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==Non-Fiction==
==Non-Fiction==
The majority of Diriye Osman’s non-fiction output so far has been published by The Huffington Post<ref name="huffington post15">{{cite web|title=Diriye Osman|url=http://www.huffingtonpost.com/diriye-osman/|publisher=huffington post|accessdate=23 August 2014}}</ref> . He has contributed a variety of articles, personal essays, reviews and interviews with [[Dianne_Reeves|''Dianne Reeves'']]<ref name="Huffington Post16">{{cite web|url=http://www.huffingtonpost.com/diriye-osman/the-delicious-soulfulness_b_5626013.html |title=The Delicious Soulfulness of Dianne Reeves |publisher=''Huffington Post'' |accessdate=23 August 2014}}</ref>, [Lalah_Hathaway|''Lalah Hathaway'']<ref name="Huffington Post17">{{cite web|url=http://www.huffingtonpost.com/diriye-osman/the-sublime-lalah-hathawa_b_5649388.html |title=The Sublime Lalah Hathaway |publisher=''Huffington Post'' |accessdate=23 August 2014}}</ref>, Meshell Ndegeocello<ref name="Huffington Post18">{{cite web|url=http://www.huffingtonpost.com/diriye-osman/meshell-ndegeocello-a-mas_b_5669046.html |title=Meshell Ndegeocello, a Master of Her Craft and Destiny |publisher=''Huffington Post'' |accessdate=23 August 2014}}</ref> and Bernardine Evaristo<ref name="Huffington Post18">{{cite web|url=http://www.huffingtonpost.com/diriye-osman/bernardine-evaristo-liter_b_5605952.html |title=Bernardine Evaristo, Literary Rebel With a Cause |publisher=''Huffington Post'' |accessdate=23 August 2014}}</ref> to intimate and political essays about what it means to be young, gay and African<ref name="Huffington Post19">{{cite web|url=http://www.huffingtonpost.com/diriye-osman/to-be-young-gay-and-afric_b_4980025.html |title=To Be Young, Gay and African |publisher=''Huffington Post'' |accessdate=23 August 2014}}</ref>, how mental illness has fed his creativity<ref name="Huffington Post20">{{cite web|url=http://www.huffingtonpost.com/diriye-osman/how-mental-illness-fed-my-creativity_b_5475010.html |title=How Mental Illness Fed My Creativity |publisher=''Huffington Post'' |accessdate=23 August 2014}}</ref> and the argument that femininity in men is a form of power<ref name="Huffington Post21">{{cite web|url=http://www.huffingtonpost.com/diriye-osman/femininity-in-men_b_5548685.html |title=Femininity in Men Is a Form of Power |publisher=''Huffington Post'' |accessdate=23 August 2014}}</ref>. He has also written about [[Caine_Prize|''The Caine Prize'']] and the rise of the African short story<ref name="Huffington Post22">{{cite web|url=http://www.huffingtonpost.com/diriye-osman/the-caine-prize-and-the-r_b_5564039.html |title=The Caine Prize and the Rise of the African Short Story |publisher=''Huffington Post'' |accessdate=23 August 2014}}</ref> as well as meditations on how making art saved his life<ref name="Huffington Post23">{{cite web|url=http://www.huffingtonpost.com/diriye-osman/how-art-can-save-a-life_b_5582637.html |title=How Art Can Save a Life |publisher=''Huffington Post'' |accessdate=23 August 2014}}</ref> and why we must tell our own stories<ref name="Huffington Post24">{{cite web|url=http://www.huffingtonpost.com/diriye-osman/why-we-must-tell-our-own-_b_5498933.html |title=Why We Must Tell Our Own Stories |publisher=''Huffington Post'' |accessdate=23 August 2014}}</ref>.
