Esi Edugyan
Esi Edugyan | |
|---|---|
| Born | 1978 (age 45–46) Calgary, Alberta |
| Occupation | Writer |
| Nationality | Canadian |
| Period | 2004–present |
| Notable works | Half-Blood Blues |
| Notable awards | Scotiabank Giller Prize 2011 Half-Blood Blues |
| Spouse | Steven Price |
Esi Edugyan (born 1978) is a Canadian novelist.[1]
Biography
Born and raised in Calgary, Alberta, to Ghanaian immigrant parents,[1] Edugyan studied creative writing at the University of Victoria, where she was mentored by Jack Hodgins, and earned a master's degree from Johns Hopkins Writing Seminars,[1][2] Her debut novel, The Second Life of Samuel Tyne, was published in 2004 and was shortlisted for the Hurston-Wright Legacy Award in 2005.[3]
Despite favourable reviews for her first novel, Edugyan had difficulty securing a publisher for her second fiction manuscript.[1] She spent some time as a writer-in-residence in Stuttgart, Germany, which inspired her to drop her unsold manuscript and write another novel, Half-Blood Blues, about a mixed-race jazz musician in World War II-era Europe who is abducted by the Nazis as a "Rhineland Bastard".[1]
Published in 2011, Half-Blood Blues was announced as a shortlisted nominee for that year's Man Booker Prize,[4] Scotiabank Giller Prize,[5] Rogers Writers' Trust Fiction Prize[6] and Governor General's Award for English language fiction.[7] Edugyan was one of two Canadian writers, alongside Patrick deWitt, to make all four award lists in 2011.[5][8]
On 8 November 2011, she won the Giller Prize for Half-Blood Blues.[9][10] Again alongside deWitt, Half-Blood Blues was shortlisted for the 2012 Walter Scott Prize for historical fiction.[11] In April 2012, it was announced that Edugyan had won an Anisfield-Wolf Book Award for Half-Blood Blues.[12]
In 2014 she published her first work of non-fiction, Dreaming of Elsewhere: Observations on Home, with the University of Alberta Press.[13] In 2016 Edugyan was writer-in-residence at Athabasca University in Edmonton, Alberta.
Her third novel, Washington Black, is slated for publication in September 2018.[14] In July 2018 it was longlisted for the Man Booker Prize.[15]
Personal life
Edugyan lives in Victoria, British Columbia, and is married to novelist and poet Steven Price, whom she met when they were both students at the University of Victoria.[1] Her first child was born in August 2011.[16]
Works
- The Second Life of Samuel Tyne (2004)
- Half-Blood Blues (2011)
- Dreaming of Elsewhere: Observations on Home (2014)
- Washington Black (2018)
References
- ^ a b c d e f Donna Bailey Nurse, "Writing the blues". Quill & Quire, July 2011.
- ^ John Threlfall, "Writing grad Esi Edugyan makes shortlist trifecta", Fine Arts, University of Victoria, 4 October 2011.
- ^ "Esi Edugyan: History, Culture, and Belonging", The Douglas Review, 1 May 2017.
- ^ "Two Canadians Shortlisted for Man Booker". The Mark, 6 September 2011.
- ^ a b John Barber, "Generation Giller: New young writers dominate Canada's richest fiction prize",The Globe and Mail, 4 October 2011.
- ^ John, Barber, "Booker nominees Edugyan, deWitt make shortlist for Writers' Trust prize",The Globe and Mail, 28 September 2011.
- ^ Greg Quill, "Edugyan, deWitt contemplate 'an embarrassment of riches'" Archived 4 January 2013 at archive.today. Toronto Star, 11 October 2011.
- ^ John Barber, "Edugyan and deWitt add GGs to long list of nominations", The Globe and Mail, 11 October 2011.
- ^ "Esi Edugyan wins the Giller Prize". CBC News, 8 November 2011.
- ^ John Barber, "Author Esi Edugyan takes home the Giller Prize", The Globe and Mail, 8 November 2011.
- ^ "Edugyan and deWitt face off in yet another literary contest", The Globe and Mail, 4 April 2012.
- ^ "The 2012 Anisfield-Wolf Award Winners Announced". Cleveland Public Library, 25 April 2012.
- ^ Julie Baldassi, "Spring preview 2014: non-fiction, part 2", Quill & Quire, 18 January 2014.
- ^ "Read an excerpt and see the cover of Esi Edugyan's upcoming novel, Washington Black". CBC Books, 26 April 2018.
- ^ "Man Booker prize 2018 longlist – in pictures". The Guardian. 23 July 2018. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 24 July 2018.
- ^ Marsha Lederman, "Esi Edugyan: A new baby, and an armful of literary-award nominations", The Globe and Mail, 7 October 2011.
External links
- Esi Edugyan
- Christian DuChateau, "Author plays the 'Half-Blood Blues'", CNN, 6 March 2012.
- "Q&A with Esi Edugyan, Writer-in-Residence", Athabasca University, 8 February 2016.
- Ryan B. Patrick, "Esi Edugyan on making history and inspiring a new generation of Black writers", Books, CBC, 1 March 2018.
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
| People | |
| Other | |
- Canadian women novelists
- Writers from Calgary
- Black Canadian writers
- University of Victoria alumni
- Johns Hopkins University alumni
- Living people
- Canadian people of Ghanaian descent
- Writers from Victoria, British Columbia
- 1978 births
- 21st-century Canadian novelists
- 21st-century Canadian women writers
- Black Canadian women