Slay in Your Lane authors Yomi Adegoke and Elizabeth Uviebinené are following up their bestselling debut book with a new fictional ‘coming of age’ series called The Offline Diaries.

The Offline Diaries is the first in the children’s series, giving a fresh, funny and modern look into the minds of two unique Year 8 girls, Ade and Shanice, whose story will serve as a guide to pre-teens as they navigate their own journey towards self-discovery.

Describing their upcoming book, the authors, Adegoke and Uviebinené, said: “It’s been such an exciting process for us to bring Ade and Shanice to life. Navigating secondary school and friendships circles is such a significant part of all of our coming-of-age journeys and finding true friendships can really help shape who we become. It’s such a privilege for both of us to be able to create a world and characters inspired by this, and we hope to speak to and empower all young girls all over the world.”

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This series promises to be bring to life real experiences that young Black girls can relate to, in the voices of the two fictional characters that will surely leave a lasting impression on the minds of readers everywhere.

The premise of this first book in the series sees Ade about to start at a new school. She is NOT happy with her stepdad for making them move here. Shanice has been at the school for a year already. Since her mum died, she’s been living with her dad and an annoying older brother, spending most of her time outside school in her dad’s hair salon. When Ade and Shanice meet in the salon, and spot each other’s diaries, an instant friendship is formed, and they start to chat online . . . but offline is a whole other story!

Slay in Your Lane authors Yomi Adegoke and Elizabeth Uviebinené

With a bold, colourful cover and black and white illustrations within the book, younger readers will love The Offline Diaries. In what could be a direct example of the foreshadowing of their future success, a line in the book reads: “Note to self: When I grow up, skip the spotty, moany, sulky bit and get right to the glamorous bestselling-author bit.”

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Together, Adegoke and Uviebinené created Slay in Your Lane, a guide that is popularly referred to as The Black Girl Bible. In an interview with Melan Magazine back in 2018, Adegoke explained the idea behind their creation was to “inspire young, Black British women”. They hope to replicate this success with The Offline Diaries but this time for Black girls, bringing the same sense of sisterhood and friendship to younger audiences.

The Offline Diaries is published by HarperCollins Children’s Books and will released on 28 April 2022.