NoViolet Bulawayo is the pen name of Elizabeth Zandile Tshele (born 12 October 1981), a Zimbabwean author. In 2012, the National Book Foundation named her a "5 under 35" honoree. She was named one of the Top 100 most influential Africans by ''New African'' magazine in 2014. Her debut novel, ''We Need New Names'', was shortlisted for the 2013 Man Booker Prize, 2013 Booker Prize, and her second novel, ''Glory (Bulawayo novel), Glory'', was shortlisted for the 2022 Booker Prize, making her "the first Black African woman to appear on the Booker list twice".

Life

Bulawayo was born in Tsholotsho Zimbabwe, and attended Njube High School and later Mzilikazi High School for her A-levels. She completed her college education in the United States, studying at Kalamazoo Valley Community College, and earning bachelor's and master's degrees in English from Texas A&M University-Commerce and Southern Methodist University, respectively.Elizabeth Tshele
Cornell University Department of English. Retrieved April 2012. In 2010, she completed a Master of Fine Arts in creative writing at Cornell University, where her work was recognized with a Truman Capote Fellowship. In 2011, she won the Caine Prize with her story "Hitting Budapest", which had been published in the November/December 2010 issue of the ''Boston Review'' and became the opening chapter of her 2013 We Need New Names, debut novel. ''We Need New Names'' was included in the 2013 Man Booker Prize shortlist, making Bulawayo the first black African woman and the first Zimbabwean to be shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize, prize. She also won the Etisalat Prize for Literature and the Hemingway Foundation/PEN Award, among other accolades. In 2011, it was reported that she had begun work on a memoir project. Bulawayo sat on the board of trustees of the pan-African literary initiative Writivism between 2014 and 2018. Published in 2022, her second novel ''Glory (Bulawayo novel), Glory'' – inspired by George Orwell's ''Animal Farm'' and about a nation on the cusp of revolution – was written over more than three years, during which Bulawayo "closely followed the grass roots activism demanding change in countries including Sudan, Algeria, Uganda, Eswatini and the United States, where the Black Lives Matter movement surged." ''Glory'' was described by ''The Conversation (website), The Conversation'' as "unforgettable" and "an instant Zimbabwean classic". Reviewing the novel for ''The Guardian'', Sarah Ladipo Manyika concluded: "Bulawayo doesn't hold back in speaking truth to power. She writes urgently and courageously, holding up a mirror both to contemporary Zimbabwe and the world at large. Her fearless and innovative chronicling of politically repressive times calls to mind other great storytellers such as Herta Müller, Elif Shafak and Zimbabwean compatriot Yvonne Vera. Glory, with a flicker of hope at its end, is allegory, satire and fairytale rolled into one mighty punch." ''Glory'' was longlisted for the 2022 Booker Prize.

Awards and honours

*2010: Truman Capote Fellowship *2011: Caine Prize for African Writing for the short story "Hitting Budapest" about a gang of street children in a Zimbabwean shantytown. *2012-2014: Stegner Fellow at Stanford University"Announcing the 2012–2014 Stegner Fellowship Recipients"
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"Wallace Stegner Fellowship"
Stanford University. Retrieved April 2012. *2013: Man Booker Prize shortlist for ''We Need New Names'' *2013: National Book Award's "5 Under 35" chosen by a panel of past finalists and winners. Bulawayo was selected by Junot Díaz. *2013: Guardian First Book Award shortlist for ''We Need New Names'' *2013: Barnes & Noble Discover Award finalist for ''We Need New Names'' *2013: Etisalat Prize for Literature winner for ''We Need New Names'' *2013: Los Angeles Times Book Prize, ''Los Angeles Times'' Book Prize Art Seidenbaum Award for First Fiction, winner for ''We Need New Names''. *2014: Hemingway Foundation/PEN Award winner for ''We Need New Names'' *2014: Betty Trask Award winner for ''We Need New Names'' *2022: Booker Prize shortlist for ''Glory''

Works

*2009: "Snapshots", published in ''New Writing from Africa 2009'' (J. M. Coetzee, ed.) *2010: "Hitting Budapest", published in ''Boston Review'' and ''The Caine Prize for African Writing 2011'' *2013: ''We Need New Names'' *2022: ''Glory (Bulawayo novel), Glory''

References

External links

NoViolet Bulawayo
official website {{DEFAULTSORT:Bulawayo, NoViolet Mkha 1981 births 21st-century Zimbabwean women writers 21st-century Zimbabwean writers Alumni of Mzilikazi High School Caine Prize winners Cornell University alumni Hemingway Foundation/PEN Award winners Living people Southern Methodist University alumni Stegner Fellows Texas A&M University alumni Zimbabwean short story writers Zimbabwean women short story writers