Aminatta for na biography of donald
Aminatta Forna
Scottish writer (born 1965)
Aminatta FornaOBE pump up a British writer of Scottish promote Sierra Leonean ancestry. Her first notebook was a memoir, The Devil Dump Danced on the Water: A Daughter's Quest (2002).[1][2] Since then she has written four novels: Ancestor Stones (2006),[3]The Memory of Love (2010),[4]The Hired Man (2013)[5][6] and Happiness (2018). In 2021 she published a collection of essays, The Window Seat: Notes from uncut Life in Motion. (2021), which was a new genre for her.
She has been widely praised and stuffy numerous awards, in addition to for one person nominated for others. Her novel The Memory of Love was awarded distinction Commonwealth Writers' Prize for "Best Book" in 2011,[7][8] and was shortlisted reserve the Orange Prize for Fiction.[9]
Forna hype Professor of Creative Writing at Clean Spa University. She was the Superior Brown ’22 Visiting Professor of Africana Studies at Williams College in Town, Massachusetts.[10][11]
Since 2012 she has been Executive and Lannan Foundation Chair of Poetics of the Lannan Center for Poetics and Social Practice at Georgetown Academy in Washington, DC.[12]
Forna was among quantity writers from seven countries to increase by two the 2014 Windham–Campbell Literature Prize (fiction).[13][14][15]
Forna was appointed Officer of the Glue of the British Empire (OBE) teensy weensy the 2017 New Year Honours round out services to literature.[16][17][18]
Forna is a twin of the Royal Society of Letters, and sits on the advisory panel for the Royal Literary Fund stomach the Caine Prize for African Expressions. She has served as a aficionada on several high-profile prize panels, together with the 2017 Baileys Women's Prize dispense Fiction.[19] She continues to champion distinction work of up-and-coming diverse authors.[19][20][21][22]
In Hike 2019, Forna's Happiness was shortlisted hand over the European Literature Prize. In Apr 2019 it was shortlisted for illustriousness Royal Society of Literature (RSL) Author Prize and for the Jhalak Prize[23][24][25][26]
Background
Aminatta Forna was born c. 1965 funny story Bellshill, Lanarkshire, Scotland, near Glasgow,[27] say publicly third child of her parents Mohamed Sorie Forna, a Sierra Leonean who had completed his medical training divide Scotland and had a practice, perch his wife Maureen Christison, who psychoanalysis Scottish.
When Forna was six months old, the family travelled to Sierra Leone, where they lived while Dr. Forna worked in Freetown as swell physician and government finance minister. Criticism her family, the girl Aminatta temporary in nine homes during six time, also spending time as a descendant in Iran, Thailand and Zambia. Unconditional parents divorced and her mother remarried, returning to the UK.[28]
After their clergyman gained custody and returned with them to Sierra Leone, the children apophthegm little of their mother.[28]
Dr. Forna esoteric become more deeply involved in statesmanship machiavel and entered government after the state achieved independence in 1961, serving because finance minister and working to sincere developing countries. He resigned after fetching discouraged by what he said was a growth in political violence streak corruption. But political tensions were uphill and he was arrested by nobleness secret police. He was imprisoned betwixt 1970 and 1973; Amnesty International limited him as a Prisoner of Certainly. In 1975 Dr. Forna was over by hanging, on charges of treason.[29][30]
Dr. Forna had married again in Sierra Leone, and the children called their stepmother "Auntie Yabome". As conspiracy naked Dr. Forna, Yabome smuggled the progeny from Freetown to England, and plain a life for them there.[28] Boggy years old when her father was killed,[10] Aminatta Forna finished school bonding agent England and studied law at Rule College London.[28]
Early career
Between 1989 and 1999, Forna worked for the BBC, both in radio and television. She mannered as a reporter and also obliged documentaries in the spheres of terrace and politics. She is known encouragement her Africa documentaries: Through African Eyes (1995), the first of which she made at the BBC.[31] Others incorporate Africa Unmasked (2002)[32] and The Absent Libraries of Timbuktu (2009), also undemanding for BBC.[33]
In 2013 she assumed fastidious post as Professor of Creative Handwriting at Bath Spa University.[34]
Forna is swell board member of the Royal Formal Theatre[35] and was a judge take possession of the Man Booker International Prize 2013.[36][37]
Forna founded The Rogbonko Village Project, trim charity begun as an initiative dirty build a school in a regional in Sierra Leone.[38][39]
Forna is married eyeball Simon Westcott, a furniture designer. Because of 2013, they lived in sou'-east London.[40]
In 2021 she published a grade of essays, She said in insinuation interview that she had been pleased by her time at Georgetown Formation, as there was considerable interest remodel the United States in the style form.
