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Pemi Aguda

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'Pemi Aguda
Aguda at the 2024 Texas Book Festival.
Born
Nigeria
CitizenshipNigerian
EducationUniversity of Michigan (MFA)
Known forGhostroots (2024)
AwardsWritivism Short Story Prize O'Henry Prize
Websitepemiaguda.com

Pemi Aguda is a Nigerian writer known for her short stories and debut collection Ghostroots (2024). Her work often explores complex themes surrounding motherhood, identity, and the supernatural. Ghostroots, which includes previously-published stories such as "Breastmilk" and "The Hollow", was a finalist for the 2024 National Book Award for Fiction and received critical acclaim for its unifying themes and narrative cohesion.

Aguda's stories have been widely recognized, earning multiple accolades, including an O'Henry Award in 2022 for "Breastmilk" and again in 2023 for "The Hollow". Additionally, "Breastmilk" was shortlisted for the 2024 Caine Prize for African Writing. Her forthcoming novel, The Suicide Mothers, which won the 2020 Deborah Rogers Foundation Award, is slated for release in 2025.

Education and fellowships

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'Pemi Aguda is from Lagos, Nigeria, where she used to work in architecture.

In 2015, she won the Writivism Short Story Prize and became the recipient of the first Writivism Stellenbosch University writing residency.[1][2] She holds an MFA in fiction from the University of Michigan's Helen Zell Writers' Program, where she won a Henfield Prize, a Tyson Prize, and several Hopwood Awards.[3]

A graduate of the 2019 Clarion Workshop, Aguda's work was supported by an Octavia E. Butler Memorial Scholarship. She also received a scholarship from the Juniper Summer Workshop (where she is now a faculty member in fiction) and an Aspen Words Emerging Writer Fellowship in 2020.[4] She was a 2021 Miami Book Fair Fiction Fellow,[5] a 2022 MacDowell Fellow in Literature,[6] and a 2023 James Merrill House Writer in Residence.[7]

Career

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Aguda is known for short stories that often deal with the complexities of balancing motherhood (or fatherhood) between valor and oppression. The stories are wrapped in supernatural scenarios of literal hauntings or otherwise feature characters having haunting concerns that consume them, and each is normally connected in some way to the discussion of motherhood or womanhood as "a haunting and an inheritance".[8]

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.
— Leah Rachel von Essen, Chicago Review of Books, on the short stories of Ghostroots

In a discussion with Marris Adikwu on Interview, Aguda explained her ethos on and interpretation of storytelling as a type of expression of what haunts people, saying "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."[9] The recurring themes of literal and figurative haunting throughout her works culminated in the release of a debut short story collection.

In May 2024, W. W. Norton published this debut short story collection, Ghostroots.[10] It contains previously-published award-winning content – such as "Breastmilk" and "The Hollow" – and was a finalist for the National Book Award for Fiction.[11] The unifying themes of these short stories helped to establish cohesion. Critics by and large viewed it as a strong short story collection and debut, though they were split on reception to some of the stories, such as "Birdwoman".[12][13][14][15] It was also listed on the New York Times 100 Notable Books of 2024.[16]

Other than fiction writing, she also engages as editor of short-form content. She is currently the Hortense Spillers Assistant Editor at Transition Magazine.[17]

Awards

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Year Title Award Category Result Ref
2015 "Caterer, Caterer" Writivism Short Story Prize Short Fiction Won [18]
2020 The Suicide Mothers early draft Deborah Rogers Foundation Award — Won [19][20][21]
2022 "Breastmilk" O'Henry Award — Won [22]
"Masquerade Season" Nommo Award Short Story Won [23]
2023 "The Hollow" O'Henry Award — Won [24]
2024 "Breastmilk" Caine Prize — Shortlisted [25]
Ghostroots National Book Award Fiction Won [11]

