Shani Boianjiu

Shani Boianjiu (Hebrew: שני בוינג'ו‎; born 1987) is an Israeli author. Her debut novel, The People of Forever Are Not Afraid, was released in 2012,[1] and has been published in 23 countries.[2] In 2011 the National Book Foundation named her a 5 under 35 honoree.

Shani Boianjiu
Shani Boianjiu, 2013
Born1987 (age 33–34)
Jerusalem, Israel
OccupationWriter
LanguageHebrew, English
NationalityIsraeli
CitizenshipIsraeli
Alma materHarvard University

Biography

Boianjiu was born in Jerusalem to parents of Iraqi and Romanian descent, and grew up in Ma'alot Tarshiha and Kfar Vradim in the Western Galilee.[3][4] She attended Phillips Exeter Academy, graduating in 2005. After two years of service in the Israeli Defense Forces, she attended Harvard, graduating in 2011.[5][6]

While at Harvard, Boianjiu served as president of the Radcliffe Union of Students, Harvard's feminist organization,[7] and as the co-chair of Quincy House House's Committee.[8] She was a junior research partner at the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced study, working for the scholar Reuven Snir.[9] In the summer of 2008, she attended summer school at Waseda University, Tokyo.[10] In the summer of 2009, she interned at the Association for Civil Rights in Israel.[11][12][13] In the summer of 2010, she used the funds she received as an Artist Development Fellowship recipient to rent an apartment right across from Iowa City's jail and write fiction.[14]

She lives in the Western Galilee and is currently completing work on her second novel.[15][16]

Boianjiu's writing has appeared in The New York Times,[17] The New Yorker,[18] Zoetrope,[19] Vice,[20] The Wall Street Journal,[21] The Globe and Mail,[22] Dazed and Confused,[23] The Guardian,[24] NPR.org,[25] Chatelaine[26] and Flavorwire.[27]

Awards and recognition

Boianjiu was the first Israeli author to be longlisted for the UK's Women's Prize for Fiction, and the youngest nominee that year (2013).[28] Her debut novel was selected as one of the ten best fiction titles of 2012 by The Wall Street Journal, [29] as one of the Pakistani Herald's best books of 2012,[30] as one of the Swedish Sydsvenskan's best books of 2013,[31] and as one of the Israeli Haaretz's best books of 2014.[32]

Boianjiu is the youngest recipient ever of the National Book Foundation's 5 Under 35 award, based on a recommendation from the writer Nicole Krauss.[33] She was a finalist for the 2013 Sami Rohr Prize for Jewish Literature,[34] a semi-finalist for the VCU Cabell First Novelist Award,[35] and selected as one of The Algemeiner's Jewish 100.[36] She was shortlisted for the 2014 Jewish Quarterly Wingate Prize.[37]

References
  1. Williams, John (September 26, 2012). "Shani Boianjiu on Her New Novel and Female Soldiers in Israel". The New York Times. Retrieved October 10, 2012.
  2. "War is Natural". Mujerhoy.com.
  3. Shani Boianjiu (July 10, 2013). "Shani Boianjiu: How I write". The Daily Beast. Retrieved November 12, 2013.
  4. "Sex, Guns and Boredom". Die Welt.
  5. "Shani Boianjiu". Los Angeles Review of Books. Archived from the original on 2013-08-30.
  6. "Breaking News: You're Old," WORMBOOK.
  7. "Sexploitation". The Harvard Crimson. March 30, 2009.
  8. "Quincy Mole," Youtube.
  9. Reuven Snir, at the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study.
  10. "Asia-related student research projects are awarded funding," Harvard Gazette.
  11. Human Rights Studies Award Recipients at Harvard.
  12. "2008-2009 Annual Report," The Association for Civil Rights in Israel (link in Hebrew).
  13. "Protocol of the Interior and Environmental Protection Committee, July 28 2009," the Israeli Knesset (link in Hebrew).
  14. "2010 Artist Development Fellows". Harvard Arts Blog. Archived from the original on 2013-09-28.
  15. "Five Questions With... Shani Boianjiu". International Festival of Authors.
  16. "12 novelists tell their scariest bite-size stories". Salon. October 10, 2013.
  17. "What Happens When the Two Israel's Meet," The New York Times.
  18. "Means of Suppressing Demonstrations," The New Yorker.
  19. "People That Don't Exist," Zoetrope.
  20. "The Sound of All Girls Screaming," Vice.
  21. "Shani Boianjiu on Novels About Coming of Age". The Wall Street Journal.
  22. "Things I Have Done I Cannot Undo". The Globe and Mail.
  23. "Should Armies Use Social Media to Fight Their Wars?" Dazed and Confused.
  24. "Young Gun: Life in the Israel Defense Forces". The Guardian. March 11, 2013.
  25. "Books Behaving Badly: A Tale Of Real Life In Ink". NPR.org.
  26. "The Sound of All Girls Screaming," Chatelaine.
  27. "10 Fantastic Books About Ladies on the Move," Flavorwire.
  28. "Israel's Shani Boianjiu in the running for top U.K. book award," Haaretz.
  29. "The Best Fiction of 2012," The Wall Street Journal
  30. "Best Books for 2012," Herald.
  31. "Årets böcker 2013," Sydvenskan.
  32. "The Best Books of 2014," Haaretz.
  33. "5 Under 35, 2011". National Book Foundation. Retrieved December 10, 2012.
  34. "2013 Sami Rohr Prize for Jewish Literature". Jewish Book Council.
  35. VCU Cabell First Novelist Award.
  36. "Jewish 100: Shani Boianjiu - Tomorrow," The Algemeiner.
  37. "Jewish Quarterly Wingate Prize Shortlist Announced," Foyles.
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