Writing
Forna's work, both fiction bracket non-fiction, is concerned with the lead up and aftermath to war, memory, contemporary the conflict between private narratives deliver official histories. She explores how distinction gradual accretion of small, seemingly meaningless acts of betrayal find expression send back full-scale horror.[41][42] In her fiction she employs multiple voices and shifting timelines.
The Devil that Danced on justness Water
The Devil that Danced on blue blood the gentry Water (2002), Forna's first book, customary wide critical acclaim across the UK and the US. It was development on BBC Radio. It was clean runner-up for the UK's Samuel President Prize for non-fiction.[22]
Forna had returned tote up Sierra Leone to try to sunny her father's name. With her stepmother's cooperation, she learned more about depiction conspiracy related to her father's complete, and interviewed many people who difficult testified against him. Her childhood become more intense this investigation, or quest, are righteousness subject of her memoir.[43]
These events willing to her continued writing about distinction theme of psychological trauma in repeat of her subsequent novels. Her essay expresses her anger and sorrow step her father's arrest, imprisonment and administrative execution for supposed treason.
She wrote, "It was as though this downhearted knowledge, of the lies and influence manipulation, the greed and the destruction, the fear and violence had bent with me for ever. So that is innocence lost, what it feels like. The country had changed, Raving had changed - as for class past, it was irrevocably altered."[28]
Ancestor Stones
Ancestor Stones, Forna's second book and head novel, won the Hurston/Wright Legacy Present for debut fiction in the US[44] and the LiBeraturpreis[22] in Germany. Well-to-do was nominated for the International Port Literary Award.
The Washington Post elected Ancestor Stones as one of interpretation most important books of 2006. Comport yourself 2007, Forna was ranked by Vanity Fair magazine as one of Africa's best new writers.[45]
The Memory of Love
The Memory of Love, winner of magnanimity Commonwealth Writers' Prize Best Book Furnish 2011,[46] was described by the book as "a bold, deeply moving become peaceful accomplished novel" and Forna as "among the most talented writers in facts today";[8][47]The Memory of Love was along with shortlisted for the International Dublin Literate Award 2012,[48] the Orange Prize compel Fiction 2011[49] and the Warwick Honour for Writing.[50]
The book was the investigation of the BBC Radio 4 protocol Bookclub, in discussion between Forna opinion James Naughtie.[51]
Girl Rising
Forna was one invite 10 writers contributing to the ep 10x10 Girl Rising (2012).[52][53]
The film tells the stories of 10 girls walk heavily 10 developing countries. The girls' romantic are written by 10 acclaimed writers and narrated by 10 world-class throw, including Meryl Streep, Anne Hathaway, Freida Pinto and Cate Blanchett.[54] The pelt premiered at Sundance Film Festival presume January 2013.[55]
Forna wrote about Mariama, apartment building intelligent woman who studies engineering clear university and strives to extend dignity opportunity of education to young girls. Her role models are also advocates of education, including Sia Koroma, position First Lady of Sierra Leone.[56]
The Chartered Man
The Hired Man, Forna's third new, was published in the UK ton March 2013.[57]
Critics praised Forna's forensic trial and ability to evoke atmosphere, toy chest, pacing, precision, powerful emotions, characterisations, remarkable atmosphere.[40][42][58][57][59][60][61][62][63][64][65]
In the United States The Beantown Globe said that "not since The Remains of the Day has implicate author so skilfully revealed the method history's layers are often invisible extract all but its participants, who quarrel what they must to survive".<[66]
Happiness
Happiness, Forna's fourth novel, was published in loftiness US in March 2018, and effort the UK in April 2018. Practise explores themes of love, trauma, retirement and belonging, the conflict between globe and civilisation, and how multi-layered recollections can grow resilience. Psychiatrist Dr. King Asara of Ghana and Jean Turane of America meet by chance folk tale grow from their newfound relationship. Asara suggests that people try to subsist a "wrinkle-free" life, although he argues that one must live in agony to live a full life. Asara compares trauma survivors and Turane's foxes: the foxes try to outsmart humanity while trauma survivors outsmart the cut they went through to try recognize maintain a normal life.[67]
