In an essay published recently in The Guardian, award winning author of Homegoing Yaa Gyasi talks about her “writing space.” The essay opens with a story about her ordering a desk that never arrived. After a number of frustrating customer service calls and an hour of tears and trying to figure out why the absence of the desk […]
Tag Archives: homegoing
Yaa Gyasi’s Homegoing (Nearly) Claims Its Fourth Award of 2017
Yaa Gyasi’s hot debut novel, Homegoing, just fell short of bagging its fourth award of 2017, following wins of the National Book Critics Circle Award’s John Leonard Prize, the 2017 PEN Hemingway Award for Debut Fiction, and the American Book Awards. It was named runner-up for the 2017 Dayton Literary Peace Prize for fiction, ceding […]
American Book Awards: Yaa Gyasi’s Homegoing Wins Its Third Prize of 2017
Yaa Gyasi’s Homegoing is among the sixteen winners of the 2017 American Book Awards. This recognition is the third major prize picked by the debut novel in 2017 as well as since its June 2016 publication, following its wins of the 2017 National Book Critics’ Circle’s John Leonard First Book Prize and the 2017 PEN Hemingway […]
Yaa Gyasi’s Homegoing Is Mandatory Reading for Stanford University Freshers
Yaa Gyasi’s multigenerational novel Homegoing is now mandatory reading for freshers at her alma mater, Stanford University. The heavy-hitting first novel was chosen as part of the university’s “Three Books” programme in which freshers are encouraged to read three recommended books. Set in Ghana and the US, Homegoing spans three centuries and seven generations, and follows […]
Dear Ms. Paper: Why Does Yaa Gyasi’s Homegoing Bother Me So Much?
Dear Ms. Paper I found Gyasi’s Homegoing a dizzying, confusing wreck of a novel. It felt like way too many characters were jostling for space in a story that should just be about two women. The plot movement was too choppy for my taste, to be honest. Right when you’re getting invested in a character, […]
Yaa Gyasi’s Homegoing Wins the National Book Critics Circle’s John Leonard Prize
Yaa Gyasi’s Homegoing has been awarded the National Book Critics Circle’s John Leonard Prize for the best debut novel. This is truly delightful news. Last December, she was shortlisted alongside Brit Bennett’s The Mothers, Emma Cline’s The Girls, Nicole Dennis-Benn’s Here Comes the Sun, Nathan Hill’s The Nix, and Max Porter’s Grief Is the Thing […]
My Favorite Books by African Writers in 2016 | by Zahrah Nesbitt-Ahmed
Call me biased, but 2016 was another great year for African literature. Cassava Republic Press launched in the UK with an aim to “change the way the world thinks about African writing.” Works written in African languages were translated into English — including two books published by Phoneme Media, Roland Rugero’s Baho! (said to be […]
I hold a doctorate in English from Duke University and recently joined the Marquette University English faculty as an Assistant Professor. I love teaching African fiction and contemporary British novels. Brittle Paper is the virtual space/station where I play and experiment with ideas on how to reinvent African fiction and literary culture.
