Lauren Beukes (born 5 June 1976) is a South African novelist, short story writer, journalist and television scriptwriter.

Early life

Lauren Beukes was born 5 June 1976. She grew up in

Johannesburg Johannesburg ( , , ; Zulu and xh, eGoli ), colloquially known as Jozi, Joburg, or "The City of Gold", is the largest city in South Africa, classified as a megacity, and is one of the 100 largest urban areas in the world. According to Demo ...

, South Africa. She attended

Roedean School Roedean School is an independent day and boarding school founded in 1885 in Roedean Village on the outskirts of Brighton, East Sussex, England, and governed by Royal Charter. It is for girls aged 11 to 18. The campus is situated near the Sus ...

in Johannesburg, and has an MA in creative writing from 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 ...

. She worked as a freelance journalist for ten years, including two years in New York and Chicago.

Career

Books

She is the author of ''

The Shining Girls ''The Shining Girls'' is a novel by South African author Lauren Beukes. The book centers on a mysterious drifter who murders the titular "shining girls" and one victim's attempts to expose him. ''The Shining Girls'' was published on 15 April 2 ...

'', a novel about a time-traveling

serial killer A serial killer is typically a person who murders three or more persons,A * * * * with the murders taking place over more than a month and including a significant period of time between them. While most authorities set a threshold of three ...

and the survivor who turns the hunt around. It was published on 15 April 2013 by the Umuzi imprint of Random House Struik in South Africa, on 25 April 2013 by

HarperCollins HarperCollins Publishers LLC is one of the Big Five English-language publishing companies, alongside Penguin Random House, Simon & Schuster, Hachette, and Macmillan. The company is headquartered in New York City and is a subsidiary of News Cor ...

in the United Kingdom, and on 4 June 2013 by

Mulholland Books Mulholland Books (US) is an imprint of Little, Brown and Company, a division of the Hachette Book Group. It specializes in publishing mysteries, thrillers, and suspense novels. History Little, Brown and Company announced the creation of Mulhol ...

in the United States. HarperCollins had won the international rights to the book in a fierce

bidding war A bid price is the highest price that a buyer (i.e., bidder) is willing to pay for some goods. It is usually referred to simply as the "bid". In bid and ask, the bid price stands in contrast to the ask price or "offer", and the difference betwee ...

with several other publishers. Lauren Beukes

''The Shining Girls'' won ''

The Strand Magazine ''The Strand Magazine'' was a monthly British magazine founded by George Newnes, composed of short fiction and general interest articles. It was published in the United Kingdom from January 1891 to March 1950, running to 711 issues, though the ...

'' Critic's Best Novel Award, the RT Thriller of the Year, Exclusive Books' Readers Choice Award, and South Africa's most prestigious literary award, the

University of Johannesburg Prize The University of Johannesburg Prize for South African Writing, also known as the UJ Prize, is awarded annually by the University of Johannesburg (UJ) for the best creative works in each of five categories: English, Afrikaans, Zulu, Northern Soth ...

. The TV rights for the novel have been acquired by

MRC MRC may refer to Government * Medical Research Council (United Kingdom) * Medical Reserve Corps, a US network of volunteer organizations * Municipalité régionale de comté (regional county municipality), Quebec, Canada * Military Revolutionar ...

and Leonardo DiCaprio's

Appian Way The Appian Way (Latin and Italian language, Italian: ''Via Appia'') is one of the earliest and strategically most important Roman roads of the ancient Roman Republic, republic. It connected Rome to Brindisi, in southeast Italy. Its importance is ...

according to ''

The Hollywood Reporter ''The Hollywood Reporter'' (''THR'') is an American digital and print magazine which focuses on the Cinema of the United States, Hollywood film industry, film, television, and entertainment industries. It was founded in 1930 as a daily trade pap ...

''. Her previous novel, ''

Zoo City ''Zoo City'' is a 2010 science fiction novel by South African author Lauren Beukes. It won the 2011 Arthur C. Clarke Award and the 2010 Kitschies Red Tentacle for best novel. The cover of the British edition of the book was awarded the 2010 BSFA ...

'', a

hardboiled Hardboiled (or hard-boiled) fiction is a literary genre that shares some of its characters and settings with crime fiction (especially detective fiction and noir fiction). The genre's typical protagonist is a detective who battles the violence o ...

thriller about crime, magic, the music industry, refugees and redemption set in a re-imagined Johannesburg won the 2011

Arthur C. Clarke Award The Arthur C. Clarke Award is a British award given for the best science fiction novel first published in the United Kingdom during the previous year. It is named after British author Arthur C. Clarke, who gave a grant to establish the award i ...