The majority of Diriye Osman’s non-fiction output so far has been published by The Huffington Post<ref name="huffington post15">{{cite web|title=Diriye Osman|url=http://www.huffingtonpost.com/diriye-osman/|publisher=huffington post|accessdate=23 August 2014}}</ref> . He has contributed a variety of articles, personal essays, reviews and interviews with [[Dianne_Reeves|''Dianne Reeves'']]<ref name="Huffington Post16">{{cite web|url=http://www.huffingtonpost.com/diriye-osman/the-delicious-soulfulness_b_5626013.html |title=The Delicious Soulfulness of Dianne Reeves |publisher=''Huffington Post'' |accessdate=23 August 2014}}</ref>, [[Lalah_Hathaway | ''Lalah Hathaway'']]<ref name="Huffington Post17">{{cite web|url=http://www.huffingtonpost.com/diriye-osman/the-sublime-lalah-hathawa_b_5649388.html |title=The Sublime Lalah Hathaway |publisher=''Huffington Post'' |accessdate=23 August 2014}}</ref>, Meshell Ndegeocello<ref name="Huffington Post18">{{cite web|url=http://www.huffingtonpost.com/diriye-osman/meshell-ndegeocello-a-mas_b_5669046.html |title=Meshell Ndegeocello, a Master of Her Craft and Destiny |publisher=''Huffington Post'' |accessdate=23 August 2014}}</ref> and Bernardine Evaristo<ref name="Huffington Post18">{{cite web|url=http://www.huffingtonpost.com/diriye-osman/bernardine-evaristo-liter_b_5605952.html |title=Bernardine Evaristo, Literary Rebel With a Cause |publisher=''Huffington Post'' |accessdate=23 August 2014}}</ref> to intimate and political essays about what it means to be young, gay and African<ref name="Huffington Post19">{{cite web|url=http://www.huffingtonpost.com/diriye-osman/to-be-young-gay-and-afric_b_4980025.html |title=To Be Young, Gay and African |publisher=''Huffington Post'' |accessdate=23 August 2014}}</ref>, how mental illness has fed his creativity<ref name="Huffington Post20">{{cite web|url=http://www.huffingtonpost.com/diriye-osman/how-mental-illness-fed-my-creativity_b_5475010.html |title=How Mental Illness Fed My Creativity |publisher=''Huffington Post'' |accessdate=23 August 2014}}</ref> and the argument that femininity in men is a form of power<ref name="Huffington Post21">{{cite web|url=http://www.huffingtonpost.com/diriye-osman/femininity-in-men_b_5548685.html |title=Femininity in Men Is a Form of Power |publisher=''Huffington Post'' |accessdate=23 August 2014}}</ref>. He has also written about [[Caine_Prize|''The Caine Prize'']] and the rise of the African short story<ref name="Huffington Post22">{{cite web|url=http://www.huffingtonpost.com/diriye-osman/the-caine-prize-and-the-r_b_5564039.html |title=The Caine Prize and the Rise of the African Short Story |publisher=''Huffington Post'' |accessdate=23 August 2014}}</ref> as well as meditations on how making art saved his life<ref name="Huffington Post23">{{cite web|url=http://www.huffingtonpost.com/diriye-osman/how-art-can-save-a-life_b_5582637.html |title=How Art Can Save a Life |publisher=''Huffington Post'' |accessdate=23 August 2014}}</ref> and why we must tell our own stories<ref name="Huffington Post24">{{cite web|url=http://www.huffingtonpost.com/diriye-osman/why-we-must-tell-our-own-_b_5498933.html |title=Why We Must Tell Our Own Stories |publisher=''Huffington Post'' |accessdate=23 August 2014}}</ref>.


