5 Questions With... Abiola Bello!

By Grace H.

Abiola Bello is a London-raised, Nigerian author. A writer from a young age, Abiola grew up creating fantasy stories about strong, black female protagonists (now the Emily Knight middle grade series), knowing that she wanted this to become her career. 

Abiola recently published two holiday YA romance novels, Love in Winter Wonderland and Only for the Holidays (available in the U.S. this October!), and the following 5 questions will be in regard to these novels.

One of my favorite parts about both of your holiday novels is the setting, both within the bookstore in your first novel, and then Saiyan Hedge Farm in your second. They both take place during the holiday season, and the reader can feel that magic within every page. Were you inspired by any real-life places when crafting the setting and holiday vibes of your novel?

There's an independent bookshop on Stoke Newington High St which inspired Wonderland. It's not black owned but I envisioned Wonderland in that place. There's a lot of London, especially in Love in Winter Wonderland and its places that I've grown up around, that mean something to me. 

With Only for the Holidays, Mike's party is based on a real venue in Peckham, South London but Saiyan Hedge Farm itself was inspired by Google image search :) Also I was watching a lot of Bridgerton and wanted to create my own version with the Winter ball.

Is there a character in either novel that you felt especially drawn to while writing? Maybe one that you could relate to personally?

Tia is me! Just her moany side lol. All the stuff she hates, I hate too like horses, the countryside, poor communicators in guys! Boogs and Annika are also me - love to dance, straight talking, funny, can get along with everyone.

The most special character for me was probably Ariel as I had lost my dad while writing about her losing her dad so there were a lot of my emotions in her.

If you had to describe each of your holiday novels in one sentence, what would they be?

Ooh that's quite tricky. Okay, I will give it a shot.

Love in Winter Wonderland: “Two teenagers fall for each other as they try to save a Black-owned bookshop from closing down on Christmas Eve.”

Only for the Holidays: “A country boy and a city girl fake date but end up realising that their perfect partner is each other.”

You mention in the biography on your website that you're super passionate about writing diverse books that are inclusive for all people. Can you expand on what it means to you to write about black main characters in your novels?

It's definitely gotten better, but in the UK there are just not enough books with Black people as the main characters that aren't trauma-based. There's pretty much none in UK YA romance books, and it's important for me to show Black people in different lights and not always related to violence or slavery.

And finally, what comes next on your writing journey?

I just released The Love Dare on July 4th which is my third YA. I've finished my first adult book and I have a younger fiction series and a middle-grade out next year. I have an idea for YA but need to flesh it out first!

Thank you so much for speaking with us, Abiola!