Abimbola Gbemi Alao, also known as Abi Alao, is a performance storyteller, author, children's book translator and researcher.
Biography
Abimbola was born in Ibadan, Nigeria. She studied at the University of Ibadan, Nigeria, where she gained a BA Classics in 1988 and an MA Classics in 1991. She later studied PGCE and MA in Creative Writing at the University of Plymouth. Abimbola is the author of Dear Toriola, Let's Talk About Perimenopause, Trickster Tales for Telling, How to Enhance Your Storytelling With Music,The Legendary Weaver: New Edition, a young-adult fiction book, and The Goshen Principle: A Shelter in the Time of Storm. She has also written numerous poems, short stories and plays. In 2008, her short play, 'Legal Stuff', won the BBC and Royal Court Theatre '24 Degrees' Writing Competition. In 2011-2012, she wrote a collection of fables for KidsOut World Stories; this project won the 2013 Talk Talk Digital Heroes award for the East of England. She is a children's book translator and her work includes translation of the classics: 'Hansel and Gretel', 'The Little Red Hen and the Grain of Wheat' and several other books, published by Mantra Lingua publishers. Abimbola was a tutor at the Institute of Education, University of Plymouth, from 2003 to 2007. In 2007, she was appointed as a lecturer in Creative Writing at the University of St Mark & St John, Plymouth, where she taught for 11 years. A recipient of Plymouth's 2017 Mayflower Scholarship, she is currently researching the influence of psychosocial intervention on disease progression in people living with dementia. Abimbola is a visiting lecturer and lead provider of 'StoryWeavers for Dementia', a Special Study Unit in Medical Humanities, at the Peninsula School of Medicine and Dentistry, Plymouth. The program, developed by Abimbola, explores non-pharmacological approach to dementia care. It is offered to people who live with various forms of dementia. In 2015, Abimbola collaborated with the Alzheimer's Society to run a 12-week project with service users in memory cafes. This culminated in an anthology titled, 'Narrative Adventures from Plymouth Memory Cafes'. In January 2014, Stoke Damerel College in Plymouth participated in StoryWeavers for Dementia; the school won the Prime Minister's Dementia Friendly Award: Schools Category in May 2014. Abimbola was a regular contributor to the BBC Radio Devon 'Pause for thought', between 2004 and 2009. She also contributes to 'Saturday Thought', a weekly column in The Herald.