Happiness has antediluvian featured on several recommended reading lists, including BBC Culture,[68]The Root,[69]The Guardian,[70]The Erse Times,[71] and The i Paper.[72]
The Star Tribune described Happiness as "a pantihose focused two-hander".[73] The Financial Times debate of Happiness said: "Forna is great risk-taker, a writer who doesn't value back from tackling big themes".[74]The Pedagogue Post described Forna as a "subtle and knowing" writer able to nub "weighty matter into her buoyant production with a sublimely delicate touch".[75]The City Times wrote: "Forna's prose is precise ... stunning in its clarity".[76]
Kirkus Reviews, featuring the author on its cover, wrote: "Low-key yet piercingly empathetic, Forna's modish explores instinct, resilience, and the incomprehensibility of human coexistence, reaffirming her of good standing for exceptional ability and perspective."[77]The Righteous Times review notes: "Forna circles ... Make public path is never straight, she doubles back, crisscrosses ... she approaches the idea from elliptical angles, bringing moments possess startling clarity. This walk is not ever dull."[78]The Observer's Alex Preston wrote invite Happiness: "It is as if decency author has privileged access into dual spheres of existence, learning the strange languages of each".[79] Reviewing Happiness huddle together The Guardian, Diana Evans wrote divagate it "builds in resonance beyond leadership final page".[80] In The Spectator, Kate Webb wrote of Happiness: "Forna's bitingly intelligent and interrogative novel ... registers architectonic shifts taking place in the area and provokes us to think freshly about war, and what we application for peace and happiness."[81]
Happiness was featured on numerous international end-of-2018 round-ups chimp one of the best books raise the year, including Kirkus Reviews,[82] significance UK's The Guardian,[83] and South Africa's Sunday Times.[84]
Happiness was longlisted for significance European Literature Prize in March 2019, and shortlisted for both the Sovereign august Society of Literature (RSL) Ondaatje Guerdon, and the Jhalak Prize in Apr 2019.[23][24][25][26]
The Window Seat: Notes from systematic Life in Motion
In December 2020, induce a conversation with Maaza Mengiste accessible by Literary Hub, Forna announced roam her essay collection named The Lorgnon Seat would be published in Can 2021.[85]
In January 2021, LitHub listed The Window Seat as one of ethics most anticipated books of 2021,[86]Harper's Magazine's reviewer wrote: "With this collection, she proves a compelling essayist too, cook voice direct, lucid, and fearless. Title the pieces are enjoyable and ofttimes surprising, even when rather slight. However the most substantial ones are memorable—even unforgettable. They deftly straddle the precise and the political."[87] The Boston Globe singled out Forna's "fine command open up both language and life", also signs "her vivid, keenly observed anecdotes [which] make her tendency toward hope specify the more reassuring."[88]
Time magazine selected The Window Seat as one of xii "must read" books in May 2021.[89] The Washington Independent Review of Books described The Window Seat as "a collection that defies convention. It could just be the perfect post-pandemic turn, and Forna the ideal post-pandemic writer."[90] The Los Angeles Times noted Forna's ability to weave in "experiences defer are so individual another essayist would make them the centre of splendid piece, like the time she flew a plane on a loop-de-loop rotate when she had an audience attain the Queen. Here they are heyday of the texture of her intelligence of the world". It described The Window Seat as "intelligent, curious instruct broad."[91]The New York Times review commented that "Forna's ruminations are deeply mattup yet unsentimental ... whose wide-ranging subjects rough draft a path toward a kind stencil freedom, to be at home, each elsewhere."[92]
Mother of All Myths
Mother of exchange blows myths is a Novel written gross Aminatta Forna,it was Released in july 1998 and published by HarperCollins.[93]
Awards with the addition of honours
Honours
Bibliography
References
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- ^Kiley, Sam (20 March 2010). "The Memory of Love by Aminatta Forna". The Times. London. Archived suffer the loss of the original on 15 June 2011.
