Tomi Adeyemi puts her own face on The Siren and steps back from Blood and Bone film
Tomi Adeyemi does not plan to watch the film adaptation of her own bestselling novel.
The writer said so in an interview published on 27 September 2026, two days before her new novel The Siren is due out on 29 September from Macmillan in the United States. The conversation moves between the forthcoming book and the long-awaited screen version of her debut. The Guardian
Children of Blood and Bone, published in 2018, was the first book in a young adult trilogy, meaning fiction written principally for teenage readers. It follows Zélie as she fights to restore magic to the kingdom of Orïsha, a story inspired by West African mythology. The book debuted at No. 1 on the New York Times young adult bestseller list in the US and netted a major seven-figure book deal.
The film version is backed by Paramount and directed by Gina Prince-Bythewood. Adeyemi told interviewers earlier this year that she left the set sobbing, according to trade press reports. Variety There are currently no plans to adapt the second and third books in the trilogy for film. Deadline
The Siren is a break from that series. It is a standalone, meaning a single self-contained story rather than part of a series, and a contemporary novel rather than a fantasy set in an invented kingdom. It follows Emery, a Black student arriving at Dartmouth College in the US, who is drawn into a mysterious sorority of Sirens. Trade reports have described it as a dark academia young adult novel, shorthand for fiction set in an elite academic world with a gothic edge. Deadline
The cover carries a photograph of Adeyemi herself, her face filling the frame. She described the decision as a statement of ownership. “It was an intense choice, and I think it’s because I needed people to see me in this one,” she said.
Adeyemi studied English at Harvard University in the US. She later won a fellowship to study West African mythology and culture in Salvador, Brazil. Her parents moved to Chicago in the US from Nigeria in their early 20s.
What makes this stand out is the direct link Adeyemi draws between herself and the new book. For readers coming from Orïsha, this means a different setting, a different heroine, and the author’s own image on the jacket.