==Visual Art==
==Visual Art==

Revision as of 12:07, 23 August 2014

Diriye Osman
ديري عثمان
Born1983
Mogadishu, Somalia
OccupationWriter, visual artist
NationalityBritish
Alma materUniversity of Birmingham, Royal Holloway, University of London
Period2008–present
Website
http://www.diriyeosman.com

Diriye Osman (Template:Lang-so, Template:Lang-ar) (born in 1983) is a Somali-British short story writer, essayist, critic and visual artist[1]. He is the author of the short story collection Fairytales For Lost Children, which was longlisted for The 2014 Polari First Book Prize. His fiction and non-fiction have appeared in a number of publications and his visual art is also noted for its surrealism.

Biography

Osman was born in 1983 in Mogadishu, Somalia. When the civil war broke out in the early 1990s, he and his family relocated to Nairobi, Kenya.[2][3]

As a child, Osman developed an interest in fashion design. His parents encouraged his desire to become a designer.[4] An avid reader, he was also entralled with the works of C. S. Lewis and Roald Dahl, as well as The Adventures of Tintin and Calvin and Hobbes. In 2001, Osman and his family moved again to London, England.[5]

In 2002, at the age of 18, Osman was diagnosed with psychosis and institutionalised in a mental hospital in Woolwich, South London. He was so traumatized by the experience that he did not speak for nearly six months. After he was released from the hospital, his mother encouraged him to apply for a library card and he began to read Nuruddin Farah, Arundhati Roy, Zadie Smith, Manil Suri, Alice Munro, Alison Bechdel, ZZ Packer, Edwidge Danticat and Junot Diaz. By reading as widely as possible, Osman regained the confidence to speak again. Reading extensively also made him want to learn about characters and stories that echoed his own experiences.[5]

For his post-secondary education, Osman studied English Literature, Linguistics and Fine Art at the University of Birmingham, graduating with a BA (hons) degree. He later attended Royal Holloway, University of London, where he earned an MA in Creative Writing.[3]

Fiction

In 2008, after recovering from another health setback, Osman started writing short stories. Most of his literary work has been based on his own life as a gay man, as well as other personal experiences. He published Earthling, a short story about a young lesbian recently released from a psychiatric unit. Ellah Allfrey in The Daily Telegraph called it "a moving exploration of family, sexuality and mental breakdown set in south-east London".[6]

Shortly afterwards, Osman wrote Pavilion, a story about a "six-foot" Somali transvestite working in a "mental clink".[7] These and other stories were published as part of his 2013 debut collection Fairytales For Lost Children. The book was well received by literary critics, with Magnus Taylor of New Internationalist calling Osman "a startlingly original voice".[8] Similarly, the Lambda Literary Review described the work as "texturally beautiful and tonally gorgeous";[9] Jameson Fitzpatrick of Next Magazine noted that the "stories are suffused with the possibility of joy and pleasure";[10] Alison Bechdel added that through storytelling Osman creates a shelter for his displaced characters, "a warm place which is both real and imaginary, in which they find political, sexual, and ultimately psychic liberation;" Bernardine Evaristo, writing in The Independent, hailed Osman as a courageous and original writer, remarking that his language is "crafted with all the concision and riches of poetry."[11] Roxane Gay in The Nation also summarized the piece as a "raw collection of short stories"; Eden Wood of Diva Magazine praising Osman's "vivid and intimate" style; Will Davis, writing in Attitude Magazine, likewise noted that Fairytales For Lost Children was "a rich, complex and lyrical set of tales," adding that "this collection of stories is sure to move and enthral in equal measure." Additionally, Somali writer Nuruddin Farah described Osman's prose as "fantastic", indicating that he "read some of the stories more than once and saw in each one of them plenty of talent everywhere".

Fairytales For Lost Children was longlisted for The 2014 Polari First Book Prize.[12]

Osman's writing has appeared in a number of publications, including the Poetry Review, Time Out London, Huffington Post, Prospect, Kwani?, Under The Influence, Huffington Post, Jungle Jim, Attitude and SCARF Magazine,[13] the latter of which was founded by Osman's editor Kinsi Abdulleh.[4]

Non-Fiction

The majority of Diriye Osman’s non-fiction output so far has been published by The Huffington Post[14] . He has contributed a variety of articles, personal essays, reviews and interviews with Dianne Reeves[15], Lalah Hathaway[16], Meshell Ndegeocello[17] and Bernardine Evaristo[17] to intimate and political essays about what it means to be young, gay and African[18], how mental illness has fed his creativity[19] and the argument that femininity in men is a form of power[20]. He has also written about The Caine Prize and the rise of the African short story[21] as well as meditations on how making art saved his life[22] and why we must tell our own stories[23].

Visual Art

As a child, Osman was encouraged to draw. He began creating visual art at the age of eight, spending hours alone conjuring up fairly-like fantasies enfused by his experience as an immigrant. Walt Disney, Fritz Lang, Gustav Klimt, H. R. Giger and the Japanese filmmaker Hayao Miyazaki were among his main influences.[3][4] An overall Vogue Magazine sensibility is also evident in the sensuous physiques and catwalk poses of his figures.[3] According to Osman, his art was a creative outlet through which he could channel his frustrations at growing up in a society that did not tolerate homosexuality. His painted images of "goddess-like" women were thus for him "the acceptable, alluring face of what was a dangerous transgression".[3] He also describes his visual creations as "a way of distilling mania and transforming it into something beautiful."[4]

