Kiran Ann Millwood Hargrave

FRSL The Royal Society of Literature (RSL) is a learned society founded in 1820 by George IV of the United Kingdom, King George IV to "reward literary merit and excite literary talent". A charity that represents the voice of literature in the UK, the ...

(born 29 March 1990) is a British poet, playwright and novelist. In 2023, she was elected a Fellow of the

Royal Society of Literature The Royal Society of Literature (RSL) is a learned society founded in 1820 by King George IV to "reward literary merit and excite literary talent". A charity that represents the voice of literature in the UK, the RSL has about 800 Fellows, elect ...

Early life

Hargrave was born on 29 March 1990 in Surrey. She is of Indian descent on her mother's side. Hargrave graduated with a degree in English a Drama from

Homerton College, Cambridge Homerton College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Its first premises were acquired in Homerton, London in 1768, by an informal gathering of Protestant dissenters with origins in the seventeenth century. In 1894, the col ...

in 2011. She later completed an MSt in Creative Writing at

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in 2014.

Career

She started writing for publication in 2009. In 2014, her debut novel ''The Girl Of Ink and Stars'', aka ''The Cartographer's Daughter'', was bought as part of a six-figure, two-book deal by

Knopf Alfred A. Knopf, Inc. () is an American publishing house that was founded by Blanche Knopf and Alfred A. Knopf Sr. in 1915. Blanche and Alfred traveled abroad regularly and were known for publishing European, Asian, and Latin American writers ...

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(US), and Chicken House Scholastic (rest-of-world). It was published in May 2016 in the UK, where it won the overall

Waterstones Children's Book Prize The Waterstones Children's Book Prize is an annual award given to a work of children's literature published during the previous year. First awarded in 2005, the purpose of the prize is "to uncover hidden talent in children's writing" and is the ...

2017 and the British Book Awards Children's Book of the Year. The US release was in November 2016. It has sold to more than 25 territories around the world and is a perennial bestseller in the UK. Hargrave's poetry has appeared internationally in journals such as ''Magma'', ''

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'', ''

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'', ''Shearsman'', ''The Irish Literary Review'' and '' Orbis''. In 2013, Neil Astley judged her poem "Grace" as winner of the Yeovil Literary Prize. This poem appeared in her third collection, ''Splitfish'' (Gatehouse Press, 2013). Her first piece as a playwright, about human trafficking, was entitled ''BOAT'', and first dramatized in October 2015 by PIGDOG theatre company at Theatre N16 in

Balham Balham () is an List of areas of London, area in south-west London, England, in the London Borough of Wandsworth, with small parts extending into the neighbouring London Borough of Lambeth. It has been settled since Saxon times and appears in t ...

. It opened to five-star reviews, with CultureFly calling it "the most compelling and urgent piece of theatre you will see this year." Her second children's novel of ' (2017) which is set in the early 1900s in the

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in the

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was shortlisted for the 2017 Costa Book Awards. Her third children's novel, ''The Way Past Winter'', was published in late 2018, followed in 2019 by her debut YA novel, ''The Deathless Girls''. Her first adult novel, ''The Mercies'', was published by Picador in 2020, and became an instant bestseller. ''Julia and the Shark'' (2021) in collaboration with her husband, Tom de Freston, was shortlisted for Waterstones Book of the Year and the

Wainwright Prize The Wainwright Prize is a literary prize awarded annually for the best work of general outdoors, nature and UK-based travel writing. In 2020 it was split into the Wainwright Prize for UK Nature Writing and the Wainwright Prize for Writing on Glo ...

for Children's Writing on Nature and Conservation.

Personal life

Hargrave currently lives in

Oxford Oxford () is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and non-metropolitan district in Oxfordshire, England, of which it is the county town. The city is home to the University of Oxford, the List of oldest universities in continuou ...

with her husband, the visual artist

Tom de Freston Tom de Freston (born 23 May 1983, London) is a visual artist and writer based in Oxford. His work is known for his focus on images of humanity, despair, that ‘convey our most haunted fears about a world struggling for survival’ (Richard Cork) ...

. They have a daughter, born 2023. Hargrave had previously struggled with hyperfertility and a series of miscarriages. She is

bisexual Bisexuality is romantic attraction, sexual attraction, or sexual behavior toward both males and females. It may also be defined as the attraction to more than one gender, to people of both the same and different gender, or the attraction t ...

