Efua Traoré

Efua Traoré
OccupationStory writer
Notable work
  • True Happiness (short story)
  • Children of the Quicksands (novel)
AwardsCommonwealth Short Story Prize (2018)

Efua Traoré is a Nigerian-German story writer. She won the regional Commonwealth Short Story Prize in 2018 and was nominated for the Waterstones Children's Book Prize in 2022.

Life and career

Traoré was born and raised in a small town in the south of Nigeria. She has also resided in France and Germany.[1]

She won the Africa regional Commonwealth Short Story Prize for her short story "True Happiness" in 2018.[2] In 2019, her debut novel "Children of the Quicksands" won The Times/Chicken House Children’s Fiction Competition.[3] The novel was also shortlisted for the Waterstones Children's Book Prize in 2022.[4]

She received the Munich Literaturreferat YA Literature grant 2019 for her German novel Die Hüter des Schlafes (The Guardians of Sleep).[5]

Books

  • Children of the Quicksands (2021) — a fantasy novel published by The Chicken House[6]
  • The House of Shells (2022) — a children's novel published by The Chicken House

Awards

Year Title Work Result Presented by Ref.
2018 Commonwealth Short Story Prize True Happiness Won Commonwealth Foundation [2]
2019 The Times/Chicken House Children’s Fiction Competition Children of the Quicksands Won The Times / Chicken House [3]
2022 Waterstones Children's Book Prize Children of the Quicksands Nominated Waterstones [4]

References

  1. ^ Ibeh, Chukwuebuka (April 15, 2022). "Efua Traorè is Cover Star for Inaugural Masobe Quarterly Magazine". brittle paper.
  2. ^ a b Omilana, Timileyin (27 June 2018). "Nigerian shortlisted for £5,000 Commonwealth Short Story Prize 2018". The Guardian Nigeria.
  3. ^ a b O’Connell, Alex (September 13, 2019). "Efua Traoré, winner of the Times/Chicken House children's fiction competition". The Times.
  4. ^ a b Sherwin, Adam (February 10, 2022). "Waterstones Children's Book Prize shortlist shows TikTok influencers driving sales surge". i News.
  5. ^ "Münchner Literaturstipendien". Literaturhaus München (in German). Retrieved 9 August 2022.
  6. ^ "The best children's books of 2021". The Guardian. 12 December 2021.