Caleb Azumah Nelson

Azumah Nelson grew up in Bellingham in South East London and currently lives in South East London.{{Cite web|title=Caleb Azumah Nelson|url=https://www.nationalbook.org/people/caleb-azumah-nelson/|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211006103238/https://www.nationalbook.org/people/caleb-azumah-nelson/|archive-date=2021-10-06|access-date=2022-01-07|website=National Book Foundation|language=en-US}} For the first six years of his life, he lived with his maternal grandmother after she moved to London from Ghana, though she eventually returned to her home country.

He was educated at a local "predominantly black primary school" before obtaining a scholarship to the independent Alleyn's School London in Dulwich, where he was "one of only four black kids in the year."{{Cite news |date=2021-04-07 |title=For Caleb Azumah Nelson, There's Freedom in Feeling Seen (Published 2021) |language=en |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2021/04/07/books/caleb-azumah-nelson-open-water.html |access-date=2023-08-09}}{{Cite news |last=Lamont |first=Tom |date=2023-04-30 |title=Novelist Caleb Azumah Nelson: 'there is a wholeness in living life not always afforded to black people' |language=en-GB |newspaper=The Guardian |url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2023/apr/30/novelist-caleb-azumah-nelson-small-worlds-open-water-ghana-interview |access-date=2023-08-09 |issn=0261-3077}} He graduated from Coventry University with a sports science degree.{{Cite web|url=https://www.coventry.ac.uk/news/2021/caleb-debut-novel/|title=Coventry University graduate receives glowing reviews on debut novel|website=Coventry University|date=4 March 2021|accessdate=25 August 2024}}

Beyond writing and photography, Azumah Nelson played violin for 10 years. As a teenager was also a talented basketball player with aspirations of playing in Europe and perhaps getting a sports scholarship to an American university; however, he badly dislocated his right shoulder leading to the premature end to his basketball career.{{Cite news |last=Lamont |first=Tom |date=2023-04-30 |title=Novelist Caleb Azumah Nelson: 'there is a wholeness in living life not always afforded to black people' |language=en-GB |newspaper=The Guardian |url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2023/apr/30/novelist-caleb-azumah-nelson-small-worlds-open-water-ghana-interview |access-date=2025-01-23 |issn=0261-3077}} It was in lieu of playing basketball that Azumah Nelson began writing prose - which he kept up through his years studying sports science at Coventry University.

Azumah Nelson's dream to become an author began as a teenager in 2019, after his godfather, aunt and three of his grandparents died.{{Cite web|last1=Shaffi|first1=Sarah|last2=Vincent|first2=Alice|date=2021-01-11|title=2021 debuts: get to know our new authors|url=https://www.penguin.co.uk/articles/2021/january/debut-novels-2021-fiction-reading.html|url-status=live|access-date=2022-01-07|website=Penguin Publishing Group|archive-date=2021-08-12|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210812211745/https://penguin.co.uk/articles/2021/january/debut-novels-2021-fiction-reading.html}} Thereafter, Azumah Nelson handed in his notice at Apple and began writing full time.

At 18 years old Azumah Nelson began using a film camera to continue his passion for photography.{{Cite web|last=Wang|first=Mary|date=2021-04-23|title=Caleb Azumah Nelson: 'The confrontation with myself enabled me to find a brief freedom.'|url=https://www.guernicamag.com/miscellaneous-files-caleb-azumah-nelson/|access-date=2022-01-07|website=Guernica|language=en-US|archive-date=2021-05-16|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210516130842/https://www.guernicamag.com/miscellaneous-files-caleb-azumah-nelson/|url-status=live}}

Azumah Nelson believes his "writing and photography go hand in hand" — both acting as "sites of honest expression" which continually encourage him to think about how he sees the world; encouraging him to motivate others as well as himself to move through the world through the eyes of the lens. He emphasises his love for the truth of the lens and expresses that love in his photography. When confronted by the blank page he expresses that, in a way, he is confronting himself as a man through all of the nuances. "There's a freedom in affording myself or others this kind of space, to just be themselves, even if that's for a brief moment."{{Cite web|last1=Pearce|first1=Isabella|last2=Washington|first2=Mario|last3=Robathan|first3=Hannah|date=2021-05-06|title=Caleb Azumah Nelson: "Open Water is for the young Black people who don't see themselves reflected in literature"|url=https://shado-mag.com/all/caleb-azumah-nelson-open-water-is-for-the-young-black-people-who-dont-see-themselves-reflected-in-literature/|url-status=live|access-date=2022-01-07|website=Shado Magazine|language=en-US|archive-date=2021-05-13|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210513170224/https://shado-mag.com/all/caleb-azumah-nelson-open-water-is-for-the-young-black-people-who-dont-see-themselves-reflected-in-literature/}}

