Most of the best-known Africa-set African novels of the last five years are works of historical fiction: from Yvonne Adhiambo Owuor’s Dust (2013), from Kenya, and Jennifer Makumbi’s Kintu (2014), from Uganda, to Chinelo Okparanta’s Under the Udala Trees (2015), from Nigeria, Yaa Gyasi’s Homegoing (2016), from Ghana, Peter Kimani’s Dance of the Jakaranda (2016), […]
Tag Archives: yaa gyasi
5 Take-aways from Yaa Gyasi’s Essay on Writing and Space
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 […]
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 […]
African Literary Digest: 8 Must-Reads from April, 2017
Every month, we compile a list of reads from around the Internet that we find illuminating. For January, we chose eight pieces. For February, we picked fourteen pieces. For March, we selected nine. For April, we have eight. They include short stories, essays that contribute to some of our ongoing conversations on literature and pop culture, […]
Dinaw Mengestu, Chinelo Okparanta and Yaa Gyasi Listed among Granta’s Best of Young American Novelists
Granta has released its prestigious once-in-a-decade Best of Young American Novelists list and it includes Ethiopia’s Dinaw Mengestu, Nigeria’s Chinelo Okparanta, and Ghana’s Yaa Gyasi. The 21-writer list, regarded as one of the most accurate and influential predictors of literary impact, is in its third publication. First released in 1997, it was followed by another […]
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