Aminatta Forna

Aminatta Forna is a highly acclaimed Scottish and Sierra Leonean writer, renowned for her distinctive and stylized approach to writing. Her work is characterized by its directness, honesty, and sincerity, which has resonated with a global audience. Forna's writing is not only entertaining but also informative, making her a popular and well-respected figure in the literary world.

Forna's books have been translated into eighteen languages, a testament to the widespread appeal of her work. In addition to her writing, she has also made significant contributions to other forms of media. Her essays have been published in several prestigious outlets, including Freeman's, Granta, The Guardian, and The New York Review of Books. Forna has also written and presented documentaries for BBC television and CNN.

Forna is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature and a member of the Folio Academy. She has acted as a judge for several prestigious literary awards, including the Samuel Johnson Prize, the Bailey Prize for Women's Fiction, the Sunday Times EFG Short Story Award, the Caine Prize, and the International Man Booker Prize.

In 2003, Forna established the Rogbonko Project, a charity focused on building a school in a village in Sierra Leone. The organization has also run projects in the areas of adult education, sanitation, and maternal health. Forna's contributions to literature and social justice have been recognized with several prestigious awards, including a Windham Campbell Award from Yale University, the Commonwealth Writers' Prize Best Book Award 2011, a Hurston Wright Legacy Award, the Liberaturpreis in Germany, and the Aidoo-Snyder Book Prize. She has also been a finalist for the Neustadt Prize for Literature, the Orange Prize for Fiction, the IMPAC Award, and the Warwick Prize. Forna was made an OBE in the Queen's New Year's Honours 2017. She is currently the Lannan Visiting Chair of Poetics at Georgetown University and Professor of Creative Writing at Bath Spa University.