Nigerian Author Yomi Adegoke’s Upcoming Debut Novel The List Has Been Optioned for TV to HBO Max, BBC, and A24

January 30, 2023

Nigerian author Yomi Adegoke’s forthcoming debut novel The List, which will be published later this year, has been optioned for television. The TV series will be co-developed by A24, BBC, and HBO Max, with Adegoke as creator and executive producer.

The novel has been receiving a lot of attention even before publication. In fact, Adegoke’s sensational debut novel was sold in a fierce 11-way auction to publisher 4th Estate last year. The List will be published by 4th Estate, a HarperCollins imprint, on July 6 in the UK and by William Morrow on 26 September in the U.S.

Exploring secrets, lies, and our digital lives, The List is about a young, beautiful, Internet-famous couple Ola and Michael, whose “picture-perfect relationship comes under intense scrutiny when a list of unsubstantiated allegations appear online.” Can their relationship survive the storm? Should it? Read the novel to find out more.

Adegoke is thrilled about the opportunity to capture her page-turning debut novel on the screen:

I truly cannot put into words how excited I am to have the opportunity to tell Ola and Michael’s story on-screen. There is so much more I have to say on the complexities of these characters’ on and offline lives, their friends, their families and everything else; being able to do so in a series is nothing short of a dream come true. The fact that I’ll be working with the best in the business–A24, HBO Max and the BBC–is an absolute privilege and I am so thankful to them for believing in me and this book before I’d even finished it! I can’t wait for The List‘s next chapter.

Yomi Adegoke is an award-winning Nigerian journalist and author. She has co-written The Offline Diaries (2022) and Loud Black Girls (2020), and Slay in Your Lane: The Black Girl Bible (2018). She was named one of Forbes 30 under 30 in 2021 and is a recipient of the Groucho Maverick award and a Marie Clare Future Shaper award. She is currently a columnist at both The Guardian newspaper and British Vogue.