Esi Edugyan
Esi Edugyan | |
---|---|
Edugyan reading at the Eden Mills Writers' Festival in 2018 | |
Born |
1978 (age 39–40) 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 November 8. 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 September 2012, in a ceremony in Cleveland, Ohio, Edugyan received the Anisfield-Wolf Book Award in fiction for Half-Blood Blues, chosen by a jury consisting of Rita Dove, Henry Louis Gates Jr., Joyce Carol Oates, Steven Pinker and Simon Schama.[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, was published in September 2018.[14] In September 2018 it was shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize[15] and the Rogers Writers' Trust Fiction Prize,[16] and in October it was shortlisted for the Giller Prize.[17]
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.[18]
Works
- The Second Life of Samuel Tyne (2004)
- Half-Blood Blues (2011)
- Dreaming of Elsewhere: Observations on Home (2014)
- Washington Black (2018)
References
- 1 2 3 4 5 6 Donna Bailey Nurse, "Writing the blues". Quill & Quire, July 2011.
- ↑ John Threlfall, "Writing grad Esi Edugyan makes shortlist trifecta", Fine Arts, University of Victoria, October 4, 2011.
- ↑ "Esi Edugyan: History, Culture, and Belonging", The Douglas Review, May 1, 2017.
- ↑ "Two Canadians Shortlisted for Man Booker". The Mark, September 6, 2011.
- 1 2 John Barber, "Generation Giller: New young writers dominate Canada's richest fiction prize". The Globe and Mail, October 4, 2011.
- ↑ John, Barber, "Booker nominees Edugyan, deWitt make shortlist for Writers' Trust prize". The Globe and Mail, September 28, 2011.
- ↑ Greg Quill, "Edugyan, deWitt contemplate 'an embarrassment of riches'" Archived January 4, 2013, at Archive.is. Toronto Star, October 11, 2011.
- ↑ John Barber, "Edugyan and deWitt add GGs to long list of nominations". The Globe and Mail, October 11, 2011.
- ↑ "Esi Edugyan wins the Giller Prize". CBC News, November 8, 2011.
- ↑ John Barber, "Author Esi Edugyan takes home the Giller Prize", The Globe and Mail, November 8. 2011.
- ↑ "Edugyan and deWitt face off in yet another literary contest". The Globe and Mail, April 4, 2012.
- ↑ "The 2012 Anisfield-Wolf Award Winners Announced". Cleveland Public Library, April 25, 2012.
- ↑ Julie Baldassi, "Spring preview 2014: non-fiction, part 2". Quill & Quire, January 18, 2014.
- ↑ "Read an excerpt and see the cover of Esi Edugyan's upcoming novel, Washington Black". CBC Books, April 26, 2018.
- ↑ "Washington Black | The Man Booker Prizes". themanbookerprize.com. Retrieved September 25, 2018.
- ↑ "Edugyan, Hage among Rogers Writers’ Trust Fiction finalists". Quill & Quire, September 26, 2018.
- ↑ "Esi Edugyan, Patrick deWitt among finalists for $100,000 Giller Prize". Toronto Star, October 1, 2018.
- ↑ Marsha Lederman, "Esi Edugyan: A new baby, and an armful of literary-award nominations". The Globe and Mail, October 7, 2011.