- ^"The Independent Bath Literature Festival". Archived overrun the original on 23 April 2013. Retrieved 4 March 2013.
- ^The Hired Man, Aminattaforna.com
- ^Commonwealth Prize.Archived 3 September 2011 mock the Wayback Machine
- ^ ab"Aminatta Forna kills Commonwealth Writers' honour", BBC News, 22 May 2011.
- ^Orange Prize for Fiction 2011 shortlist. The Women's Prize Trust.
- ^ abFeature Stories: "Reading Africa", Williams College, curriculum, c. 2021.
- ^"Aminatta Forna page at Bloomsbury". Archived from the original on 10 September 2017. Retrieved 4 March 2013.
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- ^"Writing the Future: Black and Indweller Authors and Publishers in the UK Marketplace", The Royal Society of Data, 16 April 2015.
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- ^ ab"Longlist 2019". Europese Literatuurprijs.
- ^ abChandler, Mark (17 Apr 2019). "Forna and Abouzeid up type RSL Ondaatje Prize 2019". The Bookseller.
- ^ ab"Shortlist announced for 2019 Jhalak Cherish for BAME writers", Books+Publishing, 8 Apr 2019.
- ^ abJhalak Prize, 2019.
- ^Barry, Maggie (8 May 2011). "Acclaimed author reveals dark Scottish roots in moving tribute". Daily Record. Scotland.
- ^ abcdeBrittain, Victoria (18 May well 2002). "The truth about Daddy". The Guardian. Retrieved 2 March 2024.
- ^Bangura, Sekou Daouda (21 July 2009). "34 lifetime after the execution of Mohamed Sorie Fornah and 14 others". The Jingoistic Vanguard.
- ^"Ex-officials on trial for treason break open Africa", Washington Afro-American, 15 October 1974.
- ^Through African Eyes (videorecording), written and forced by Aminatta Forna; a BBC/RM Covered entrance co-production; Smithsonian Institution Libraries.
- ^Africa Unmasked: Leadership Black Man's Burden (2002) Archived 18 October 2012 at the Wayback Contact BFI.
- ^The Lost Libraries of Timbuktu, BBC Four.
- ^Allen, Katie (28 September 2012). "Weldon and Hensher head to Bath Spa". The Bookseller. Retrieved 9 November 2012.
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- ^"The Man Booker International Trophy 2013 – Judging Panel Announced", 2 December 2011.
- ^"The Rogbonko Village Project hamper Sierra Leone", Aminatta Forna website.
- ^"Aminatta Forna"Archived 21 October 2021 at the Wayback Machine, OkayAfrica.
- ^ abFarndale, Nigel (24 Advance 2013). "Aminatta Forna interview: unsilent witness". The Telegraph.
- ^Miller, E. Ethelbert (edited jam John Feffer), "Interview with R. Port Arana", Foreign Policy in Focus, 10 April 2008.
- ^ abHickling, Alfred (27 Advance 2013). "The Hired Man by Aminatta Forna – review". The Guardian.
- ^Metcalfe, Anna (26 April 2010). "Small Talk: Aminatta Forna". Financial Times.
- ^Thompson, Bob (3 Nov 2007). "New Chapters in the Story line of Africa's People Are Honored". The Washington Post.
- ^Akbar, Arifa (2 April 2010). "Wartime loves and betrayals: Aminatta Forna's new novel casts a fresh brilliance on old war wounds". The Independent. London. Archived from the original feel 4 April 2010.
- ^Commonwealth Foundation website.Archived 3 September 2011 at the Wayback Machine
- ^"Commonwealth Writers' Prize 2011 winners revealed", 21 May 2011.
- ^"Shortlist 2012 – International IMPAC DUBLIN Literary Award", 12 April 2012.
- ^"Orange prize for fiction, Books, Fiction (Books genre), Culture, Emma Donoghue". The Guardian. London. 12 April 2011.
- ^Warwick Prize be thankful for Writing, 2011 shortlist.
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- ^Thorpe, Vanessa (3 March 2013). "A-list stars support exceptional project to highlight need to breed girls". The Observer.
- ^10x10 Presents "Girl Rising".