Works

Adult novels

* ''The Mercies'' (Picador, 2020) * ''The Dance Tree'' (Picador, 2022)

Young adult novels

* ''The Deathless Girls'' (Orion, 2019)

Children's books

* ''The Girl of Ink and Stars'' (Chicken House, 2016) * ''The Island at the End of Everything'' (Chicken House, 2017) * ''The Way Past Winter'' (Chicken House, 2018) * ''A Secret of Birds & Bone'' (Chicken House, 2020) * ''Julia and the Shark'' (Orion, 2021) * ''Leila and the Blue Fox'' (Orion, 2022) * Geomancer Trilogy ** ''In the Shadow of the Wolf Queen'' (Orion, 2023)

Awards and recognitions

* 2013: Yeovil International Poetry Prize, winner * 2017: Waterstones Children's Books Prize, winner (''The Girl of Ink & Stars'') * 2017:

British Book Awards The British Book Awards or Nibbies are literary awards for the best UK writers and their works, administered by ''The Bookseller''. The awards have had several previous names, owners and sponsors since being launched in 1990, including the Na ...

Children's Book of the Year, winner (''The Girl of Ink & Stars'') * 2017:

Jhalak Prize The Jhalak Prize for Book of the Year by a Writer of Colour is an annual literary prize awarded to British or British-resident BAME writers. £1,000 is awarded to the sole winner. The Jhalak Prize was launched in 2016 and was created by writers ...

, shortlist (''The Girl of Ink & Stars'') * 2017: Costa Book Prize, shortlist (''The Island at the End of Everything'') * 2018
The Blue Peter Book Award
, shortlist (''The Island at the End of Everything'') * 2018:

, shortlist (''The Island at the End of Everything'') * 2018: CILIP Carnegie Medal, longlist (''The Island at the End of Everything)'' * 2018:

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Children's Book of the Year, winner (''The Way Past Winter'') * 2018: Specsaver's National Book Award, longlist (''The Way Past Winter'') * 2019:

YA Book Prize The YA Book Prize is a British literary award established by publishing magazine ''The Bookseller'' in 2014. The accolade is given to Young adult literature, young adult novels published by an author in the United Kingdom or Ireland in the previou ...

, shortlist (''The Deathless Girls'') * 2020
The Diverse Book Awards
shortlist (''The Deathless Girls'') * 2020:

Prix Femina The Prix Femina is a French List of literary awards, literary prize awarded each year by an exclusively female jury. The prize, which was established in 1904, is awarded to French-language works written in prose or Verse (poetry), verse by male ...

, finalist (''The Mercies'') * 2020:

Prix Rive Gauche à Paris Prix was an American power pop band formed in Memphis, Tennessee, in 1975 by Tommy Hoehn and Jon Tiven. The group ended up primarily as a studio project. Its recordings were produced by Tiven along with former Big Star member Chris Bell, who al ...

, winner (''The Mercies'') * 2021: CILIP Carnegie Medal, longlist (''The Deathless Girls'') * 2021:

Betty Trask Award The Betty Trask Prize and Awards are for first novels written by authors under the age of 35 who reside in a current or former Commonwealth nation. Each year the awards total at least , with normally one author receiving a larger prize amount ( ...

(''The Mercies'') * 2021:

Waterstones Book of the Year The Waterstones Book of the Year, established in 2012, is an annual award presented to a book published in the previous 12 months. Waterstones' booksellers nominate and vote to determine the winners and finalists for the prize. Award winners re ...

, shortlist (''Julia and the Shark'') * 2021: Waterstones Gift of the Year, winner (''Julia and the Shark'') * 2022:

for Children's Writing on Nature and Conservation, shortlist (''Julia and the Shark'') * 2023: Jake Fox Award for Excellent Books (''Julia and the Shark'')

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Hargrave, Kiran Millwood 1990 births Living people 21st-century British LGBTQ people 21st-century British novelists 21st-century British poets 21st-century British women writers Alumni of Homerton College, Cambridge Alumni of the University of Oxford Bisexual novelists Bisexual poets Bisexual women writers British bisexual women British bisexual writers British LGBTQ novelists British LGBTQ poets British writers of Indian descent English people of Indian descent English women novelists English women poets Fellows of the Royal Society of Literature Writers from Surrey