A body has been found in the search for British-Nigerian poet Gboyega Odubanjo, who went missing on Saturday (August 26) at Shambala Festival in Northamptonshire. He was scheduled to perform at an event on Sunday (August 27) but did not appear, at which point the alarm was raised and the search began. While the police have yet to make a formal identification, Oduabanjo’s family has been informed. The police have said there are no suspicious circumstances. 

At just 27 years old, Odubanjo was considered a rising star of British poetry. His debut pamphlet, While I Yet Live, was published in 2019; his second, Aunty Uncle Poems, was published in 2021 and awarded the Poetry Business New Poetry Prize. He also received an Eric Gregory Award from the Society of Authors and the Michael Marks Award for poetry pamphlets.

Both of Odubanjo’s collections were met with glowing reviews. Poet and critic Luke Kennard described Aunty Uncle Poems as “deep, funny, thought-provoking – a powerful evocation of culture and family with the most assured phrasing and imagery and confident formal innovation”. Discussing the same book, critic Bridget Minamore heralded Odubanjo as “one of the most exciting poetry talents writing right now,” praising his “poems filled with wit and vulnerability, and movement and musicality, that take us to church before we've even realised they’ve turned us into believers”.

In addition to these two collections, he was published in The White Review, bath magg (where he was an editor), Magma Poetry, The Poetry Review, The Guardian, and The New Statesman, among other outlets. He was a Resident Artist at the Roundhouse, a music and arts venue in Camden, and had taught Creative Writing workshops at King’s College London.

As well as being devastating news for his friends and family, this event marks a significant loss for Britain’s poetry scene. Throughout the day, tributes have poured in from his peers and contemporaries. Poet and essayist Rebecca Tamás wrote on Twitter, “It was so clear to me that Gboyega was the future of poetry – I never doubted for a second that he was one of the most important writers of his generation. A kind, dazzlingly talented, special man. I’m holding his family and friends in my thoughts today.” 

Describing themselves as “utterly heartbroken”, Bad Betty Press – the publishing house that released Odubanjo’s first book – paid tribute to a man who was “widely recognised as a voice of his generation”, and who would “without a doubt would have gone on to produce a lifetime of enduring work as one of poetry’s shining lights”. In the same statement, they criticise Northamptonshire police for their allegedly poor handling of the search effort, for discouraging them from undertaking their own searches, and for breaking the news without first consulting Odubanjo’s family, and express scepticism towards the claim that there were no suspicious circumstances. The police are yet to respond to any of these claims.

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