, and the 2010

Kitschies The Kitschies are British literary prizes presented annually for "the year's most progressive, intelligent and entertaining works that contain elements of the speculative or fantastic" published in the United Kingdom. Awards and criteria The Ki ...

Red Tentacle for best novel. It was short-listed for the 2010

BSFA The British Science Fiction Association Limited is an organisation founded in 1958 by a group of British academics, science fiction fans, authors, publishers and booksellers, in order to promote the writing, criticism, and study of science fiction ...

Award for best novel, the 2011 World Fantasy award for best novel, the 2010–2011 University of Johannesburg Creative Writing Prize, the M-Net Literary Awards, the Nielsen's Booksellers' Choice Award 2011 and long-listed for South Africa's ''Sunday Times'' Fiction Prize 2011 and the 2012 International Dublin Literary Award. The cover artwork received the 2010 BSFA award for best art. The novel has also been short-listed for the Grand Prix de l'Imaginaire in France for best foreign novel, best translation by Laurent Philibert-Caillat and best cover by Joey Hi-Fi. The film rights have been optioned by South African producer, Helena Spring. Her first novel was ''Moxyland'', a

cyberpunk Cyberpunk is a subgenre of science fiction in a dystopian futuristic setting that tends to focus on a "combination of lowlife and high tech", featuring futuristic technological and scientific achievements, such as artificial intelligence and cyber ...

novel set in a future Cape Town. Both books were first published in South Africa by Jacana Publishing and released internationally by

Osprey Publishing Osprey Publishing is a British, Oxford-based, publishing company specializing in military history. Predominantly an illustrated publisher, many of their books contain full-colour artwork plates, maps and photographs, and the company produces ov ...

's Angry Robot imprint. Her first book, the non-fiction ''Maverick: Extraordinary Women from South Africa's Past'' (Oshun 2004) was long-listed for the 2006 ''Sunday Times'' Alan Paton Award. She has published short stories in several anthologies including "Further Conflicts" (NewCon Press 2011), ''Home Away'' (Zebra 2010), ''Touch: Stories of Contact'' (Zebra 2009), ''Open: Erotic Stories from South African Women Writers'' (Oshun 2008), ''FAB'' (Umuzi 2007), ''African Road: New Writing from Southern Africa'' (New Africa Books 2005), ''180 Degrees: New Fiction by South African Women Writers'' (Oshun 2006), and ''Urban 03'' (New Africa Books 2005). In July 2014, Beukes published a new novel called ''Broken Monsters'', which is set in

Detroit Detroit ( , ; , ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is also the largest U.S. city on the United States–Canada border, and the seat of government of Wayne County. The City of Detroit had a population of 639,111 at th ...

, Michigan. Her first short fiction collection, ''Slipping: Stories, Essays, and Other Writing'' (Tachyon Publications), was released in October 2016.

Film and television

As head writer for

Clockwork Zoo Clockwork Zoo, (formerly Octagon CSI), based in Cape Town, South Africa, was South Africa's largest animation studio from 2005 until its closure in 2011. After creating the local Action (fiction), action-adventure teen show Urbo: The Adventure ...

, she was part of the development team that created South Africa's first half-hour animated TV series, '' URBO: The Adventures of Pax Afrika''. She also wrote 12 episodes of the

Playhouse Disney Playhouse Disney was a brand of programming blocks and international cable and satellite television channels that were owned by the Disney Channels Worldwide unit (now Disney Branded Television) of The Walt Disney Company's Disney–ABC Televis ...

show, ''

Florrie's Dragons ''Florrie's Dragons'' () is a children's animated television series that was produced by Wish Films and Clockwork Zoo and animated by Studio 100 Animation. The series is based on a children's book named ''Dear Dragon''. The series was created by A ...

'' for

Wish Films Wish Films (formerly Tell-Tale Productions) is an animation and live-action studio, established by Will Brenton and Iain Lauchlan in 1994. The company first produced live shows, and later went on to produce TV shows. History As Tell-Tale Produc ...

and episodes of the animated series ''

Mouk ''Mouk'' is a French animated television series produced by Millimages, adapted from the work of Marc Boutavant, and directed by François Narboux. 62 episodes were produced. The show has aired in Canada and the United Kingdom, as well as othe ...

'' for French production company

Millimages Millimages is a French independent animation studio based in Paris which develops, produces and worldwide distributes high quality family entertainment on all media. In 2016, Millimages has been nominated for an International Emmy Kids Award ...

