Lauren Beukes

Lauren Beukes

Lauren Beukes at dConstruct, 2012.
Born (1976-06-05) 5 June 1976
Johannesburg, South Africa
Occupation Writer
Nationality South African
Period (2005–present)
Genre
Signature
Website
laurenbeukes.com

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 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.

Career

Books

She is the author of The Shining Girls, a novel about a time-traveling serial-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,[2][3] on 25 April 2013 by HarperCollins in the United Kingdom,[4] and on 4 June 2013 by Mulholland Books in the United States.[5] HarperCollins had won the international rights to the book in a fierce bidding war with several other publishers.[6][7]

The Shining Girls won The Strand Magazine Critic's Best Novel Award,[8] the RT Thriller of the Year,[9] Exclusive Books' Readers Choice Award,[10] and South Africa's most prestigious literary award, The University of Johannesburg Prize.[11] The TV rights for the novel have been acquired by MRC and Leonardo DiCaprio's Appian Way according to The Hollywood Reporter.[12]

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,[13] and the 2010 Kitschies Red Tentacle for best novel.[14] It was short-listed for the 2010 BSFA Award for best novel,[15] the 2011 World Fantasy award for best novel,[16] the 2010–2011 University of Johannesburg Creative Writing Prize,[17] the M-Net Literary Awards,[18] the Nielsen's Booksellers' Choice Award 2011[19] and long-listed for South Africa's Sunday Times Fiction Prize 2011[20] and the 2012 IMPAC Dublin Literary Award.[21] The cover artwork received the 2010 BSFA award for best art.[22] 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.[23]

The film rights have been optioned by South African producer, Helena Spring.[24]

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 2005) 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 [25] (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 a novel called Broken Monsters, which is set in Detroit, Michigan.[26][27]

Film and television

As head writer for Clockwork Zoo, she was part of the development team that created South Africa's first half-hour animated TV series, URBO: The Adventures of Pax Afrika. She also wrote 12 episodes of the Disney Playhouse show, Florrie's Dragons for Wish Films and episodes of the animated series Mouk for French production company Millimages.

She directed a feature-length documentary on Miss Gay Western Cape called Glitterboys & Ganglands. The film has shown at various festivals including The Atlanta Film Festival, Encounters,[28] Out in Africa and won best LGBT film at the San Diego Black Film Festival.[29]

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.[30]

Her novel, The Shining Girls, is being adapted into a television series by MRC and Appian Way Productions.[31]

Journalism

As a journalist, her articles have been published in a wide range of local and international magazines including The Hollywood Reporter, Nature Medicine and Colors as well as The Sunday Times Lifestyle, Marie Claire, Elle, Cosmopolitan and SL Magazine .

She won "Best Columnist Western Cape" in the Vodacom Journalist of the Year Awards in 2007 and 2008.[32][33]

Comics

Beukes made her comics writing debut with "All The Pretty Ponies" in Vertigo's Strange Adventures one-shot.[34] 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.[35]

Personal life

Beukes currently lives in Cape Town.[1]

Bibliography

Short fiction

Beukes has published short fiction in various collections:

