The Devil That Danced on the Water: A Daughter's Quest (2003); Ancestor Stones (2006); The Memory of Love (2010); The Hired Man (2013); Happiness (2017); The Window Seat (2021)
Notable awards
Commonwealth Writers' Prize Best Book Award 2011; 2014 Windham–Campbell Literature Prize (Fiction)
Spouse
Simon Westcott
Website
aminattaforna.com
Aminatta Forna, OBE, is a British writer of Scottish and Sierra Leonean ancestry. Her first book was a memoir, The Devil That 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 a Life in Motion. (2021), which was a new genre for her.
She has been widely praised and received numerous awards, in addition to being nominated for others. Her novel The Memory of Love was awarded the Commonwealth Writers' Prize for "Best Book" in 2011,[7][8] and was shortlisted for the Orange Prize for Fiction.[9]
Forna is Professor of Creative Writing at Bath Spa University. She was the Sterling Brown ’22 Visiting Professor of Africana Studies at Williams College in Williamstown, Massachusetts.[10][11]
Since 2012 she has been Director and Lannan Foundation Chair of Poetics of the Lannan Center for Poetics and Social Practice at Georgetown University in Washington, DC.[12]
Forna was among eight writers from seven countries to win the 2014 Windham–Campbell Literature Prize (fiction).[13][14][15]
Forna was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 2017 New Year Honours for services to literature.[16][17][18]
Forna is a fellow of the Royal Society of Literature, and sits on the advisory committee for the Royal Literary Fund and the Caine Prize for African Writing. She has served as a judge on several high-profile prize panels, including the 2017 Baileys Women's Prize for Fiction.[19] She continues to champion the work of up-and-coming diverse authors.[19][20][21][22]
In March 2019, Forna's Happiness was shortlisted for the European Literature Prize. In April 2019 it was shortlisted for the Royal Society of Literature (RSL) Ondaatje Prize and for the Jhalak Prize[23][24][25][26]
^Brittain, Victoria (18 May 2002). "The Truth About Daddy". The Guardian. London.
^"Aminatta Forna: 'My country had a war. It would be extraordinary not to want to write about that'", The Independent, 4 June 2011.
^Renee Montagne,"'Ancestor Stones:' Life and War in Sierra Leone", NPR Books, 2 July 2007.
^Sam Kiley (20 March 2010). "The Memory of Love by Aminatta Forna". The Times. London.
^"The Independent Bath Literature Festival". Archived from the original on 23 April 2013. Retrieved 4 March 2013.
^The Hired Man, Aminattaforna.com
^Commonwealth Prize. Archived 3 September 2011 at the Wayback Machine
^"Aminatta Forna wins Commonwealth Writers' honour", BBC News, 22 May 2011.
^Orange Prize for Fiction 2011 shortlist.
^Feature Stories: "Reading Africa", Williams College, nda, c. 2021.
^"Aminatta Forna page at Bloomsbury". Archived from the original on 10 September 2017. Retrieved 4 March 2013.
^"Aminatta Forna", Georgetown University.
^"Writers from seven countries awarded $150,000 Yale prize", Yale News, 7 March 2014.
^"Aminatta Forna – Fiction 2014" Archived 17 November 2018 at the Wayback Machine, Windham Campbell Prizes.
^Richard Lea, "Eight authors surprised by $150,000 Windham Campbell books prizes", The Guardian, 7 March 2014.
^"No. 61803". The London Gazette (Supplement). 31 December 2016. p. N11.
^"New Year's Honours 2017: CSV", Cabinet Office, 30 December 2016.
^Ben Glaze, Nina Massey, Dan Bloom, Sally Wardle, "New Year's Honours 2017: Full list of great and good awarded for services to Britain", Daily Mirror, 31 December 2016.
^ ab"Judges", Baileys Women's Prize for Fiction, 2016.
^"Writing the Future: Black and Asian Authors and Publishers in the UK Marketplace", The Royal Society of Literature, 16 April 2015.