Works

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Books

  • —— (2024). Ghostroots (hardcover 1st ed.). New York: W. W. Norton & Company. ISBN 9781324065852.[10]
  • —— (2025). The Suicide Mothers (hardcover 1st ed.). Little, Brown. ISBN 9780349018270.α

Anthologies

  • These Words Expose Us
  • Lagos Noir

Notes

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α Novel to be released on 6 May 2025[26]

References

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  1. ^ Miscellaneous (15 July 2015). "Interview - Pemi Aguda - Winner of the 2015 Writivism Short Story Competition". Brittle Paper. Retrieved 6 October 2019.
  2. ^ Murua, James (31 March 2016). "Pemi Aguda is first Writivism Stellenbosch University writing residency recipient". Writing Africa. Retrieved 11 May 2024.
  3. ^ "About". 'Pemi Aguda. 15 October 2019. Retrieved 14 September 2024.
  4. ^ Corea, Nicole (27 February 2020). "Announcing the 2020 Class of Emerging Writer Fellows". The Aspen Institute. Retrieved 14 September 2024.
  5. ^ "Emerging Writer Fellowships / 2021 Fellows". Miami Book Fair. Retrieved 14 September 2024.
  6. ^ "Pemi Aguda - MacDowell Fellow in Literature". MacDowell. Retrieved 14 September 2024.
  7. ^ "About James Merrill". James Merrill House. Retrieved 2 November 2024.
  8. ^ Essen, Leah Rachel von (13 May 2024). "Haunted Motherhood in "Ghostroots"". Chicago Review of Books. Retrieved 28 November 2024.
  9. ^ Nevins, Jake (15 May 2024). "In Her New Story Collection, Author Pemi Aguda Invites Readers For a Haunting". Interview Magazine. Retrieved 28 November 2024.
  10. ^ a b "Ghostroots". W. W. Norton. Retrieved 28 November 2024.
  11. ^ a b Andrews, Meredith (1 October 2024). "2024 National Book Awards Finalists Announced". National Book Foundation. Retrieved 1 October 2024.
  12. ^ "Ghostroots". Kirkus Reviews.
  13. ^ "Ghostroots: Stories". Library Journal. Retrieved 28 November 2024.
  14. ^ House, Christian (6 June 2024). "Ghostroots — magic and mayhem on the streets of Lagos". Financial Times. Retrieved 28 November 2024.
  15. ^ "Ghostroots by 'Pemi Aguda". Publishers Weekly. Retrieved 28 November 2024.
  16. ^ The New York Times Book Review Staff (26 November 2024). "100 Notable Books of 2024". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 28 November 2024.
  17. ^ "'Pemi Aguda, Keith Jones, and Enzo Silon Surin | Brookline Booksmith". brooklinebooksmith.com. Retrieved 14 September 2024.
  18. ^ "Prizes". The Writivism Prizes. 29 December 2015. Retrieved 28 November 2024.
  19. ^ "Pemi Aguda Wins 2020 Deborah Rogers Foundation Writers Award". Brittle Paper. 18 May 2020.
  20. ^ Murua, James (12 May 2020). "Pemi Aguda wins UK's Deborah Rogers Foundation Writers Award 2020". Writing Africa.
  21. ^ "Home". deborahrogersfoundation.org.
  22. ^ Groff, Lauren (24 April 2023). "Announcing the Winners of the 2023 O. Henry Prize for Short Fiction". Literary Hub. Retrieved 14 September 2024.
  23. ^ "2022 Nommo Award Winners". www.africansfs.com. Retrieved 28 November 2024.
  24. ^ "Announcing the Winners of the 2022 O. Henry Prize for Short Fiction". Literary Hub. 4 April 2022. Retrieved 14 September 2024.
  25. ^ "The Caine Prize for African Writing announces its 2024 Shortlist". The Caine Prize for African Writing. 6 August 2024. Retrieved 14 September 2024.
  26. ^ "The Suicide Mothers". Waterstones. Retrieved 21 November 2024.
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