Writing in Another Africa, Elmi Ali notes that Osman's images, "which usually feature female heroines, adorned in intricate lines, decadent and colourful", are "reminiscent of the Art Nouveau masters of the past[...] The Austrian artist Gustav Klimt is hinted at but his work finds an uncanny kinship in Margaret Macdonald Mackintosh, a brilliant Scottish artist also of the Art Nouveau period." However, Ali remarks that Osman's work, like that of William S. Burroughs, "goes a step further, and incorporates Arabic calligraphy and Hebrew".[24] To this end, Osman's piece THE GODDESS COMPLEX – Aquatic Arabesque, which he painted over a three-week commission for an Omani-English couple with whom he was friends, features a poem entitled "Your Love" by the Syrian poet Nizar Qabbani.[25]

Osman usually paints using 3D textile paint, glow-in-the-dark glue, powder dye and temporary tatto stickers, among other craft-based materials. He also utilizes Swarovski crystals for a more lavish effect.[4]

Awards

In 2014, Osman's short story collection Fairytales For Lost Children was longlisted for the annual Polari First Book Prize.[26]

Works

  • Fairytales For Lost Children (2013)

Notes

  1. ^ "FAIRYTALES FOR LOST CHILDREN". "Team Angelica". Retrieved 23 August 2014.
  2. ^ "Fairytales for Lost Children". Team Angelica. Retrieved 29 August 2013.
  3. ^ a b c d e "Artist Diriye Osman". Saatchi Online. Retrieved 29 August 2013.
  4. ^ a b c d e "Interview: Diriye Osman". Beige Magazine. Retrieved 29 August 2013.
  5. ^ a b "Finding my voice". Prospect Magazine. Retrieved 29 August 2013. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  6. ^ "All Hail the African Renaissance: The Storymoja Hay Festival with the British Council in Nairobi". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 29 August 2013. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  7. ^ "Pavilion". Prospect Magazine. Retrieved 29 August 2013. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  8. ^ "Where is African literature at today?". New Internationalist. Retrieved 29 August 2013. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  9. ^ Westhale, July (28 September 2013). "'Fairytales for Lost Children' by Diriye Osman". Lambda Literary. Retrieved 31 October 2013.
  10. ^ Fitzpatrick, James (9 October 2013). "Happily Ever After, After All". Next Magazine. Retrieved 31 October 2013.
  11. ^ Evaristo, Bernardine (14 October 2013). "Book review: Fairytales for Lost Children, by Diriye Osman". The Independent. Retrieved 31 October 2013.
  12. ^ "POLARI FIRST BOOK PRIZE DOUBLES SUBMISSIONS AND REVEALS 2014 LONGLIST". Polari Literary Salon. Retrieved 23 August 2014.
  13. ^ "Diriye Osman". Diriye Osman. Retrieved 17 August 2014.
  14. ^ "Diriye Osman". huffington post. Retrieved 23 August 2014.
  15. ^ "The Delicious Soulfulness of Dianne Reeves". Huffington Post. Retrieved 23 August 2014. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  16. ^ "The Sublime Lalah Hathaway". Huffington Post. Retrieved 23 August 2014. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  17. ^ a b "Meshell Ndegeocello, a Master of Her Craft and Destiny". Huffington Post. Retrieved 23 August 2014. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help) Cite error: The named reference "Huffington Post18" was defined multiple times with different content (see the help page).
  18. ^ "To Be Young, Gay and African". Huffington Post. Retrieved 23 August 2014. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  19. ^ "How Mental Illness Fed My Creativity". Huffington Post. Retrieved 23 August 2014. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  20. ^ "Femininity in Men Is a Form of Power". Huffington Post. Retrieved 23 August 2014. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  21. ^ "The Caine Prize and the Rise of the African Short Story". Huffington Post. Retrieved 23 August 2014. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  22. ^ "How Art Can Save a Life". Huffington Post. Retrieved 23 August 2014. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  23. ^ "Why We Must Tell Our Own Stories". Huffington Post. Retrieved 23 August 2014. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  24. ^ "F is for Fairytales". Another Africa. Retrieved 29 August 2013.
  25. ^ "THE GODDESS COMPLEX – Aquatic Arabesque". Saatchi Online. Retrieved 31 October 2013.
  26. ^ "Polari First Book Prize". Retrieved 17 August 2014.

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