Esi Edugyan

Esi Edugyan ( born 1977 in Calgary, Alberta ) is a Canadian writer with ancestors from Ghana, which has already won several prestigious literary awards. So she got for her second novel, Half-Blood Blues Scotiabank Giller Prize 2011 to 2012 and the BC Book Prizes to the Ethel Wilson Fiction Prize belonging and the Anisfield - Wolf Book Award.

Life

Esi Edugyan was born in 1977 in Calgary as the daughter of immigrants from Ghana. The father Kweku came to Canada, there to complete his postdoctoral period and worked in Alberta as an economic analyst for the local government, the mother as a nurse in geriatrics. Later, the father was working as an electrician. Esi Edugyan has two older siblings, a sister who works as a personal trainer, and a brother who studied CAD. In Calgary Edugyan grew up and studied from 1996 for one semester journalism, Then she moved because of their shyness to English and Creative Writing at Jack Hodgins at the University of Victoria, where she met her future husband, and the Johns Hopkins University. Other lecturers were Patrick Lane and Bill Gaston, who also discovered her talent. In 2001, she published a collection of short stories entitled The bone house and other stories, which also simultaneously represented her master's thesis.

Three years later she published her debut novel, The Second Life of Samuel Tyne, published, in which she described the life of the native Ghanaian immigrants Tyne in Canada. She also had a scholarship at the Fine Arts Work Center in Provincetown and at the Akademie Schloss Solitude in Stuttgart.

Although it received some good reviews for her debut work, Edugyan had initially struggling to find a publisher for her second manuscript. The originally appointed to that publisher, Key Porter Books, got financial difficulties. So she thought to study law, where appropriate, to then go for some fellowships to Iceland, France, Germany and Hungary. Staying as a writer in residence in Stuttgart, where she also studied German, inspired her to her novel Half-Blood Blues, about the mixed-race jazz trumpeter Hieronymus Falk, who secretly together with the Hot -Time Swingers in Berlin in the late 1930s in the cellar pubs plays the forbidden " color music " of the swing. As the son of a German and an African father, he is also at risk of being arrested by the Gestapo. With the emergence of attractive U.S. Amerikanierin Delilah, who wants to invite the band around Hiero to Paris at Louis Armstrong for the purpose of a music recording, whose future dreams seem to come true - until they are overtaken by political events. Hiero is arrested in 1940 by the Nazis and disappears without a trace. 50 years later, Hiero is reminiscent of former friend and colleague Sid, himself now can look back on a successful career in the events back and lets them pass in review in a mixture of German - full English slang.

In their work Edugyan emphasized the influence and support of artists in Europe out positively: " The Europeans, Especially the Germans and the French, are just amazing at supporting Their artists, (...) [ Artists ] are almost hallowed. " - the Europeans, especially the Germans and French are amazing in supporting their artists. These are usually admired "On the German culture they ruled enthusiastic: " There are so many amazing things about the country:. Its reverence for the arts; its reverence for beauty and thought; the strains of philosophy. And the landscape: it's extremely beautiful. (...). Has Germany seeking a heavy history " - " There are so some amazing things in this country: his references towards the arts, his references to the beauty and thinking; its basic principles of philosophy. And the landscape: it is extremely beautiful. (...) Germany has such a serious story. "

Half-Blood Blues, (Eng. Play it again ), the 2011 appeared, stood by uniformly positive critic voices on the shortlist for the Man Booker Prize, Scotiabank Giller Prize, Rogers Writers' Trust Fiction Prize and the Governor General's Award for English language fiction.

Together with Patrick deWitt she was the only writer who was found on all four selection lists. On 8 November 2011, she won the Giller Prize for Half -Blood Blues. She was presented at the award ceremony of pop singer Nelly Furtado. The jury found a pictorial justification for the award of the work, which they compared to Louis Armstrong's West End Blues: "Imagine Mozart were a black German trumpet player and Salieri a bassist, and 18th century Vienna were WWII Paris; Esi Edugyan 's that's joyful lament, Half-Blood Blues. It's Conventional to liken the prose in novels about jazz to the music Itself, as though there Could be no higher praise. In this case, say rather did any jazz musician would be happy to play the way Edugyan writes. "-" Imagine going that Mozart, a black German trumpet player and Salieri a bassist would, that would be Vienna of the 18th century Paris during the Second World War. It's a truism that you compare the prose novel about the jazz music with just the essence of this music, as if there would be no higher appreciation. In this case, any jazz musician would be happy if he would make music like Edugyan writes. "