In 2019, Azumah Nelson won the Palm* Photo People's Choice prize{{cite web|title=Palm* Photo Prize 2021|url=https://contests.picter.com/palm-photo-prize-2021|url-status=live|access-date=2022-01-07|website=Palm*|archive-date=2021-03-01|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210301151215/https://contests.picter.com/palm-photo-prize-2021}} as well as being shortlisted for the Palm* Photo Prize.

Azumah Nelson's writing has been published in Litro and The White Review.

His short story "Pray" was shortlisted for the BBC National Short Story Award (2020).{{cite web|date=4 August 2021|title=31 Questions with Caleb Azumah Nelson|url=https://www.wigtownbookfestival.com/blog/31-questions-with-caleb-azumah-nelson|url-status=live|access-date=2022-01-07|website=Wigtown Book Festival|language=en-US|archive-date=2021-10-09|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211009103316/https://www.wigtownbookfestival.com/blog/31-questions-with-caleb-azumah-nelson}}{{cite web|last=Bamber|first=Belinda|date=2022-01-05|title=Under The Cover... With Caleb Azumah Nelson - Culture|url=https://www.countryandtownhouse.co.uk/culture/caleb-azumah-nelson-interview/|url-status=live|access-date=2022-01-07|website=Country and Town House|language=en-GB|archive-date=2022-01-05|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220105104138/https://www.countryandtownhouse.co.uk/culture/caleb-azumah-nelson-interview/}}

Although he is inspired by many artists, Azumah Nelson has stated that his primary role models are Zadie Smith, Lynette Yiadom-Boakye, Kendrick Lamar, Barry Jenkins, and his parents.

{{main|Open Water (novel)}}

Azumah Nelson's debut novel, Open Water, was published on 4 February 2021 by Viking Press. It won the Costa Book Award for First Novel,{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2022/jan/21/i-yelled-with-joy-how-caleb-azumah-nelson-went-from-apple-store-employee-to-costa-first-novel-award-winner|title=Interview {{!}} 'I yelled with joy': how Caleb Azumah Nelson went from Apple store employee to Costa First Novel award winner|author-link=Claire Armitstead|first=Claire|last=Armitstead|newspaper=The Guardian|location= London|date=21 January 2022}} a Betty Trask Award (for a first novel by a writer under 35) from the Society of Authors,{{cite web|url=https://societyofauthors.org/News/News/2022/June/2022-Society-of-Authors-winners|title=Graphic novel wins at the 2022 Society of Authors' Awards|publisher=Society of Authors|date=1 June 2022|access-date=18 May 2024}} Debut of the Year at the British Book Awards,{{cite web|url=https://www.penguin.co.uk/authors/144270/caleb-azumah-nelson/|title=Caleb Azumah Nelson Biography|publisher=Penguin|access-date=2025-01-23}} and the Somerset Maugham Award,{{cite web|url=https://www2.societyofauthors.org/prizes/the-soa-awards/somerset-maugham-awards/|title=Somerset Maugham Awards|publisher=The Society of Authors|access-date=18 May 2024}} as well as being a number-one Times bestseller.{{failed verification|date=January 2025}} Open Water received additional recognition and nominations for other accolades.{{cite news|url=https://www.voice-online.co.uk/entertainment/books/2023/05/05/caleb-azumah-nelson-delivers-small-worlds/|title=Caleb Azumah Nelson delivers 'Small Worlds'|newspaper=The Voice|first=Joel|last=Campbell|date=5 May 2023}}

Azumah Nelson's second novel, that he wrote in three months, was published by Viking Press in 2023.{{cite news|date=30 April 2023|first=Tom|last=Lamont|newspaper=The Observer|title=Novelist Caleb Azumah Nelson: 'there is a wholeness in living life not always afforded to black people|url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2023/apr/30/novelist-caleb-azumah-nelson-small-worlds-open-water-ghana-interview}} Rights for a television adaptation have been acquired by Block Media.{{cite magazine|url=https://www.thebookseller.com/rights/brock-media-will-adapt-nelsons-contemporary-masterpiece-for-the-screen|title=Brock Media will adapt Nelson's 'contemporary masterpiece' for the screen|first=Katie|last=Fraser|magazine=The Bookseller|date=10 January 2023|access-date=12 May 2023}}{{cite press release|url= https://www.bbc.co.uk/mediacentre/bbcstudios/2023/sarah-brocklehursts-brock-media-wins-rights-to-small-worlds|title=Sarah Brocklehurst's Brock Media wins rights to Small Worlds|publisher=BBC Media Centre|date=10 January 2023|access-date=18 May 2024}}

