Meet JJ Bola
Meet JJ
JJ Bola is a Writer, Poet, and Educator, born in Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo, and raised in London. His debut novel, No Place to Call Home, was published in the United Kingdom/Europe in 2017 with OWN IT!, and in United States/North America in 2018– then later translated into French as Nulle Part Oú Poser Sa Tête in 2022 with Mercure de France. His second novel, The Selfless Act of Breathing, was published in 2021 in the U.K. by Dialogue Books (Hachette), and in the U.S/North America in 2022 by Atria Books (Simon & Schuster). It has also been translated into Brazilian-Portuguese as O Involuntário Ato De Respirar with Dublinese, and Weiter Atmen (Keep Breathing) in German with Kampa Verlag. Other translations to come include Italian, Japanese and more. The Selfless Act of Breathing has also been acquired for film adaption.
JJ Bola has written the non-fiction book, Mask Off: Masculinity Redefined, published in 2019 by Pluto Press. This has also been translated and published into other languages, including German as Sei Kein Mann with Hanser Blau, in Italian as Giu La Maschera with Edizioni EL, in Brazilian-Portuguese as Seja Homem by Dublinese, in Spanish as Un Baile de Mascaras by Paidos, and in Finnish as Naami-Otta with Schildts & Soderstrom. JJ Bola also has three previous poetry collections, Elevate (2012), Daughter of the Sun (2014), and WORD (2015) – all of which were published in a definitive called Refuge (2018).
JJ Bola also has a children’s picture book called Fly Boy, published in 2023 (Simon & Schuster), which a story about a young boy learning to manage his emotions so that he can fly.
JJ Bola is also an ambassador for the United Nations High Council for Refugees. And has an MA in Creative Writing from Birkbeck University. JJ Bola also works as a Mental Health Social Worker, in a community mental health team, after qualifying through the Think Ahead accelerated training programme.
JJ Bola is based in London, but often travels across the UK, and internationally, for workshops, lectures, and talks. He is passionate about empowering people to transform their lives. And loves basketball, and carrot cake. He is currently working on his third novel.