Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah

Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah is an American speculative fiction author who wrote the short story collection Friday Black (2018) and his debut novel Chain-Gang All-Stars (2023). He was named one of "5 under 35 Authors" by the National Book Foundation in 2018[3] and won the PEN/Jean Stein Book Award in 2019.[4]

Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah
Adjei-Brenyah in 2019
Adjei-Brenyah in 2019
Bornc. 1991 (age 31–32)[1][2]
The Bronx, New York
LanguageEnglish
Alma materUniversity at Albany, SUNY, Syracuse University
GenreSpeculative fiction
Notable works

Early life and education

Adjei-Brenyah was born in the Bronx, New York but grew up in Spring Valley, New York. Both of his parents are from Ghana.[5] His father was a defense attorney and his mother was a kindergarten teacher.[1] Adjei-Brenyah started writing from a young age and wrote for his high school's literature magazine.[2]

Adjei-Brenyah went to University at Albany, SUNY for his undergraduate degree, where he learned from Lynne Tillman.[2][5] He later attended the graduate writing program at Syracuse University with the goal to study with George Saunders in the creative writing program. Saunders later became his thesis adviser and mentor.[1] Adjei-Brenyah later went on to teach in the same program.[5]

After college, Adjei-Brenyah became interested in prison abolition and worked at the Rockland Coalition to End the New Jim Crow.[2]

Writing career

Adjei-Brenyah's published works are set in near-future dystopias. They often explore the topics of exploitation, capitalism, and the societal acceptance of violence.[1]

Friday Black
Main article: Friday Black

Adjei-Brenyah's debut book is a collection of 12 satirical short stories exploring many topics, including racism in modern-day America, consumerism, school shootings, and generational violence.[5] Vulture described the book as "an irreverent, genre-bending approach to ripped-from-the-headlines subject matter".[2]

Chain-Gang All-Stars

Adjei-Brenyah's first novel is set in a dystopian America where imprisoned people have the choice to leave prison by joining a gladiatorial system called the "CAPE" or Criminal Action Penal Entertainment program where they take part in televised duels to the death as part of alliances called Chain Gangs. If they manage to survive three years of battles, then they are freed.[6][7] The book has a large cast and is written from the perspective of multiple people participating in the program, as well as activists fighting against it, fans, and the people running it.[6]

The book is a fictional novel but features many footnotes citing current laws and factual statistics about the incarceration system in the United States.[2]

Chain-Gang All-Stars started as a short story for inclusion in Friday Black, but became too long.[2] Adjei-Brenyah has said that he developed it into a novel because he felt he needed to spend more time exploring the main character, Loretta Thurwar.[7]

Chain-Gang All-Stars is shortlisted for the 2023 National Book Award for Fiction.[8][9][10][11]

Bibliography
  • — (2018). Friday Black. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. ISBN 978-1-328-91124-7.
  • — (2023). Chain Gang All Stars. Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group. ISBN 978-0-593-31734-1.

Awards and nominations
Year Award Work Result
2018 National Book Foundation: 5 Under 35[3] Friday Black Won
National Book Critics Circle: John Leonard Award for Best First Book[12] Nominated (finalist)
2019 PEN/Jean Stein Book Award[4][13] Won
Aspen Words Literary Prize[14] Nominated (shortlist)
Dylan Thomas Prize[15] Nominated (shortlist)
2020 William Saroyan International Prize for Writing[16] Won
2023 Waterstones Debut Fiction Prize[17] Chain-Gang All-Stars Nominated (shortlist)
National Book Award for Fiction[18] Nominated (longlist)

References
  1. Borrelli, Christopher (2023-05-24). "'Chain-Gang' author Adjei-Brenyah on writing about violence". Chicago Tribune. Retrieved 2023-07-02.
  2. Rao, Mallika (2023-04-25). "Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah Is Asking the Hard Questions". Vulture. Retrieved 2023-07-02.
  3. "5 Under 35". National Book Foundation. Retrieved 2023-07-02.
  4. "Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah". Forbes. Retrieved 2023-07-02.
  5. Alter, Alexandra (2018-10-19). "'Friday Black' Uses Fantasy and Blistering Satire to Skewer Racism and Consumer Culture". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2023-07-02.
  6. Bellot, Gabrielle (2023-05-23). "Chain-Gang All-Stars Is Gladiator Meets the American Prison System". The Atlantic. Retrieved 2023-07-02.
  7. Parham, Jason. "Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah Is the New Maestro of the Genre Novel". Wired. ISSN 1059-1028. Retrieved 2023-07-02.
  8. "The 2023 National Book Awards Longlist: Fiction". The New Yorker. September 15, 2023. Retrieved September 18, 2023.
  9. "Here's the longlist for the 2023 National Book Award for Fiction". Literary Hub. September 15, 2023. Retrieved September 18, 2023.
  10. Harris, Elizabeth A. (October 3, 2023). "Here Are the Finalists for the 2023 National Book Awards". The New York Times. Retrieved October 3, 2023.
  11. Nguyen, Sophia (October 3, 2023). "Here are the finalists for the 2023 National Book Awards". The Washington Post. Retrieved October 3, 2023.
  12. Ciabattari, Jane (2019-01-22). "National Book Critics Circle Announces Finalists for 2018 Awards". National Book Critics Circle. Retrieved 2023-07-10.
  13. Schaub, Michael (2019-02-27). "PEN America presents literary awards to Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah, Nafissa Thompson-Spires". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 2023-07-23.
  14. "2019 PRIZE". Aspen Words. Retrieved 2023-07-11.
  15. Mem: 10071784. "2019 Dylan Thomas Prize shortlist announced | Books+Publishing". Retrieved 2023-07-11.
  16. University, © Stanford; Stanford; California 94305. "Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah and Jennifer Croft awarded the 2020 William Saroyan International Prize for Writing by Stanford Libraries". Stanford Libraries. Retrieved 2023-07-10.
  17. "Waterstones debut fiction prize shortlist announced". Books+Publishing. 2023-07-17. Retrieved 2023-07-23.
  18. "The ten contenders for the National Book Award for Fiction". National Book Foundation. 2023-07-17. Retrieved 2023-09-18.
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