. She directed a feature-length documentary on Miss Gay Western Cape called ''Glitterboys & Ganglands''. The film has shown at various festivals including the

Atlanta Film Festival The Atlanta Film Festival (ATLFF) is a long-running, international film festival held in Atlanta, Georgia operated by the Atlanta Film Society, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization. Started in 1976 and occurring every spring, the festival shows a ...

Encounters Encounter or Encounters may refer to: Film *''Encounter'', a 1997 Indian film by Nimmala Shankar *Encounter (2013 film), ''Encounter'' (2013 film), a Bengali film *Encounter (2018 film), ''Encounter'' (2018 film), an American sci-fi film *Encounte ...

, Out in Africa and won best LGBT film at the San Diego Black Film Festival. She was also one of the writers, together with Ben Trovato and Tumiso Tsukudu on the pilot of controversial ''ZA News'', a ''

Spitting Image ''Spitting Image'' is a British satirical television puppet show, created by Peter Fluck, Roger Law and Martin Lambie-Nairn. First broadcast in 1984, the series was produced by 'Spitting Image Productions' for Central Independent Television ov ...

''-style satire show with puppets based on the work of South African cartoonist,

Zapiro Jonathan Shapiro (born 27 October 1958) is a South African cartoonist, known as Zapiro, whose work appears in numerous South African publications and has been exhibited internationally on many occasions. He is the nephew of British magician ...

. The pilot was commissioned by the SABC but never broadcast. Her novel, ''The Shining Girls'', was

adapted In biology, adaptation has three related meanings. Firstly, it is the dynamic evolutionary process of natural selection that fits organisms to their environment, enhancing their evolutionary fitness. Secondly, it is a state reached by the po ...

into a television series, ''

Shining Girls ''Shining Girls'' is an American thriller streaming television series based on the 2013 novel ''The Shining Girls'' by Lauren Beukes. The series stars Elisabeth Moss, Wagner Moura and Jamie Bell. It premiered on Apple TV+ on April 29, 2022. A ...

'' by

and

Appian Way Productions Appian Way Productions is a Los Angeles based film and television production company founded in 2001 by actor and producer Leonardo DiCaprio. Jennifer Davisson serves as President of Production. Since its launch, Appian Way has released a diver ...

. It premiered on

Apple TV+ Apple TV is a digital media player and microconsole developed and marketed by Apple Inc. It is a small network appliance hardware that plays received media data such as video and audio to a television set or external display. Since its secon ...

on 29 April 2022.

Journalism

As a journalist, her articles have been published in a wide range of local and international magazines including ''

'', ''Nature Medicine'' and ''

Colors Color (American English) or colour (British English) is the visual perceptual property deriving from the spectrum of light interacting with the photoreceptor cells of the eyes. Color categories and physical specifications of color are associa ...

'' as well as ''The Sunday Times Lifestyle'', ''

Marie Claire ''Marie Claire'' is a French international monthly magazine first published in France in 1937, followed by the United Kingdom in 1941. Since then various editions are published in many countries and languages. The feature editions focus on wo ...

'', ''

Elle ''Elle'' (stylized ''ELLE'') is a worldwide women's magazine of French origin that offers a mix of fashion and beauty content, together with culture, society and lifestyle. The title means "she" or "her" in French. ''Elle'' is considered the w ...

'', ''

Cosmopolitan Cosmopolitan may refer to: Food and drink * Cosmopolitan (cocktail), also known as a "Cosmo" History * Rootless cosmopolitan, a Soviet derogatory epithet during Joseph Stalin's anti-Semitic campaign of 1949–1953 Hotels and resorts * Cosmopoli ...

'' and ''

SL Magazine SL may refer to: Arts and entertainment * SL (rapper), a rapper from London * ''Second Life'', a multi-user 3D virtual world * Sensei's Library, an Internet site dedicated to the game of Go * Subdominant leittonwechselklänge * Leica SL, a mirror ...

''. She won "Best Columnist Western Cape" in the

Vodacom Journalist of the Year Awards The Vodacom Journalist of the Year Awards are annual South African awards for journalism in a number of categories, awarded by Vodacom Vodacom Group Limited is a South-Western African mobile communications company, providing voice, messaging, ...

in 2007 and 2008.

Comics

Beukes made her comics writing debut with "All The Pretty Ponies" in

Vertigo Vertigo is a condition where a person has the sensation of movement or of surrounding objects moving when they are not. Often it feels like a spinning or swaying movement. This may be associated with nausea, vomiting, sweating, or difficulties w ...

's '' Strange Adventures''

one-shot One shot may refer to: Film and television * One-shot film, a feature film shot in one long take with no edits, or manufactured to look like so * ''One Shot'' (2005 film), a Sri Lankan action film directed by Ranjan Ramanayake * ''One Shot'' (2 ...

