21st century".[28][29] It has also been shortlisted for The Orwell Prize for Political Writing 2024.[30]

Personal life

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Okundaye lost his father to cardiomyopathy in 2016. In 2021, he wrote a piece for The Guardian on his regrets regarding not coming out as gay before his father's death.[31][32]

Bibliography

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Books

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  • Revolutionary Acts: Stories of Love, Brotherhood, and Resilience from Black Gay Britain (1st hardcover ed.). Faber. 2024. ISBN 9780571372218.

Essays

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  • "Pilgrimage on the P5 Bus" in The Alternative Guide to the London Boroughs for Open House London, edited by Owen Hatherley (2020)
  • "Entering the Scene: Finding a community of love" in Black Joy, edited by Charlie Brinkhurst-Cuff and Timi Sotire (2021)

Reference

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  1. ^ Jason Okundaye (30 January 2020). "It's my birthday today and I'm 23 years old, which is basically 25, which is basically 30. So please enjoy this picture of me chilling with my age mates". Retrieved 13 April 2021 – via Twitter.
  2. ^ Taylor, Joanna (11 May 2023). "Meet London's leading emerging writers". Evening Standard. Retrieved 13 February 2024.
  3. ^ Okundaye, Jason (15 April 2021). "Malachi Kirby". Port Magazine. Retrieved 19 April 2021.
  4. ^ Jason Okundaye (14 March 2019). "I was born in St George's. Tooting". Retrieved 19 April 2021 – via Twitter.
  5. ^ Roberts, Rachel (30 July 2017). "Cambridge student claims 'all white people are racist' in tweets supporting Rashan Charles protests". The Independent. Retrieved 13 April 2021.
  6. ^ "Jason Okundaye". RCW. Retrieved 13 April 2021.
  7. ^ a b Okundaye, Jason (10 December 2020). "The photo that shaped me: Jason Okundaye on his childhood home". New Statesman. Retrieved 13 April 2021.
  8. ^ Sanusi, Victoria (August 2017). "A Black Student Made A Powerful Point About Her Place At Cambridge". Buzzfeed.
  9. ^ Collier, Hatty (31 July 2017). "Police drop probe into Cambridge University student over tweets claiming 'all white people are racist'". Evening Standard.
  10. ^ Oluwaseun (21 July 2017). "The rise in right-wing witch hunts against black student leaders has not gone unnoticed". gal-dem.
  11. ^ Mills, Jen (6 August 2017). "Cambridge student says 'All white people are racist' comment was misconstrued". Metro.
  12. ^ Okundaye, Jason (5 August 2017). "I was accused of saying all white people are racist. This is what happened next..." The Observer.
  13. ^ Goedluck, Lakeisha (31 May 2024). "Jason Okundaye on his début book, Revolutionary Acts: Love & Brotherhood in Black Gay Britain". The Bookseller. Retrieved 18 July 2024.
  14. ^ Brinkhurst-Cuff, Charlie, ed. (2 September 2021). Black Joy. Penguin UK. ISBN 978-0-241-51967-7.
  15. ^ "Jason Okundaye". Vice. 13 April 2021. Retrieved 13 April 2021.
  16. ^ "Jason Okundaye". NME. Retrieved 13 April 2021.
  17. ^ "Jason Okundaye". The Independent. Retrieved 13 April 2021.
  18. ^ "Jason Okundaye". Tribune. 20 January 2021. Retrieved 13 April 2021.
  19. ^ Okundaye, Jason (8 April 2021). "Ted Brown: the man who held a mass kiss-in and made history". The Guardian.
  20. ^ "'I wanted a space where we could represent, honour and celebrate black queer life in the UK'". ITV News. 14 February 2021.
  21. ^ Okundaye, Jason (6 June 2019). "Why Hackney Is the Perfect New Home for UK Black Pride". Vice.
  22. ^ Okundaye, Jason (19 February 2021). "'We tried to carve out our own spaces': how the black LGBTQ+ community of the 1980s and 1990s is being honoured online". GQ.
  23. ^ Mahon, Leah (9 February 2021). "LGBTQ+ History Month: Jason Okundaye and Marc Thompson launch digital archive documenting black queer lives in Britain". The Voice.
  24. ^ Comerford, Ruth (19 April 2021). "Faber pre-empts Okundaye's 'beautiful, moving' account of Black gay Britain". The Bookseller. Retrieved 19 April 2021.
  25. ^ Raza-Sheikh, Zoya (19 April 2021). "Faber to publish Jason Okundaye's "generation-defining" debut book on queer Black sexuality". Gay Times Magazine. Retrieved 19 April 2021.
  26. ^ "Faber to publish account of Black gay Britain by Jason Okundaye". Faber. 19 April 2021. Retrieved 14 August 2024.
  27. ^ Bakare, Lanre (29 February 2024). "Revolutionary Acts by Jason Okundaye review – bringing Black gay history to life". The Guardian. Retrieved 26 March 2024.
  28. ^ Guobadia, Otamere (6 March 2024). "Jason Okundaye's history of Black gay life is a quiet revelation". Gay Times. Retrieved 26 March 2024.
  29. ^ Bakare, Lanre (29 February 2024). "Revolutionary Acts by Jason Okundaye review – bringing Black gay history to life". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 14 June 2024.
  30. ^ "The Orwell Prizes 2024: Finalists announced". The Orwell Foundation. 23 May 2024. Retrieved 14 June 2024.
  31. ^ Okundaye, Jason (1 July 2024). "A moment that changed me: the death of my father, a coat of red nail varnish – and coming out to my family". The Guardian. Retrieved 18 July 2024.
  32. ^ Lacey, Hester (27 April 2024). "Writer Jason Okundaye: 'I have complicated feelings about my university experience'". Financial Times. Retrieved 18 July 2024.
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