[4] Bandele spent the first 18 years of his life in the north-central part of the country, later moving to Lagos in the southwestern region of Nigeria, then in 1987 he studied drama at Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife,[2][5] having already begun work on his first novel.

[2][25] Bandele wrote of the impact on him of John Osborne's Look Back in Anger (1956), which he saw on a hire-purchase television set in a railway town in northern Nigeria:[26] And so although I had yet to set foot outside Kafanchan, although I knew nothing about postwar British society, or the Angry Young Men, or anything about Osborne when I met Jimmy Porter on the screen... there was no need for introductions: I had known Jimmy all my life.Bandele's novels, which include The Man Who Came in from the Back of Beyond (1991) and The Street (1999), have been described as "rewarding reading, capable of wild surrealism and wit as well as political engagement".

[27] His 2007 novel, Burma Boy, reviewed in The Independent by Tony Gould, was called "a fine achievement" and lauded for providing a voice for previously unheard Africans.

[30][32] Helon Habila, reviewing Yorùbá Boy Running in The Guardian (London), writes: "The fictional Crowther's story, as well as the real-life one, is a remarkable saga of perseverance, dedication and triumph over adversity.

... What Bándélé brings to this well-known story is his ability slowly and painstakingly to build his protagonist’s character, not just as the public figure known to every schoolchild in Nigeria – the first black man to be ordained a bishop by the Anglican Church of England, the first African to earn a degree from the University of Oxford – but also as a father, a son, a husband and a citizen.

We are lucky and grateful that the author was able to leave us with this bookend to his glorious if truncated career that began long ago in Kafanchan, Nigeria, when he started running towards a distinguished future in faraway London.

[42][43] Characterised by Variety as a "passion project" for the director,[44] Elesin Oba, The King's Horseman was "the first-ever Yoruba-language film to premiere at TIFF in the Special Presentation category, and then onto Netflix".

[51] On 30 June 2024, at Brixton House theatre in London, A Night to Remember – Biyi Bándélé took place, hosted by Kwame Kwei-Armah, with friends, family, collaborators and colleagues (among them Adjoa Andoh, Burt Caesar, Chipo Chung, Danny Sapani, Diane Parish, Jude Akuwudike, Margaret Busby, Paterson Joseph and Shingai Shoniwa) gathering to celebrate Bandele's life and work, including the launch of his final novel, Yorùbá Boy Running.