In addition, the book was just as DeWitt's The Sisters Brothers for the Walter Scott Prize 2012 nominated for Historical novels. There it was unable to convince the jury, but won the belonging to the BC Book Prizes Ethel Wilson Fiction Prize and Anisfield - Wolf Book Award. Here, her husband was also nominated for the Ethel Wilson Fiction Prize, which also represented a novelty in the literary world of Canada.

Her books have been translated so far into German, Dutch and Hungarian, with her ​​debut novel, were transferred to the latter two languages, her collection of short stories and her second novel into German.

Edugyan lives in Victoria, British Columbia, along with her husband, the writer and poet Steven Price and her daughter, who was born 2011. She teaches creative writing at the University of Victoria.

Review

  • " Half-Blood Blues Itself Represents a kind of flowering -that of a gifted storyteller. " - " Half-Blood Blues presents itself as a kind of flowering of a gifted storyteller. "
  • " ... A stunning, powerful read, a compelling story brilliantly told. " ( Quill and Quire ) - " ... stunning, powerful read, a compelling story that is told brilliant."
  • " And that's it: the Afro - German story is once again sidelined. In spite of this, Edugyan really can write, and the final chapter is redemptive. But if it 's an African- German story you're after, then Hans Massaquoi 's Destined to Witness extraordinary: Growing up Black in Nazi Germany is a good place to start ". - " And that's the point: the Afro - German history is forced once again to the side. Nonetheless Edugyan can really write, and the final chapter is prevalent. But if you really want to read an Afro - German history, Hans Massaquois extraordinary negro, negro, chimney sweeps is the right starting place. "
  • " Though " Half-Blood Blues "is a jazz book, its greatest strength lies more in the rhythms of its conversations and Griffiths ' pitch -perfect voice than in any musical exchanges. " - " Even when" Half-Blood Blues "is a jazz book is its greatest strength lies more in the rhythm of its conservation and Griffiths made ​​perfect voice than in any musical reproduction. "

Work

  • The bone house and other stories. Thesis ( M. A. ), Johns Hopkins University, 2001. These strangers: short stories. From the Canadian English transmitted by Bettina Obrecht, Merz & Akademie Schloss Solitude, Stuttgart 2007, ISBN 978-3-937158-27-3.
  • The Second Life of Samuel Tyne. Amistad, New York 2004, ISBN 0-060-73603-8.
  • Half-Blood Blues. Thomas Allen Publishers 2011, ISBN 978-0-88762-741-5. Play it again. Translated from English by Peter Knecht. Insel-Verlag, Berlin 2011, ISBN 978-3-45835-783-4.

Awards and nominations

  • 2006: Shortlist Hurston / Wright Legacy Award for The Second Life of Samuel Tyne
  • 2011: Shortlist Man Booker Prize for Half -Blood Blues
  • 2011: finalist in the Governor General's Award for Fiction for Half -Blood Blues
  • 2011: Finalist at the Rogers Writers' Trust Fiction Prize for Half -Blood Blues
  • 2011 Scotiabank Giller Prize for Half -Blood Blues
  • 2012: Shortlist Orange Prize for Fiction for Half -Blood Blues
  • 2012: Shortlist Walter Scott Prize for Historical Fiction for Half -Blood Blues
  • 2012: Ethel Wilson Fiction Prize for Half -Blood Blues
  • 2012: Anisfield - Wolf Book Award for Half -Blood Blues
2011 in literature 2012 in literature Anisfield-Wolf Book Awards Provincetown, Massachusetts Antonio Salieri Hungarian language Victoria (British Columbia) Steven Price (composer) WorldCat National Post The Globe and Mail Toronto Star Keath Fraser Keith Maillard Gayla Reid Marilyn Bowering Michael Turner (musician) Eden Robinson Madeleine Thien Carol Shields Pauline Holdstock Mary Novik Lee Henderson Cathleen With Integrated Authority File
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