Raven Leilani
American writer From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Raven Leilani Baptiste (born August 26, 1990)[1] is an American writer who publishes under the name Raven Leilani. Her debut novel Luster was released in 2020 to critical acclaim.[2]
Raven Leilani | |
|---|---|
| Born | August 26, 1990 |
| Pen name | Raven Leilani |
| Occupation | Writer |
| Nationality | American |
| Alma mater | Marist College New York University |
| Website | |
| ravenleilani | |
Leilani grew up in a family of artists in the Bronx before they moved to a suburb of Albany, New York.[2] She grew up as a Seventh-day Adventist, and later left the church.[3] Having attended an art high school, Leilani expected to become a visual artist.[2] She graduated Marist College located in Poughkeepsie, New York in 2012, where she studied English and psychology.[2][3]
Her first job was as an imaging specialist at Ancestry.com, having previously worked in the archives of Marist College as an undergraduate. Later, she worked at a scientific journal, for the United States Department of Defense, and as a delivery person for Postmates in Washington, D.C.[2] She also worked as an archivist at Macmillan.[4] In 2017, she began pursuing her MFA at New York University, where she studied under Zadie Smith and with writers Katie Kitamura, and Jonathan Safran Foer.[3][2] She now lives in Brooklyn.[3]
Leilani's debut novel Luster received significant attention at its publishing.[5] The book's publisher, Farrar, Straus and Giroux named the book its novel of August 2020 as part of their "Dare to Imagine" campaign.[2] It is also part of Marie Claire's book club and has been lauded by outlets including Elle, the HuffPost, BuzzFeed News, and The New York Times.[6][7] It has been praised by authors Carmen Maria Machado, Brit Bennett, Angela Flournoy, and Zadie Smith.[2][3][8] Kirkus Reviews awarded Luster the 2020 Kirkus Prize for Fiction.[9] Luster was also awarded the 2020 Center for Fiction First Novel Prize,[3][10] the 2020 John Leonard Prize at the National Book Critics Circle Awards,[11] the 2021 Dylan Thomas Prize,[12] and the 2021 VCU Cabell First Novelist Award[13]
Leilani's writing is influenced by her background as a visual artist, her life experiences, poetry, and a love of comic books and music.[2] She has written for publications including Esquire,[14] The Cut,[15] and Vogue.[16] She is a supporter of the boycott of Israeli cultural institutions, including publishers and literary festivals. She was an original signatory of the manifesto "Refusing Complicity in Israel's Literary Institutions".[17]
Novels
- Luster. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux. 2020. ISBN 9780374194321. OCLC 1119744688.
Short stories
Wikiwand in your browser!
Seamless Wikipedia browsing. On steroids.
Every time you click a link to Wikipedia, Wiktionary or Wikiquote in your browser's search results, it will show the modern Wikiwand interface.
Wikiwand extension is a five stars, simple, with minimum permission required to keep your browsing private, safe and transparent.
