Kiran Millwood Hargrave (born 29 March 1990) is a British poet, playwright and novelist.

Life

Hargrave was born on 29 March 1990 in

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

. She graduated from

Cambridge University , mottoeng = Literal: From here, light and sacred draughts. Non literal: From this place, we gain enlightenment and precious knowledge. , established = , other_name = The Chancellor, Masters and Schola ...

in 2011, and

Oxford University Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...

in 2014.

Career

She started writing for publication in 2009. In 2014, her debut novel ''The Girl Of Ink and Stars'' aka ''The Cartographer's Daughter'' was bought as part of a six-figure, two-book deal by

Knopf Alfred A. Knopf, Inc. () is an American publishing house that was founded by Alfred A. Knopf Sr. and Blanche Knopf in 1915. Blanche and Alfred traveled abroad regularly and were known for publishing European, Asian, and Latin American writers in ...

Random House Random House is an American book publisher and the largest general-interest paperback publisher in the world. The company has several independently managed subsidiaries around the world. It is part of Penguin Random House, which is owned by Germ ...

(US), and Chicken House Scholastic (rest-of-world). It was published in May 2016 in the UK, where it won the overall Waterstones Children's Book Prize 2017 and the British Book Awards' Children's Book of the Year. The US release was in November 2016. It has sold to over twenty-five territories around the world, and is a perennial bestseller in the UK. Hargrave's poetry has appeared internationally in journals such as ''Magma'', ''

Room In a building or large vehicle, like a ship, a room is any enclosed space within a number of walls to which entry is possible only via a door or other dividing structure that connects it to either a passageway, another room, or the outdoors, that ...

'', ''

Agenda Agenda may refer to: Information management * Agenda (meeting), points to be discussed and acted upon, displayed as a list * Political agenda, the set of goals of an ideological group * Lotus Agenda, a DOS-based personal information manager * Pers ...

'', ''Shearsman'', ''The Irish Literary Review'' and '' Orbis''. In 2013, Neil Astley judged her poem 'Grace' winner of the Yeovil Literary Prize. This poem appeared in her third collection, ''Splitfish'' (Gatehouse Press, 2013). Her first piece as a playwright, about human trafficking, was entitled ''BOAT'', and first dramatized in October 2015 by PIGDOG theatre company at Theatre N16 in Balham. It opened to five-star reviews, with CultureFly calling it "the most compelling and urgent piece of theatre you will see this year." Her second children's novel of a fragile paradise, ''The Island at the End of Everything'' (2017) was shortlisted for the 2017 Costa Book Awards. Her third children's novel, ''The Way Past Winter'', was published in late 2018, followed in 2019 by her debut YA novel, ''The Deathless Girls''. Her first adult novel, ''The Mercies'' was published by Picador in 2020, and became an instant bestseller. ''Julia and the Shark'' (2021) in collaboration with her husband, Tom de Freston, was shortlisted for Waterstones Book of the Year and the

Wainwright Prize The Wainwright Prize is a literary prize awarded annually for the best work of general outdoors, nature and UK-based travel writing. In 2020 it was split into the Wainwright Prize for UK nature writing and the Wainwright Prize for writing on globa ...

for Children's Writing on Nature and Conservation.

Personal life

She currently lives in

Oxford Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...

with her husband, the visual artist Tom de Freston. She is

bisexual Bisexuality is a romantic or sexual attraction or behavior toward both males and females, or to more than one gender. It may also be defined to include romantic or sexual attraction to people regardless of their sex or gender identity, whi ...

Works

Adult novels

* ''The Mercies'' (Picador, 2020) * ''The Dance Tree'' (Picador, 2022)

Young Adult novels

* ''The Deathless Girls'' (Orion, 2019)

Children's books

* ''The Girl of Ink and Stars'' (Chicken House, 2016) * ''The Island at the End of Everything'' (Chicken House, 2017) * ''The Way Past Winter'' (Chicken House, 2018) * ''A Secret of Birds & Bone'' (Chicken House, 2020) * ''Julia and the Shark'' (Orion, 2021) * ''Leila and the Blue Fox'' (Orion, 2022)

Awards and recognitions

* 2013: Yeovil International Poetry Prize, winner * 2017: Waterstones Children's Books Prize, winner (''The Girl of Ink & Stars'') * 2017:

British Book Awards The British Book Awards or Nibbies are literary awards for the best UK writers and their works, administered by '' The Bookseller''. The awards have had several previous names, owners and sponsors since being launched in 1990, including the Nationa ...

Children's Book of the Year, winner (''The Girl of Ink & Stars'') * 2017:

Jhalak Prize The Jhalak Prize for Book of the Year by a Writer of Colour is an annual literary prize awarded to British or British-resident BAME writers. £1,000 is awarded to the sole winner. The Jhalak Prize launched in 2016 and was created by writers Sun ...

, shortlist (''The Girl of Ink & Stars'') * 2017: Costa Book Prize, shortlist (''The Island at the End of Everything'') * 2018
The Blue Peter Book Award
shortlist (''The Island at the End of Everything'') * 2018:

, shortlist (''The Island at the End of Everything'') * 2018: CILIP Carnegie Medal, longlist (''The Island at the End of Everything)'' * 2018:

Blackwell's Blackwell UK, also known as Blackwell's and Blackwell Group, is a British academic book retailer and library supply service owned by Waterstones. It was founded in 1879 by Benjamin Henry Blackwell, after whom the chain is named, on Broad Street, ...

Children's Book of the Year, winner (''The Way Past Winter'') * 2018: Specsaver's National Book Award, longlist (''The Way Past Winter'') * 2019
The YA Book Prize
shortlist (''The Deathless Girls'') * 2020
The Diverse Book Awards
shortlist (''The Deathless Girls'') * 2020:

Prix Femina The Prix Femina is a French literary prize created in 1904 by 22 writers for the magazine '' La Vie heureuse'' (today known as '' Femina''). The prize is decided each year by an exclusively female jury. They reward French-language works written ...

, finalist (''The Mercies'') * 2020: Prix Rive Gauche à Paris, winner (''The Mercies'') * 2021: CILIP Carnegie Medal, longlist (''The Deathless Girls'') * 2021: Betty Trask Award (''The Mercies'') * 2021:

Waterstones Book of the Year The Waterstones Book of the Year, established in 2012, is an annual award presented to a book published in the previous 12 months. Waterstones' booksellers nominate and vote to determine the winners and finalists for the prize. Award winners recei ...

, shortlist (''Julia and the Shark'') * 2021: Waterstones Gift of the Year, winner (''Julia and the Shark'') * 2022:

for Children's Writing on Nature and Conservation, shortlist (''Julia and the Shark'')

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Hargrave, Kiran Millwood 1990 births Living people British poets British women poets British writers Alumni of the University of Cambridge Alumni of the University of Oxford English LGBT novelists Bisexual writers Bisexual women