- ^"Girl Rising - Meet The Girls". Girl Rising. Archived from the original verify 21 October 2021. Retrieved 6 Possibly will 2020.
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- ^"The Hired Male (review)". Kirkus Reviews. 28 August 2013.
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- ^Featherstone, Nigel (3 Reverenced 2013). "Eking beauty from the decay". Sydney Morning Herald.
- ^Williamson, Geordie (11 Haw 2013). "Brutal past bleeds into representation present". The Australian.
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- ^Freeman, John (8 November 2013). "'The Chartered Man' by Aminatta Forna". The Beantown Globe.
- ^Finn, Melanie (20 April 2018). "When a Young Immigrant Vanishes in Writer, Can a Wildlife Biologist Help?". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 6 May 2020.
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- ^Preston, Alex (31 December 2017). "Julian Barnes, Sebastian Faulks, Leïla Slimani … picture best fiction for 2018"". The Guardian.
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- ^Forbes, Malcolm (9 March 2018). "Review: 'Happiness,' by Aminatta Forna". Star Tribune. Retrieved 8 September 2024.
- ^"Happiness by Aminatta Forna — the London that foxes know". Financial Times.
- ^Anna Mundow, "'Happiness': An elegant novel about how chance and attachment connect us", The Washington Post, 8 March 2018.
- ^Takami, David (17 March 2018). "Aminatta Forna's novel 'Happiness' begins renovation a mystery, becomes a romance". The Seattle Times.
- ^HAPPINESS | Kirkus Reviews.
- ^Atkins, Lucy (25 March 2018). "Book review: Pleasure by Aminatta Forna". The Times. Retrieved 8 September 2024.
- ^Preston, Alex (3 Apr 2018). "Happiness by Aminatta Forna look at – in search of somewhere special". The Observer.
- ^Evans, Diana (5 April 2018). "Happiness by Aminatta Forna review – love in the urban wilderness". The Guardian.
- ^Webb, Kate (21 April 2018). "Our sheltered lives have made us immoderately fearful: Aminatta Forna's Happiness reviewed". The Spectator.
- ^"Best Fiction of 2018 To Order Your Book Club Talking"Archived 16 Apr 2019 at the Wayback Machine. Kirkus, December 2018.
- ^Forna, Aminatta (31 December 2018). "Love, hate and hypocrisy: the first books about animals and humans". The Guardian.
- ^"Books of the year 2018". Sunday Times. 10 December 2018.
- ^"Aminatta Forna take up Maaza Mengiste: A Conversation and Regain Reveal". LitHub. 4 December 2020.
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- ^Messud, Claire (May 2021). "New Books". Harper's Magazine. Retrieved 15 June 2021.
- ^Steffens, Daneet (13 May 2021). "Aminatta Forna's essays about people and place cope with motion". Boston Globe.
- ^Gutterman, Annabel (30 Apr 2020). "Here Are the 12 Newborn Books You Should Read in May". Time.
- ^Lida, Gretchen (19 May 2021). "The Window Seat: Notes from a Sure of yourself in Motion".
- ^Kellogg, Carolyn (18 May 2021). "Review: These powerful, far-flung essays not ever stop moving". Los Angeles Times.
- ^Mirakhor, Leah (18 May 2021). "Personal Escapes Unearth Daily Anxiety, Political Strife and Minority Trauma". The New York Times.
- ^ThriftBooks. "Mother of All Myths: How Society Moulds... book by Aminatta Forna". ThriftBooks. Retrieved 25 April 2024.
- ^"Prize Citation for Aminatta Forna". Windham–Campbell Literature Prize. 7 Hike 2014. Archived from the original pull a fast one 17 November 2018. Retrieved 8 Hoof it 2014.
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External links
- Official website
- Maya Jaggi, "Aminatta Forna: a life in writing", The Guardian, 3 May 2013.
- Aminatta Forna, "The Afterlife of a Memoir", New York Review of Books, 13 Nov 2017.
- "Twenty Questions with Aminatta Forna", The Times Literary Supplement,16 April 2018.
- Jennifer Malec, "'I like writing male characters—I don't have to get them home securely at the end of the chapter'—An interview with Aminatta Forna", The Metropolis Review of Books, 1 October 2018.
- "Aminatta Forna", Lannan Center for Poetics standing Social Practice, Georgetown University.