Helen Oyeyemi

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Helen Oyeyemi
Helen Oyeyemi in January 2021
Helen Oyeyemi in January 2021
BornHelen Oyeyemi
(1984-12-10) 10 December 1984 (age 36)
Ibadan, Nigeria
OccupationWriter
GenreFiction

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[]

Plays[]

  • Juniper's Whitening (2004)[26]
  • Victimese (2005)[27]

Short story collections[]

  • What Is Not Yours Is Not Yours (2016)[28]

References[]

  1. ^ Hoggard, Liz (2 March 2014). "Helen Oyeyemi: 'I'm interested in the way women disappoint one another'". The Guardian. London. Retrieved 20 November 2016.
  2. ^ Bradshaw, M. René (16 March 2016). "What is Not Yours is Not Yours by Helen Oyeyemi". The London Magazine. Retrieved 20 November 2016.
  3. ^ Quinn, Annalisa (7 March 2014). "The Professionally Haunted Life Of Helen Oyeyemi". NPR. Retrieved 31 January 2021.
  4. ^ Hoggard, Liz (2 March 2014). "Helen Oyeyemi: 'I'm interested in the way women disappoint one another'". The Guardian. Retrieved 31 January 2021.
  5. ^ Jordan, Justine (11 June 2011). "Mr Fox by Helen Oyeyemi – review". The Guardian. Retrieved 30 January 2012.
  6. ^ "Oyeyemi's 'Opposite House'". Tell Me More. 26 June 2007. NPR.
  7. ^ D'Erasmo, Stacey (27 February 2014). "Helen Oyeyemi's 'Boy, Snow, Bird' turns a fairy tale inside out". The Los Angeles Times.
  8. ^ "Mr Fox by Helen Oyeyemi – review", The Observer, 13 May 2012.
  9. ^ Jump up to: a b Quinn, Annalisa (7 March 2014). "The Professionally Haunted Life of Helen Oyeyemi". NPR.
  10. ^ Oyeyemi, Helen (8 March 2016). What Is Not Yours Is Not Yours. Place of publication not identified: Riverhead Books. ISBN 9781594634635.
  11. ^ Charles, Ron. "Review | Helen Oyeyemi's 'Gingerbread' recipe: Fairy tales with a dash of surrealism". The Washington Post. Retrieved 29 May 2020.
  12. ^ "The Shirley Jackson Awards " 2009 Shirley Jackson Awards Winners". Retrieved 29 May 2020.
  13. ^ "Helen Oyeyemi - Literature". literature.britishcouncil.org. Retrieved 29 May 2020.
  14. ^ 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.
  15. ^ "Granta 123: Best of Young British Novelists 4". Granta (123). 2013. Archived from the original on 17 April 2013.
  16. ^ Swanson, Clare (5 March 2015). "L.A. Times Book Prize Finalists Announced". www.publishersweekly.com. Retrieved 29 May 2020.
  17. ^ "2017 PEN America Literary Awards Winners", Pen America, 22 February 2017.
  18. ^ Irvine, Lindesay (27 May 2015). "Jenny Erpenbeck Wins Independent Foreign Fiction Prize". The Guardian. Retrieved 24 June 2015.
  19. ^ Medley, Mark (14 January 2015). "The Giller Prize expands its jury to five people". The Globe and Mail.
  20. ^ Downer, Lesley (17 July 2005). "The Icarus Girl: The Play Date From Hell". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 29 May 2020.
  21. ^ Shamsie, Kamila (12 May 2007). "Review: The Opposite House by Helen Oyeyemi". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 29 May 2020.
  22. ^ Ervin, Andrew (8 September 2009). "Miri's Hunger". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 29 May 2020.
  23. ^ 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.
  24. ^ "Gingerbread by Helen Oyeyemi". Pan Macmillan. Retrieved 29 May 2020.
  25. ^ Smith, Josh (2020). "Helen Oyeyemi moves to Faber for Peaces". Retrieved 25 February 2021.
  26. ^ "Juniper's Whitening by Helen Oyeyemi", Methuen.
  27. ^ Brown, Helen (9 January 2005). "A writer's life: Helen Oyeyemi". The Daily Telegraph. ISSN 0307-1235. Retrieved 29 May 2020.
  28. ^ 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[]

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