Anakana Schofield
Birth date1971
Birth placeEngland
OccupationAuthor
Period2010s–present
NotableworksMalarky, Martin John
Websiteanakanaschofield.com

Anakana Schofield (born 1971) is an Irish-Canadian author who won the 2012 Amazon Canada First Novel Award for her debut novel Malarky.[1] The novel was also shortlisted for the Ethel Wilson Fiction Prize.[2]

Early life

Born in England to an Irish mother, she lived in London and in Dublin, Ireland, until moving to Vancouver, British Columbia, in 1999.[3]

Career

Her debut novel Malarky won the 2012 Amazon Canada First Novel Award[1] and Late Night Library's 2013 Debut-litzer Prize for Fiction,[4] and was shortlisted for the Ethel Wilson Fiction Prize.[2]

Martin John, her second novel, was published in 2015. The novel was shortlisted for the 2015 Giller Prize,[5] the 2016 Ethel Wilson Fiction Prize,[6] the 2016 Goldsmiths Prize,[7] and the 2017 ReLit Award for Novel.[8] Schofield has also been a literary critic and essayist, contributing to the London Review of Books Blog,[9] The Globe and Mail,[10] and The Guardian,[11] among others.

Her third novel, Bina: A Novel in Warnings, centring on a character from Malarky,[12] was published in 2019 in Canada and 2020 in the UK.[13][14] Bina was shortlisted for the 2020 Goldsmiths Prize. The jury described the novel as "startlingly original and horribly funny."[15] The novel was published in February 2021 in the US by New York Review Books.[16] Bina won the 2021 Kerry Group Irish Novel of the Year Award.[17]

Works

  • Malarky (2012, ISBN 978-1926845388)
  • Rereading the Riot Act, And On (2013, ISBN 978-1-927394-10-6)
  • Martin John (2015, ISBN 9781771960342)
  • Bina: A Novel in Warnings (2019, ISBN 9780735273214)
  • Library of Brothel (2026, ISBN 9780735273269)

References

  1. ^ Quill, Greg (2013-04-24). "Anakana Schofield’s Malarky wins First Novel Award". Toronto Star. Retrieved 2026-05-24.
  2. ^ "Schofield, Gaston highlight B.C. Book Prize nominees". National Post. March 14, 2013.
  3. ^ "First time lucky". Quill and Quire. 2012-08-08. Retrieved 2026-05-24.
  4. ^ "The Winners of the 2013 Debut-litzer Prizes". Late Night Library. October 23, 2013. Archived 2013-10-26 at the Wayback Machine.
  5. ^ Keeler, Emily M. (October 5, 2015). "Giller short list highlights Heather O'Neill, Anakana Schofield, and André Alexis". National Post
  6. ^ Robertson, Becky (2016-03-09). "Alix Hawley, Anakana Schofield among B.C. Book Prize finalists". Quill and Quire. Retrieved 2026-05-24.
  7. ^ Flood, Alison (2016-09-28). "Goldsmiths prize shortlists novels 'that break the mould'". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 2026-05-24.
  8. ^ Tobias, Conan (2017-01-24). "2016 ReLit nominees announced". Quill and Quire. Retrieved 2026-05-24.
  9. ^ Schofield, Anakana (2016-03-15). "Bold, Open-Minded and Entrepreneurial". LRB Blog. Retrieved 2026-05-24.
  10. ^ Schofield, Anakana (2026-05-22). "Opinion: For my mother, and myself, a final journey home". The Globe and Mail. Retrieved 2026-05-24.
  11. ^ Schofield, Anakana (July 25, 2013). "Anakana Schofield: publicising a novel - the problems". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved January 28, 2016.
  12. ^ Beattie, Steven W. (2019-04-08). "Bina: A Novel in Warnings". Quill and Quire. Retrieved 2026-05-24.
  13. ^ "28 works of Canadian fiction to watch for in spring 2019". CBC Books. January 23, 2019.
  14. ^ "Briefly Noted". The New Yorker. 2021-02-22. ISSN 0028-792X. Retrieved 2026-05-24.
  15. ^ Wilson, Frances. "Bina". Goldsmiths, University of London. Retrieved February 8, 2021.
  16. ^ "Bina". New York Review Books. Retrieved Feb 8, 2021.
  17. ^ Doyle, Martin (June 2, 2021). "Anakana Schofield wins Kerry Group Irish Novel of the Year Award for Bina". The Irish Times. Retrieved 2024-12-19.