Hawa Jande Golakai (born June 1, 1979) is a

Liberia Liberia (), officially the Republic of Liberia, is a country on the West African coast. It is bordered by Sierra Leone to Liberia–Sierra Leone border, its northwest, Guinea to its north, Ivory Coast to its east, and the Atlantic Ocean ...

n writer and clinical scientist. In 2014 she was chosen as one of 39 of Sub-Saharan Africa's most promising writers under the age of 40, showcased in the

Africa39 Africa39 was a collaborative project initiated by the Hay Festival in partnership with Rainbow Book Club, celebrating Port Harcourt: UNESCO World Book Capital 2014 by identifying 39 of the most promising writers under the age of 40 with the potent ...

project and included in the anthology ''Africa39: New Writing from Africa South of the Sahara'' (edited by

Ellah Allfrey Ellah Wakatama, OBE, Hon. FRSL (born 16 September 1966), is Editor-at-Large at Canongate Books, a senior Research Fellow at Manchester University and Chair of the AKO Caine Prize for African Writing. She was the founding Publishing Direct ...

).Carpenter, Caroline
"Africa39 list of promising writers revealed"
''

The Bookseller ''The Bookseller'' is a British magazine reporting news on the publishing industry. Philip Jones is editor-in-chief of the weekly print edition of the magazine and the website. The magazine is home to the ''Bookseller''/Diagram Prize for Oddest ...

'', 8 April 2014.

Early life

Golakai was born in

Frankfurt, Germany Frankfurt, officially Frankfurt am Main (; Hessian: , "Frank ford on the Main"), is the most populous city in the German state of Hesse. Its 791,000 inhabitants as of 2022 make it the fifth-most populous city in Germany. Located on its na ...

, and lived in Liberia during her childhood. She fled the country as a refugee during the

First Liberian Civil War The First Liberian Civil War lasted from 1989 to 1997. President Samuel Doe had established a regime in 1980 but totalitarianism and corruption led to unpopularity and the withdrawal of support from the United States by the late 1980s. The Nat ...

. After moving, she lived in

Cape Town Cape Town ( af, Kaapstad; , xh, iKapa) is one of South Africa's three capital cities, serving as the seat of the Parliament of South Africa. It is the legislative capital of the country, the oldest city in the country, and the second largest ...

, South Africa, and pursued a medical career.

Education

Golakai received a Bachelor of Science degree at the

University of Cape Town The University of Cape Town (UCT) ( af, Universiteit van Kaapstad, xh, Yunibesithi ya yaseKapa) is a public research university in Cape Town, South Africa. Established in 1829 as the South African College, it was granted full university statu ...

in 2005, specializing in cell and molecular biology. She wrote her Master of Science dissertation at

Stellenbosch University Stellenbosch University ( af, Universiteit Stellenbosch) is a public research university situated in Stellenbosch, a town in the Western Cape province of South Africa. Stellenbosch is the oldest university in South Africa and the oldest extant ...

in 2008.

Career

Immunology

Upon graduating from Stellenbosch University, Golakai began working at the university's Department of Biomedical Sciences. She works as a clinical immunologist and studies diseases, such as

tuberculosis Tuberculosis (TB) is an infectious disease usually caused by '' Mycobacterium tuberculosis'' (MTB) bacteria. Tuberculosis generally affects the lungs, but it can also affect other parts of the body. Most infections show no symptoms, in ...

and

HIV The human immunodeficiency viruses (HIV) are two species of ''Lentivirus'' (a subgroup of retrovirus) that infect humans. Over time, they cause acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS), a condition in which progressive failure of the immune ...

Writing

Golakai's debut novel ''The Lazarus Effect'' (Kwela Books) was shortlisted for the 2011 Sunday Times Fiction Prize and the University of Johannesburg Debut Prize, and was longlisted for the

Wole Soyinka Prize for Literature in Africa Wole Soyinka Prize for Literature in Africa is a pan-African writing prize awarded biennially

. On the strength of the book, in 2012

Zukiswa Wanner Zukiswa Wanner (born 1976) is a South African journalist, novelist and editor born in Zambia and now based in Kenya. Since 2006, when she published her first book, her novels have been shortlisted for awards including the South African Literary ...

in ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

'' rated Golakai as one of the "top five African writers". ''The Lazarus Effect'' was published in 2016 by

Cassava Republic Press Cassava Republic Press is a steering African book publishing company established in Nigeria in 2006 and headed by Bibi Bakare-Yusuf,

in the UK. Golakai's second novel, ''The Score'' (Kwela Books) will be released in the UK in 2017. She won critical acclaim for her 2016 essay "Fugee", a personal account of the Ebola crisis in Liberia, commissioned for the anthology ''Safe House: Explorations in Creative Nonfiction'', edited by

Ellah Wakatama Allfrey Ellah Wakatama, OBE, Hon. FRSL (born 16 September 1966), is Editor-at-Large at Canongate Books, a senior Research Fellow at Manchester University and Chair of the AKO Caine Prize for African Writing. She was the founding Publishing Direct ...

, in partnership with

Commonwealth Writers Commonwealth Writers (established in 2011) is the cultural initiative of the Commonwealth Foundation. It aims to inspire, develop and connect writers across the Commonwealth. Its flagship is a literary award for short stories, the Commonwealth Sh ...

and published by Cassava Republic Press. Golokai is also a contributor to the 2019 anthology ''

New Daughters of Africa ''Daughters of Africa: An International Anthology of Words and Writings by Women of African Descent from the Ancient Egyptian to the Present'' is a compilation of orature and literature by more than 200 women from Africa and the African diaspora, ...

'', edited by

Margaret Busby Margaret Yvonne Busby, , Hon. FRSL (born 1944), also known as Nana Akua Ackon, is a Ghanaian-born publisher, editor, writer and broadcaster, resident in the UK. She was Britain's youngest and first black female book publisherJazzmine Breary"Let' ...

Judging

Golakai was a mentor for the 2015 Writivism programme, a judge for the Etisalat Flash Fiction Prize 2015 and is a judge for the 2016 Short Story Day Africa prize.

Honours

In April 2014, Golakai was named on the

Hay Festival The Hay Festival of Literature & Arts, better known as the Hay Festival ( cy, Gŵyl Y Gelli), is an annual literature festival held in Hay-on-Wye, Powys, Wales, for 10 days from May to June. Devised by Norman, Rhoda and Peter Florence in 1988, t ...

list of 39 of the most promising sub-Saharan African writers aged under 40 with potential and talent to define trends in African literature, and was included in the subsequent anthology edited by

, ''Africa39: New Writing from Africa South of the Sahara''."HJ Golakai One of Africa's Top 39 Writers under 40"
, '' Daily Observer'' (Liberia), 27 April 2014.

Published works

* ''The Lazarus Effect'' (Kwela Books, South Africa, 2011;

Cassava Republic Press Cassava Republic Press is a steering African book publishing company established in Nigeria in 2006 and headed by Bibi Bakare-Yusuf,

, UK & Nigeria, 2016) * "Fugee" in ''Safe House: Explorations in Creative Nonfiction'' (Cassava Republic Press, 2016)
"Candy Girl"
in ''Valentine's Day Anthology 2015'' (

Ankara Press Cassava Republic Press is a steering African book publishing company established in Nigeria in 2006 and headed by Bibi Bakare-Yusuf,

, 2015) *''The Score'' (Kwela Books, South Africa, 2015)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Golakai, Hawa Jande 1979 births Living people Liberian women writers Liberian novelists Liberian women novelists 21st-century novelists 21st-century Liberian writers 21st-century Liberian women writers