^Aminatta Forna, "Aminatta Forna: don't judge a book by its author", The Guardian, 13 February 2015.
^"Aminatta Forna", British Council – Literature. Retrieved 9 September 2023.
^"Longlist 2019", Europese Literatuurprijs.
^Mark Chandler, "Forna and Abouzeid up for RSL Ondaatje Prize 2019", The Bookseller, 17 April 2019.
^"Shortlist announced for 2019 Jhalak Prize for BAME writers", Books+Publishing, 8 April 2019.
AminattaForna, OBE, is a British writer of Scottish and Sierra Leonean ancestry. Her first book was a memoir, The Devil That Danced on the Water: A Daughter's...
Quest is a 2002 book by AminattaForna about her childhood and an investigation into the execution of her father, Mohamed Forna. It was serialised as a...
The Memory of Love is a 2010 novel by AminattaForna about the experiences of three men in Sierra Leone. In 2022, it was included on the "Big Jubilee Read"...
on his past after he has a stroke. The novel received mixed reviews. AminattaForna, writing for the Financial Times, described it as "majestic in scale"...
Ancestor Stones (2006) is a novel by British writer AminattaForna about the experiences of four women in a polygamous family in West Africa. Uzodinma...
expression of any monocultural or racial identity of Black Scottish. AminattaForna (writer) Kayus Bankole (member of Mercury Prize winners Young Fathers)...
Romesh Gunesekera, Ziauddin Sardar, Osman Samiuddin, Mushtaq Soofi, and AminattaForna. LLF hold annual ticketed editions in New York City with Asia Society...
James Dempsey, politician Henry Dyer, engineer Sheena Easton, vocalist AminattaForna, (OBE), award-winning writer of novels, memoir, and essays Catherine...
Andrew Roberts, Fiammetta Rocco, Rosie Boycott. The 2004 judges were AminattaForna, Martha Kearney, Simon Singh, Francis Wheen, Michael Wood. The 2005...
Anne Fine 2003 Tibor Fischer 2003 Leontia Flynn 2022 Richard Ford 2012 AminattaForna 2012 Richard Fortey 2009 Roy Foster 1992 Adam Foulds 2009 Gavin Francis...
scholar and writer Carrie Etter, poet Nathan Filer, novelist and poet AminattaForna, novelist Jeremy Gardiner, modern British landscape painter Maggie Gee...
Review from TimesOnline Jess Row, "African/American", The New York Times, 27 August 2009 AminattaForna, "Endurance tests", The Guardian, 16 May 2009...
people's power to resist. Perhaps that in itself is a triumph." For AminattaForna, writing in The Washington Post: "Wizard of the Crow is first and foremost...
The 2013 prize was judged by Christopher Ricks (Chair), Elif Batuman, AminattaForna, Yiyun Li and Tim Parks. The nominees for the fifth Man Booker International...
writer Ireland 2023 Tyler Ford Writer and activist United States 2023 AminattaForna Writer United Kingdom 2015 Zack Fox Comedian United States 2023 Rozanne...
including David Lansana, former cabinet minister Mohamed Sorie Forna (father of writer AminattaForna), Brigadier General Ibrahim Bash Taqi and Lieutenant Habib...
historian Charlie Haffner, included interviews with Dame Judi Dench, AminattaForna and David Sengeh. Africell is the predominant mobile network provider...
Agnès Agboton, Aida Edemariam, Aja Monet, Akosua Busia, Ama Biney, AminattaForna, Amma Asante, Anaïs Duplan, Andaiye, Andrea Levy, Andrea Stuart, Angela...
artist as a young African" (review), The Independent, 4 July 2008. AminattaForna, "Review: The Jive Talker by Samson Kambalu", The Telegraph, 10 August...
Morris Shortlist Jennifer Egan A Visit from the Goon Squad Shortlist AminattaForna The Memory of Love Shortlist Karl Marlantes Matterhorn Shortlist Tim...
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