PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction
1 appearances
-
Edition 45 (2025) Nominee
Pemi Aguda
ペミ・アグダ
Pemi Aguda
Profile
- Gender
- Female
- Born
- Nigeria
- Nationality
- Nigerian
- Languages
- English
- Residence History
- Lagos, Nigeria
Career
- Occupations
- Writer, Editor, Former Architect
- Active Years
- 2015-2025
- Affiliations
- Transition Magazine (Hortense Spillers Assistant Editor)
Education
| Institution | Faculty | Department | Degree | Period | Country |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| University of Michigan | — | Helen Zell Writers' Program | MFA | — | United States |
University of Michigan
Helen Zell Writers' Program
Degree:
MFA
Country:
United States
MFA in fiction
Awards
| Year | Award | Work | Category | Organization | Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | Writivism Short Story Prize | Caterer, Caterer | Short Fiction | Writivism | Won |
| 2020 | Deborah Rogers Foundation Award | The Suicide Mothers (early draft) | — | Deborah Rogers Foundation | Won |
| 2022 | O. Henry Prize | Breastmilk | — | — | Won |
| 2022 | Nommo Award | Masquerade Season | Short Story | — | Won |
| 2023 | O. Henry Prize | The Hollow | — | — | Won |
| 2024 | Caine Prize | Breastmilk | — | Caine Prize for African Writing | Shortlisted |
| 2024 | National Book Award for Fiction | Ghostroots | Fiction | National Book Foundation | Finalist |
| 2024 | Los Angeles Times Book Prize (Art Seidenbaum Award for First Fiction) | Ghostroots | — | Los Angeles Times | Finalist |
Writivism Short Story Prize
2015
Work:
Caterer, Caterer
Category:
Short Fiction
Organization:
Writivism
Result:
Won
Deborah Rogers Foundation Award
2020
Work:
The Suicide Mothers (early draft)
Organization:
Deborah Rogers Foundation
Result:
Won
O. Henry Prize
2022
Work:
Breastmilk
Result:
Won
Nommo Award
2022
Work:
Masquerade Season
Category:
Short Story
Result:
Won
O. Henry Prize
2023
Work:
The Hollow
Result:
Won
Caine Prize
2024
Work:
Breastmilk
Organization:
Caine Prize for African Writing
Result:
Shortlisted
National Book Award for Fiction
2024
Work:
Ghostroots
Category:
Fiction
Organization:
National Book Foundation
Result:
Finalist
Los Angeles Times Book Prize (Art Seidenbaum Award for First Fiction)
2024
Work:
Ghostroots
Organization:
Los Angeles Times
Result:
Finalist
Awards & Nominations
Works
Major Works
Ghostroots
2024 Supernatural FictionA collection of short stories exploring motherhood, identity, and the supernatural.
MotherhoodHauntingsIdentity
The Suicide Mothers
2025 NovelForthcoming novel about suicide mothers.
MotherhoodSuicide
Bibliography
- Ghostroots (2024)
- The Suicide Mothers (2025)
- These Words Expose Us (Anthology)
- Lagos Noir (Anthology)
Style & Themes
- Literary Style
- Supernatural scenarios in short storiesComplexities of motherhood
- Recurring Motifs
- HauntingsMotherhood as haunting and inheritanceMemories
Legacy
Acclaimed for her debut collection Ghostroots, a National Book Award finalist, emerging as a prominent Nigerian writer.
Quotes
-
There is a sense, amidst the magic, that mothers are doomed to fail. The world is full of dangers, and a mother can either smother or leave, and neither will do. Daughters can escape or stay, but the world very well might blame them either way.
Source: Chicago Review of Books (2024) -
almost every story could be read as a haunted story. As much as we're haunted by ghosts or our ancestors or evil, we're haunted by memory, too. We are haunted by repressed emotions [or] by the decisions that we don't make.
Source: Interview Magazine (2024)