Other

References

  1. 1 2 "Lauren Beukes the writer who is inspired by the world | FirstStep.me- The Fun Side of Being Serious – Careers, Education, Finance, Travel & Business". FirstStep.me. Retrieved 3 June 2013.
  2. ↑ "The Shining Girls – Fiction – Lauren Beukes, – 9781415202012". Retrieved 6 May 2013.
  3. ↑ "The Shining Girls". Retrieved 6 May 2013.
  4. ↑ "The Shining Girls : Lauren Beukes – HarperCollins". Retrieved 6 May 2013.
  5. ↑ "Mulholland Books | The Shining Girls". Retrieved 6 May 2013.
  6. ↑ Williams, Charlotte (7 October 2011). "Bidding frantic for Beukes' thriller". The Bookseller. Retrieved 6 May 2013.
  7. ↑ Williams, Charlotte (21 October 2011). "Shining Girl Beukes lands at HC". The Bookseller. Retrieved 6 May 2013.
  8. ↑ "Lauren Beukes Wins the Strand Critics Award for Best Novel, R.L. Stine and Peter Lovesey Honored". Street Insider. Retrieved 14 July 2014.
  9. ↑ "RT Award nominees and winners". RT Book Reviews. Retrieved 14 July 2014.
  10. ↑ "Lauren Beukes’ The Shining Girls Receives Exclusive Books Book of the Year: Reader’s Choice Award". BooksLive. Retrieved 14 July 2014.
  11. ↑ "Sparkle and flair from UJ Prize winners". Mail & Guardian. Retrieved 14 July 2014.
  12. ↑ "Hot Book Shining Girls Acquired". Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved 21 July 2013.
  13. ↑ "Arthur C. Clarke Award Winners & Nominees". Worlds Without End. Retrieved 28 April 2011.
  14. ↑ Jared (2 February 2011). "The Kitschies: 2010 Red Tentacle Winner". Pornokitsch. Retrieved 6 February 2013.
  15. ↑ Burnham, Karen (24 April 2011). "BSFA Awards". Locus. Retrieved 6 February 2013.
  16. ↑ "World Fantasy Nominees and Lifetime Achievement Winners". Locus. 28 July 2011. Retrieved 6 February 2013.
  17. ↑ Ben (14 April 2011). "The 2010/2011 University of Johannesburg Creative Writing Prize Shortlists (English)". Books LIVE. Retrieved 6 February 2013.
  18. ↑ "M-Net Literary Awards Shortlists 2011". M-Net. 18 March 2011. Retrieved 6 February 2013.
  19. ↑ "Nielsen Announces The Booksellers' Choice Award 2011 shortlist" (Press release). Nielsen BookScan. 5 July 2011. Retrieved 6 February 2013.
  20. ↑ Smith, Tymon (7 July 2011). "Longlist: The Fiction Prize". The Times. Retrieved 6 February 2013.
  21. ↑ "2012 Longlist". International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award. Retrieved 6 February 2013.
  22. ↑ Del (26 April 2011). "BSFA Award 2010 – Winners". Matrix (BSFA). Retrieved 28 April 2011.
  23. ↑ Sophy (2 April 2012). "Zoo City Nominated for Grand Prix de l'Imaginaire (Plus: Interview with Joey Hi-Fi and Lauren Beukes)". Books LIVE. Retrieved 6 February 2013.
  24. ↑ Akitobi, Emmanuel (29 November 2011). "South African Sci-Fi Novelist Lauren Beukes' Zoo City To Get Film Adaptation | Shadow and Act". IndieWire. Retrieved 6 February 2013.
  25. ↑ Schimke, Karin (2 April 2008). "SA women dip their pens in saucy ink". Mail & Guardian. Retrieved 6 February 2013.
  26. ↑ "Lauren Beukes: At the forefront of the global invasion". Mail & Guardian. Retrieved 5 March 2013.
  27. ↑ "Broken Monsters". Retrieved 9 July 2014.
  28. ↑ Brodie, Nechama (10 June 2011). "What's behind sashaying for the sash". Mail & Guardian. Retrieved 6 February 2013.
  29. ↑ Carpenter, Avery (17 February 2012). "City documentary glitters at film festival – Cape Times". Cape Times. Independent Online. Retrieved 6 February 2013.
  30. ↑ Burbidge, Matthew (27 May 2009). "The show the SABC wouldn't let you see". Mail & Guardian. Retrieved 6 February 2013.
  31. ↑ "Lauren Beukes novel coming to TV". Channel24. 1 June 2013. Retrieved 1 June 2013.
  32. ↑ "Who will be Vodacom Journalist of the Year 2007?". BizCommunity. 2 November 2007. Retrieved 6 February 2013.
  33. ↑ "Regional Vodacom Journalist of the Year winners so far". BizCommunity. 10 October 2008. Retrieved 6 February 2013.
  34. ↑ Johnston, Rich (24 April 2011). "Lauren Beukes Joins Vertigo's Strange Adventures". Bleedingcool.com. Retrieved 6 February 2013.
  35. ↑ Campbell, Josie (20 January 2012). "Willingham Picks the "Fairest" for "Fables" Spinoff". Comic Book Resources. Retrieved 6 February 2013.
  36. ↑ "Shining Girl Beukes lands at HC". The Bookseller. Retrieved 13 February 2013.
  37. ↑ "Giveaway : Jeff Noon – Vurt (20th anniversary edition)". 16 April 2013. Retrieved 17 April 2013.
  38. ↑ "Alan Moore's 'The Ballad of Halo Jones' gets new edition". 20 January 2013. Retrieved 1 May 2013.

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