. She also wrote "The Hidden Kingdom", an arc of '' Fairest'' (issues #8–13), a spin-off of

Bill Willingham William Willingham (born 1956) is an American writer and artist of comics, known for his work on the series ''Elementals (Comico Comics), Elementals'' and ''Fables (comics), Fables''. Career William Willingham was born in Fort Belvoir, Virginia. ...

Eisner Award The Will Eisner Comic Industry Awards, commonly shortened to the Eisner Awards, are prizes given for creative achievement in American comic books, sometimes referred to as the comics industry's equivalent of the Academy Awards. They are named in ...

-winning ''

Fables Fable is a literary genre: a succinct fictional story, in prose or verse, that features animals, legendary creatures, plants, inanimate objects, or forces of nature that are anthropomorphized, and that illustrates or leads to a particular moral ...

'' series, and a ''

Durham Red Durham Red is a British comics character, originally created in 1987 as a female sidekick and lover for Johnny Alpha in the long-running comic book series ''Strontium Dog'' in '' 2000 AD''. She is a bounty hunter with a mutation that gives her ...

'' story for '' 2000 ADs 40th anniversary special issue. Her series ''

Survivors' Club ''Survivors' Club'' is a comic book series created by writers Lauren Beukes and Dale Halvorsen, and artist Ryan Kelly, published by the Vertigo imprint of DC Comics, beginning in 2015. The series is set in a world where the archetypal characters ...

'', illustrated by Dale Halvorsen and Ryan Kelly was published by Vertigo October 2015 – June 2016 for nine issues. Before its cancellation the series was under development as a TV series.

Bibliography

* ''Maverick: Extraordinary Women from South Africa's Past'' (2004) * ''

Moxyland ''Moxyland'' is a cyberpunk dystopian novel written by South African author, Lauren Beukes. The book was published in 2008. ''Moxyland'' is narrated by four different characters, and each chapter focuses on one of the narrators and her or his o ...

'' (2008) * ''

'' (2010) * ''

'' (2013) * '' Broken Monsters'' (2014) * ''Slipping'' (short story collection, 2016) * '' Afterland'' (2020) - Originally titled ''Motherland''

Short fiction

Beukes has published short fiction in various collections: * ''Urban '03'' (2004) * ''African Road: New Writing from South Africa'' (2005) * ''180 Degrees: New Fiction by South African Women Writers'' (2006) * ''FAB'' (2007) * ''Open: Erotic Stories from South African Women Writers'' (2008) * ''Touch: Stories of Contact'' (2009) * ''Home Away: 24 Hours, 24 Cities, 24 Authors'' (2010) * ''Pandemonium: Stories of the Apocalypse'' (2011)

Other

* Foreword for

Jeff Noon Jeff Noon (born 1957 in Droylsden, Lancashire, England) is a British novelist, short story writer and playwright whose works make use of word play and fantasy. Noon's speculative fiction books have ties to the works of writers such as Lewis Car ...

– ''

Vurt ''Vurt'' is a 1993 science fiction novel written by British author Jeff Noon. The debut novel for both Noon and small publishing house Ringpull, it went on to win the 1994 Arthur C. Clarke Award and was later listed in ''The Best Novels of the N ...

'', 20th anniversary edition (2013) *Foreword for

Alan Moore Alan Moore (born 18 November 1953) is an English author known primarily for his work in comic books including ''Watchmen'', ''V for Vendetta'', ''The Ballad of Halo Jones'', ''Swamp Thing'', ''Batman:'' ''The Killing Joke'', and ''From Hell' ...

– ''

The Ballad of Halo Jones ''The Ballad of Halo Jones'' is a science fiction comic strip written by Alan Moore and drawn by Ian Gibson (artist), Ian Gibson, with lettering by Steve Potter (Books 1 & 2) and Richard Starkings (Book 3). ''Halo Jones'' first appeared July ...

'' (2013)

References

External links

* * * * *
Interview with the Mail & Guardian

FAQ from the author's website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Beukes, Lauren 1976 births Living people 21st-century journalists 21st-century short story writers 21st-century South African novelists 21st-century South African women writers Afrofuturist writers Alumni of Roedean School, South Africa People from Johannesburg South African people of Dutch descent South African people of French descent South African science fiction writers South African television writers South African women journalists South African women short story writers South African women novelists Writers from Cape Town White South African people Women science fiction and fantasy writers University of Cape Town alumni Women mystery writers Women television writers 21st-century screenwriters