Full Name
Esi Edugyan
Company/Organization/Institution
Bestselling Author, Novelist, Essayist
Speaker Bio
Edugyan was born the daughter of Ghanian immigrants in Calgary, Alberta. Echoes of their experience can be found in her literary debut, The Second Life of Samuel Tyne, which was shortlisted for the 2005 Hurston-Wright Legacy Award. The elegant and atmospheric novel tells the story of an ambitious Ghanian immigrant who unexpectedly inherits his uncle’s crumbling mansion in Aster, Alberta. Founded by African-Americans as an all-black town, Aster at first seems an idyll and a refuge, but slowly reveals itself to be something more sinister. Booklist called it “a beautifully rendered and haunting look at personal longing and family obligations.”
While on a fellowship in Stuttgart, Germany, she began research for what would become her stunning second novel, Half-Blood Blues which O, the Oprah Magazine named one of the best books of the year. It was awarded the Scotiabank Giller Prize and earned nominations for the Rogers Writers’ Trust Fiction Prize, the Governor General’s Literary Award for English language fiction, and was shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize.
While on a fellowship in Stuttgart, Germany, she began research for what would become her stunning second novel, Half-Blood Blues which O, the Oprah Magazine named one of the best books of the year. It was awarded the Scotiabank Giller Prize and earned nominations for the Rogers Writers’ Trust Fiction Prize, the Governor General’s Literary Award for English language fiction, and was shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize.
Bio
Edugyan was born the daughter of Ghanian immigrants in Calgary, Alberta. Echoes of their experience can be found in her literary debut, The Second Life of Samuel Tyne, which was shortlisted for the 2005 Hurston-Wright Legacy Award. The elegant and atmospheric novel tells the story of an ambitious Ghanian immigrant who unexpectedly inherits his uncle’s crumbling mansion in Aster, Alberta. Founded by African-Americans as an all-black town, Aster at first seems an idyll and a refuge, but slowly reveals itself to be something more sinister. Booklist called it “a beautifully rendered and haunting look at personal longing and family obligations.”
While on a fellowship in Stuttgart, Germany, she began research for what would become her stunning second novel, Half-Blood Blues which O, the Oprah Magazine named one of the best books of the year. It was awarded the Scotiabank Giller Prize and earned nominations for the Rogers Writers’ Trust Fiction Prize, the Governor General’s Literary Award for English language fiction, and was shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize.
While on a fellowship in Stuttgart, Germany, she began research for what would become her stunning second novel, Half-Blood Blues which O, the Oprah Magazine named one of the best books of the year. It was awarded the Scotiabank Giller Prize and earned nominations for the Rogers Writers’ Trust Fiction Prize, the Governor General’s Literary Award for English language fiction, and was shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize.
Speaking At
