Abi Daré

A square photo of Abi Daré, GCU alumna and New York Times bestselling author standing against a column, holding a laptop and smiling.

Abi Daré

MSc International Project Management

New York Times bestselling author

Authors dream of becoming a New York Times best-seller, and Glasgow Caledonian University alumna, Abi Daré achieved it with her first novel, The Girl with the Louding Voice.

She grew up in Lagos, Nigeria before studying law in England and later making the big move to Glasgow to study her MSc in Project Management at GCU.

Abi said: “I was very nervous, I wasn’t sure how welcoming it would be in the city. I remember coming and it was raining, I think it rained every day the year I stayed in Glasgow but it was such a friendly city, so open. I remember just thinking about how amazing the learning resources were at GCU.”

I was only at GCU for a year, but 15 years later, I still hold very dear memories of my time there because it allowed me to learn in a wonderful environment that made learning a pleasure. You should embrace that and take education as a gift.

When asked what advice she would give to current students and graduates, Abi said: “I think it’s important to study a topic as close as possible to your passions because it fuels the fire in your soul and helps you to keep going when you think you can’t.”

Becoming a first-time published author came with its challenges and Abi faced countless moments of wanting to give up writing.

Abi said: “Encouraging myself to write was a lot for me mentally. I remember when I got my first rejection from an agent. I thought nothing will come out of the book because the rejection was so hard on me.”

The rejection didn’t stop the New York Times best-seller, she printed out a list of authors like JK Rowling with the amount of rejections they had beside their names.

“I put it in front of my laptop because they did great things and I realised they had hundreds of rejections, whereas I only had two. I said, Abi, you still have plenty of rejections to go and I think that is a life lesson that will follow me for the rest of my life.”

Her book has since been shortlisted for several awards including the Desmond Elliott Prize and the British Book Awards.