Small Worlds has been described by The Voice as "an exhilarating and expansive novel about the worlds we build for ourselves, the worlds we live, dance and love within." It was characterised by Buzz magazine as "a stunningly poetic novel about identity, grief, and jazz."{{cite web|url=https://www.buzzmag.co.uk/small-worlds-caleb-azumah-nelson-review/|title=SMALL WORLDS by Caleb Azumah Nelson: a stunningly poetic novel about identity, grief, and jazz|website=Buzz|date=12 May 2023|access-date=12 May 2023}} Colin Grant's analysis in The Guardian included observations about it being "an affecting meditation on the migrant experience,"{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2023/may/03/small-worlds-by-caleb-azumah-nelson-review-dancing-in-peckham|title=Review {{!}} Small Worlds by Caleb Azumah Nelson review – dancing in Peckham|newspaper=The Guardian|date=3 May 2023}} while the reviewer for i newspaper stated that "at times Small Worlds feels like the most sensitive book ever written, because no matter how serious its themes – race riots, a parent's depression – Azumah Nelson deals with it with profound tenderness."{{cite news|url=https://inews.co.uk/culture/small-worlds-by-caleb-azumah-nelson-review-a-mesmerising-peckham-love-story-2316453|title=Small Worlds by Caleb Azumah Nelson, review: A mesmerising Peckham love story|first=Nick|last=Duerden|newspaper=1|date=4 May 2023}}

Small Worlds was shortlisted for the Orwell Prize for Political Fiction in 2023{{Cite web |title=Kingsolver, Azumah Nelson and Kenway shortlisted for Orwell Prizes |url=https://www.thebookseller.com/news/kingsolver-azumah-nelson-and-kenway-shortlisted-for-orwell-prizes |access-date=2024-07-05 |website=The Bookseller |language=En}} and won the 2024 Dylan Thomas Prize.{{cite magazine|url=https://www.thebookseller.com/news/caleb-azumah-nelson-wins-dylan-thomas-prize-for-small-worlds|title=Caleb Azumah Nelson wins Dylan Thomas Prize for Small Worlds|first=Lauren|last=Brown|magazine=The Bookseller|date=16 May 2024|access-date=18 May 2024}}{{cite web|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cxx8x87p72zo|title=British-Ghanaian writer wins Dylan Thomas Prize|first=Nicola|last=Bryan|website=BBC News|date=16 May 2024|access-date=18 May 2023}}

• Open Water (2021)
• Small Worlds (2023)

• A Little Unsteadily into Light (2022, New Island Books){{Cite web |title=A Little Unsteadily Into Light |url=https://www.newisland.ie/fiction/a-little-unsteadily |access-date=2023-01-28 |website=New Island Books}}

{{Reflist}}

• [https://catfordchronicle.com/stories/2021/2/7/caleb-azumah-nelson-we-meet-lewishams-breakthrough-novelist "We meet Lewisham's breakthrough novelist"], Catford Chronicle, February 2021.
• Lauren Christensen, [https://www.nytimes.com/2021/04/07/books/caleb-azumah-nelson-open-water.html "For Caleb Azumah Nelson, There's Freedom in Feeling Seen"], The New York Times, 7 April 2021.
• Killian Fox, [https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2022/feb/12/on-my-radar-caleb-azumah-nelsons-cultural-highlights "On my radar: Caleb Azumah Nelson's cultural highlights"], The Guardian, 12 February 2022.

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Azumah Nelson, Caleb}}

Category:1993 births

Category:Living people

Category:21st-century British short story writers

Category:21st-century British writers

Category:21st-century Ghanaian writers

Category:Alumni of Coventry University

Category:Black British photographers

Category:Black British writers

Category:English people of Ghanaian descent

Category:People educated at Alleyn's School

Category:Photographers from London

Category:Writers from the London Borough of Lewisham

Category:Year of birth unknown