Lauren Beukes (born 5 June 1976) is a South African novelist, short story writer, journalist and television scriptwriter.
Early life
Lauren Beukes was born 5 June 1976. She grew up in Johannesburg, South Africa.[1] She attended Roedean School in Johannesburg,[2] and has an MA in creative writing from the University of Cape Town. She worked as a freelance journalist for ten years, including two years in New York and Chicago.[3]
Career
Books
She is the author of The Shining Girls, a novel about a time-travelingserial killer and the survivor who turns the hunt around. It was published on 15 April 2013 by the Umuzi imprint of Random House Struik in South Africa,[4][5] on 25 April 2013 by HarperCollins in the United Kingdom,[6] and on 4 June 2013 by Mulholland Books in the United States.[7] HarperCollins had won the international rights to the book in a fierce bidding war with several other publishers.[8][9]
Her previous novel, Zoo City, a hardboiled thriller about crime, magic, the music industry, refugees and redemption set in a re-imagined Johannesburg won the 2011 Arthur C. Clarke Award,[15] and the 2010 Kitschies Red Tentacle for best novel.[16] It was short-listed for the 2010 BSFA Award for best novel,[17] the 2011 World Fantasy award for best novel,[18] the 2010–2011 University of Johannesburg Creative Writing Prize,[19] the M-Net Literary Awards,[20] the Nielsen's Booksellers' Choice Award 2011[21] and long-listed for South Africa's Sunday Times Fiction Prize 2011[22] and the 2012 International Dublin Literary Award.[23] The cover artwork received the 2010 BSFA award for best art.[24] The novel has also been short-listed for the Grand Prix de l'Imaginaire in France for best foreign novel, best translation by Laurent Philibert-Caillat and best cover by Joey Hi-Fi.[25]
The film rights have been optioned by South African producer, Helena Spring.[26]
Her first novel was Moxyland, a cyberpunk novel set in a future Cape Town. Both books were first published in South Africa by Jacana Publishing and released internationally by Osprey Publishing's Angry Robot imprint.
Her first book, the non-fiction Maverick: Extraordinary Women from South Africa's Past (Oshun 2004) was long-listed for the 2006 Sunday Times Alan Paton Award.
She has published short stories in several anthologies including "Further Conflicts" (NewCon Press 2011), Home Away (Zebra 2010), Touch: Stories of Contact (Zebra 2009), Open: Erotic Stories from South African Women Writers[27] (Oshun 2008), FAB (Umuzi 2007), African Road: New Writing from Southern Africa (New Africa Books 2005), 180 Degrees: New Fiction by South African Women Writers (Oshun 2006), and Urban 03 (New Africa Books 2005).
In July 2014, Beukes published a new novel called Broken Monsters, which is set in Detroit, Michigan.[28][29]
Her first short fiction collection, Slipping: Stories, Essays, and Other Writing (Tachyon Publications), was released in October 2016.[30]
She was also one of the writers, together with Ben Trovato and Tumiso Tsukudu on the pilot of controversial ZA News, a Spitting Image-style satire show with puppets based on the work of South African cartoonist, Zapiro. The pilot was commissioned by the SABC but never broadcast.[37]
Beukes made her comics writing debut with "All The Pretty Ponies" in Vertigo's Strange Adventuresone-shot.[42] She also wrote "The Hidden Kingdom", an arc of Fairest (issues #8–13), a spin-off of Bill Willingham's Eisner Award-winning Fables series,[43] and a Durham Red story for 2000 AD's 40th anniversary special issue.
Her series Survivors' Club, illustrated by Dale Halvorsen and Ryan Kelly was published by Vertigo October 2015 – June 2016 for nine issues. Before its cancellation the series was under development as a TV series.
Bibliography
Maverick: Extraordinary Women from South Africa's Past (2004)[citation needed]