Zalika Reid-Benta
Zalika Reid-Benta | |
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| Born | Toronto, Ontario, Canada |
| Occupation | Author |
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Zalika Reid-Benta is a Canadian writer,[1] whose debut short story collection Frying Plaintain was a longlisted nominee for the 2019 Giller Prize.[2] The book is a collection of linked short stories centring on the coming of age of Kara Davis, a young Jamaican-Canadian girl growing up in the Eglinton West neighbourhood of Toronto, Ontario.[3]
In 2020, the book was shortlisted for the Kobo Emerging Writer Award, Danuta Gleed Literary Award[4] and the Trillium Book Award.[5]
Reid-Benta studied at the University of Toronto and subsequently earned an MFA in fiction at Columbia University.[3] She attended the 2017 Writers Studio at the Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity and was a 2019 Fiction Fellow at the Bread Loaf Writers Conference. Prior to the publication of her book, she was mentored by writers Paul Beatty, Janice Galloway, Victor LaValle, George Elliott Clarke and Olive Senior.[3] She currently works as the program manager at Diaspora Dialogues, a Toronto-based organization for emerging writers of colour.[3]
References
- ^ Ryan B. Patrick, "Why Zalika Reid-Benta wrote a short story collection that looks at growing up young and black in Toronto". CBC Books, July 9, 2019.
- ^ Deborah Dundas, "Margaret Atwood, Andre Alexis among 12 authors up for $100,000 Giller book prize". Toronto Star, September 3, 2019.
- ^ a b c d Deborah Dundas, "Zalika Reid-Benta’s debut book puts midtown Toronto on the page at last". Toronto Star, June 7, 2019.
- ^ Samraweet Yohannes, "Zalika Reid-Benta & Christy Ann Conlin among finalists for $10K Danuta Gleed Literary Award". CBC Books, May 6, 2020.
- ^ Ryan Porter, "Téa Mutonji, Zalika Reid-Benta, and Seth among finalists for Trillium Book Awards". Quill & Quire, May 12, 2020.
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