Helen Oyeyemi
Helen Oyeyemi | |
---|---|
Born | Helen Oyeyemi 10 December 1984 Ibadan, Nigeria |
Occupation | Writer |
Genre | Fiction |
Helen Oyeyemi (born 10 December 1984) is a British novelist and writer of short stories. Since 2014 her home has been in Prague.[1][2]
Life and career[]
Oyeyemi was born in Nigeria and was raised in Lewisham, South London from when she was four.[3][4] Oyeyemi wrote her first novel, The Icarus Girl, while studying for her A-levels[5] at Cardinal Vaughan Memorial School. While studying at Corpus Christi College, Cambridge, Oyeyemi's plays Juniper's Whitening and Victimese were performed by fellow students to critical acclaim and subsequently published by Methuen.[citation needed] In 2007 Bloomsbury published Oyeyemi's second novel, The Opposite House, which is inspired by Cuban mythology.[6][7] Her third novel, White Is for Witching, was published by Picador in May 2009. A fourth novel, Mr Fox, was published by Picador in June 2011,[8] and a fifth, Boy, Snow, Bird, in 2014.[9]
Oyeyemi published a story collection What Is Not Yours Is Not Yours, in 2016.[10] Oyeyemi's latest work, a novel titled Gingerbread, was published 5 March 2019.[11]
Professional awards and recognition[]
Her novel White Is for Witching was a 2009 Shirley Jackson Award finalist[12] and won a 2010 Somerset Maugham Award.[13] In 2009 Oyeyemi was recognized as one of the women on Venus Zine's "25 under 25" list.[14] In 2013 she was included in the Granta Best of Young British Novelists list.[15] Boy, Snow, Bird was a finalist for the Los Angeles Times Book Prize in 2014.[16] What Is Not Yours Is Not Yours won the PEN Open Book Award: for an exceptional book-length work of literature by an author of colour published in 2016.[17]
Oyeyemi was a judge on the Booktrust Independent Foreign Fiction Prize for 2015,[18] and served as a judge for the 2015 Scotiabank Giller Prize.[19]
Bibliography[]
Novels[]
- The Icarus Girl (2005)[20]
- The Opposite House (2007)[21]
- White Is for Witching (2009)[22]
- Mr. Fox (2011)[23]
- Boy, Snow, Bird (2014)[9]
- Gingerbread (2019)[24]
- Peaces (2021)[25]
Plays[]
Short story collections[]
- What Is Not Yours Is Not Yours (2016)[28]
References[]
- ^ Hoggard, Liz (2 March 2014). "Helen Oyeyemi: 'I'm interested in the way women disappoint one another'". The Guardian. London. Retrieved 20 November 2016.
- ^ Bradshaw, M. René (16 March 2016). "What is Not Yours is Not Yours by Helen Oyeyemi". The London Magazine. Retrieved 20 November 2016.
- ^ Quinn, Annalisa (7 March 2014). "The Professionally Haunted Life Of Helen Oyeyemi". NPR. Retrieved 31 January 2021.
- ^ Hoggard, Liz (2 March 2014). "Helen Oyeyemi: 'I'm interested in the way women disappoint one another'". The Guardian. Retrieved 31 January 2021.
- ^ Jordan, Justine (11 June 2011). "Mr Fox by Helen Oyeyemi – review". The Guardian. Retrieved 30 January 2012.
- ^ "Oyeyemi's 'Opposite House'". Tell Me More. 26 June 2007. NPR.
- ^ D'Erasmo, Stacey (27 February 2014). "Helen Oyeyemi's 'Boy, Snow, Bird' turns a fairy tale inside out". The Los Angeles Times.
- ^ "Mr Fox by Helen Oyeyemi – review", The Observer, 13 May 2012.
- ^ Jump up to: a b Quinn, Annalisa (7 March 2014). "The Professionally Haunted Life of Helen Oyeyemi". NPR.
- ^ Oyeyemi, Helen (8 March 2016). What Is Not Yours Is Not Yours. Place of publication not identified: Riverhead Books. ISBN 9781594634635.
- ^ Charles, Ron. "Review | Helen Oyeyemi's 'Gingerbread' recipe: Fairy tales with a dash of surrealism". The Washington Post. Retrieved 29 May 2020.
- ^ "The Shirley Jackson Awards " 2009 Shirley Jackson Awards Winners". Retrieved 29 May 2020.
- ^ "Helen Oyeyemi - Literature". literature.britishcouncil.org. Retrieved 29 May 2020.
- ^ Woman.NG (16 March 2016). "You'll Want To Get Helen Oyeyemi's New Book 'What is Not Yours is Not Yours' After Reading These Reviews". Woman.NG. Retrieved 29 May 2020.
- ^ "Granta 123: Best of Young British Novelists 4". Granta (123). 2013. Archived from the original on 17 April 2013.
- ^ Swanson, Clare (5 March 2015). "L.A. Times Book Prize Finalists Announced". www.publishersweekly.com. Retrieved 29 May 2020.
- ^ "2017 PEN America Literary Awards Winners", Pen America, 22 February 2017.
- ^ Irvine, Lindesay (27 May 2015). "Jenny Erpenbeck Wins Independent Foreign Fiction Prize". The Guardian. Retrieved 24 June 2015.
- ^ Medley, Mark (14 January 2015). "The Giller Prize expands its jury to five people". The Globe and Mail.
- ^ Downer, Lesley (17 July 2005). "The Icarus Girl: The Play Date From Hell". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 29 May 2020.
- ^ Shamsie, Kamila (12 May 2007). "Review: The Opposite House by Helen Oyeyemi". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 29 May 2020.
- ^ Ervin, Andrew (8 September 2009). "Miri's Hunger". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 29 May 2020.
- ^ Bender, Aimee (28 October 2011). "A Writer of Slasher Books Finds More Than a Muse". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 29 May 2020.
- ^ "Gingerbread by Helen Oyeyemi". Pan Macmillan. Retrieved 29 May 2020.
- ^ Smith, Josh (2020). "Helen Oyeyemi moves to Faber for Peaces". Retrieved 25 February 2021.
- ^ "Juniper's Whitening by Helen Oyeyemi", Methuen.
- ^ Brown, Helen (9 January 2005). "A writer's life: Helen Oyeyemi". The Daily Telegraph. ISSN 0307-1235. Retrieved 29 May 2020.
- ^ Berg, Laura Van Den (18 March 2016). "What Is Not Yours Is Not Yours, by Helen Oyeyemi". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 29 May 2020.
External links[]
- "Too Talented to be This Young" from The Globe and Mail.
- "Helen Oyeyemi on haunted house novels", La Clé des Langues, 28 August 2012.
- Author Page on PEN American Center website.
- Author Page on picador.com.
- "i live with him, i see his face, i go no more away" (short story, New Statesman, 18 December 1996.
- Author Page on AALBC.com website.
- "A Muse Gets Mad In Oyeyemi's Magical 'Mr. Fox'" (interview), NPR Books, 2 October 2011.
- 1984 births
- Living people
- Black British writers
- Alumni of Corpus Christi College, Cambridge
- English people of Nigerian descent
- English people of Yoruba descent
- Fellows of the Royal Society of Literature
- Writers from London
- Nigerian emigrants to the United Kingdom
- British women novelists
- Yoruba women writers
- 21st-century British novelists
- 21st-century British women writers
- British short story writers
- Nigerian fantasy writers
- 21st-century British short story writers
- Weird fiction writers