Michael Donkor

Michael Donkor (born 1985) is a British author and English teacher based in London. He is represented by Blake Friedmann and Fourth Estate.

For the Ghanaian footballer, see Michael Donkor (footballer).

Michael Donkor
BornLondon, England
Occupation
  • Teacher of English
  • Author
Alma mater
Notable worksHold (2018)

Early life and education

Donkor was born in London to a Ghanaian household.[1] He completed his bachelor's degree in English at Wadham College, Oxford, as well as a master's in Creative Writing at University of London.[2] At the University of Oxford he was one of only 21 black students in his year.[3] At the University of London he was supervised by Andrew Motion.[2]

Career

In 2010 Donkor trained as an English teacher at the UCL Institute of Education, and began his teaching career at Esher College. He formally taught at St Paul's Girls' School.[1][2] He has left his job there (as of 2022) and is pursuing a career of writing in Portugal, Lisbon. In 2014 he was chosen by the National Centre for Writing for their mentoring programme, through which he met mentor Daniel Hahn and agent Juliet Pickering.[1] He was described by HarperCollins as a "powerful new British literary voice". The Observer selected him as a New Face of Fiction in January 2018.[4][5] He is inspired by Zadie Smith, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie and Toni Morrison.[5]

Hold

Fourth Estate gained publishing rights to Donkor's Hold, which was published in July 2018.[6][7][8][9] It follows the stories of three teenage girls from Kumasi, Ghana, to Brixton, London, in 2002, and has been described as a coming-of-age novel.[10][5] Donkor chose to set Hold in 2002 as it marks the summer he was applying to study English at university.[5] Hold was longlisted for the 2019 Dylan Thomas Prize.[11]

References
  1. "Michael Donkor". Blake Friedmann. Retrieved 7 July 2018.
  2. "Michael Donkor – Poets' Corner Tutors". Poets' Corner Tutors. Retrieved 7 July 2018.
  3. Donkor, Michael (7 July 2018). "'My blackness seemed curious, difficult to handle': the day I ran away from Oxford University". The Guardian. Retrieved 7 July 2018.
  4. O'Kelly, Lisa; Akbar, Arifa; Armitstead, Claire; Beckerman, Hannah; Clark, Alex; Kellaway, Kate; Lewis, Tim; Skidelsky, William (14 January 2018). "Meet the new faces of fiction for 2018". The Guardian. Retrieved 7 July 2018.
  5. Pymm, Francesca (23 April 2018). "Michael Donkor | 'Ghanaians have a really silly and often quite absurd sense of humour'". The Bookseller. Retrieved 7 July 2018.
  6. "Brixton Rising: New Voices in Fiction, Brixton Library tonight, Weds 16th May, 7pm". Brixton Buzz news, features and listings for Brixton, London. 16 May 2018. Retrieved 7 July 2018.
  7. Wood, Heloise (26 July 2017). "Fourth Estate wins teacher's debut novel at auction". The Bookseller. Retrieved 7 July 2018.
  8. "2018: Most Anticipated Reads". The Book Banque. Retrieved 7 July 2018.
  9. "The Most Anticipated African Books To Read In 2018 – Nigeria Info". Nigeria Info. 12 January 2018. Retrieved 7 July 2018.
  10. "Hold by Michael Donkor – Hardcover". HarperCollins UK. Retrieved 7 July 2018.
  11. Flood, Alison (31 January 2019). "Dylan Thomas prize: teacher and nurse among 'starburst' of young talent". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 4 February 2019.
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