Karen Jennings (author) explained

Karen Jennings (born 1982) is a South African author.^{[1] [2]}

Early life and education

Jennings was born in Cape Town, South Africa, in 1982, the daughter of an Afrikaans mother and an English father; both of her parents were teachers.^[3] She has master's degrees in English literature and creative writing from the University of Cape Town, and a PhD in creative writing from the University of KwaZulu-Natal., she is pursuing doctoral work in history at the University of Johannesburg.^[4] She has done post-doctoral research at the Federal University of Goiás, Brazil, on the historical relationship between science and literature, with particular reference to eusocial insects.^[5]

Career

Jennings edited Feast, Famine & Potluck, a collection of African short stories published in 2014 by Modjaji Books for Short Story Day Africa.^[6] Her first novel Finding Soutbek was shortlisted for the 2013 Etisalat Prize for Literature (now known as the 9mobile Prize for Literature).^[7] Her book An Island, written with support from a Miles Moreland Foundation Writing Scholarship, was longlisted for the 2021 Booker Prize.^{[8] [9]}

Personal life

Jennings is married to a Brazilian scientist and lived in Brazil during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Awards

• Winner English Section of the Maskew Miller Longman Literature Awards, 2009 for "Mia and the Shark" (short story)
• Winner Africa Region Prize of the Commonwealth Short Story Competition, 2010 for "From Dark" (short story)
• Shortlisted Etisalat Prize for Literature, 2013 for Finding Soutbek
• Longlisted The Booker Prize, 2021 for An Island
• Co-winner K. Sello Duiker Memorial Award (one of the annual South African Literary Awards), 2021 for An Island

Works

• Finding Soutbek (Holland Park Press, 2013,) – novel^[10]
• Away from the Dead (Holland Park Press, 2014,) – short stories
• Travels with My Father: An Autobiographical Novel (Holland Park Press, 2016,) – novel/memoir ^[11]
• Space Inhabited by Echoes (Holland Park Press, 2018,) – poetry^{[12] [13]}
• Upturned Earth (Holland Park Press, 2019,) - novel
• An Island (Holland House Books, 2020,) – novel
• Book: Crooked Seeds . Hogarth . 2024-04-16 . 978-0-593-59712-5. ^{[14] [15]}

Notes and References

1. Web site: 2013. Karen Jennings. 6 August 2021. Holland Park Press.
2. Web site: 'I've been poor for a long time': after many rejections, Karen Jennings is up for the Booker. 5 August 2021. Rhiannon Lucy. Cosslett. The Guardian.
3. Web site: Karen Jennings, Author at LitNet. 5 August 2021. LitNet.
4. Web site: Hitchens. Joanne. 19 February 2021. An island by Karen Jennings: an interview. 5 August 2021. LitNet.
5. Web site: Authors: Karen Jennings . Holland House Books . 6 August 2021.
6. Book: Feast, famine & potluck. 2013. Short Story Day Africa. 978-0-620-58886-7. Jennings. Karen. South Africa. 915159052.
7. Web site: 23 January 2014. Etisalat Prize for Literature Announces 2013 Shortlist. dead. https://web.archive.org/web/20140301214613/http://etisalatprize.com/etisalat-prize-for-literature-announces-2013-shortlist/. 1 March 2014. 5 August 2021. Etisalat Prize.
8. News: Self. John. An Island by Karen Jennings review — the dark horse of Booker 2021. The Times. 5 August 2021.
9. Web site: de Waal. Shaun. 'This is an extraordinary moment for me': SA writer Karen Jennings on Booker longlist. Arts. 27 July 2021.
10. Viljoen, Shaun. "Finding Soutbek." Tydskrif vir Letterkunde, vol. 50, no. 2, 2013, pp. 207+.
11. Web site: Kolbe. Helena. 6 January 2017. Book review: Travels with My Father by Karen Jennings. 5 August 2021. LitNet.
12. Web site: Ullyatt. Tony. 4 October 2018. Space inhabited by echoes by Karen Jennings: a review. 5 August 2021. LitNet.
13. News: Szczurek . Karina M. . Space Inhabited by Echoes: Karen Jennings . 6 August 2021 . Cape Times . 10 August 2018. PressReader.
14. News: Charles . Ron . 2024-04-09 . Review ‘Crooked Seeds’ is hard to read and impossible to look away from . 2024-05-15 . Washington Post . en-US . 0190-8286.
15. News: Self . John . 2024-04-02 . Crooked Seeds by Karen Jennings review – a perfectly realised fictional creation . 2024-05-15 . The Guardian . en-GB . 0261-3077.