Michael Donkor (born 1985) is a British author and English teacher based in London. He is represented by Blake Friedmann and Fourth Estate.

Early life and education

Donkor was born in London to a

Ghanaian The Ghanaian people are a nation originating in the Gold Coast (region), Ghanaian Gold Coast. Ghanaians predominantly inhabit the Republic of Ghana and are the predominant cultural group and residents of Ghana, numbering 34 million people as of ...

household. He completed his bachelor's degree in English at

Wadham College, Oxford Wadham College ( ) is a Colleges of the University of Oxford, constituent college of the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom. It is located in the centre of Oxford, at the intersection of Broad Street, Oxford, Broad Street and Parks Road ...

, as well as a master's in Creative Writing at

University of London The University of London (UoL; abbreviated as Lond or more rarely Londin in Post-nominal letters, post-nominals) is a collegiate university, federal Public university, public research university located in London, England, United Kingdom. The ...

. At the

University of Oxford The University of Oxford is a collegiate university, collegiate research university in Oxford, England. There is evidence of teaching as early as 1096, making it the oldest university in the English-speaking world and the List of oldest un ...

he was one of only 21 black students in his year. At the University of London he was supervised by

Andrew Motion Sir Andrew Peter Motion (born 26 October 1952) is an English poet, novelist, and biographer, who was Poet Laureate from 1999 to 2009. During the period of his laureateship, Motion founded the Poetry Archive, an online resource of poems and a ...

Career

In 2010 Donkor trained as an English teacher at the

UCL Institute of Education The UCL Institute of Education (IOE) is the faculty of education and society of University College London (UCL). It specialises in postgraduate study and research in the field of education and is one of UCL's University College London#Facultie ...

, and began his teaching career at

Esher College Esher Sixth Form College is an open access, non-selective 16-19 Academy located in Thames Ditton, Surrey, England. Rated as "outstanding" in September 2022 by Ofsted, it now has around 2100 students enrolled, with a catchment drawn from north Su ...

. He formerly taught at

St Paul's Girls' School St Paul's Girls' School is a private day school for girls, aged 11 to 18, located in Brook Green, Hammersmith, in west London, England. The school is included in The Schools Index as one of the world's 150 best private schools and among top ...

. He left his job there by 2022 to pursue a writing career in

Lisbon, Portugal Lisbon ( ; ) is the capital and largest city of Portugal, with an estimated population of 567,131, as of 2023, within its administrative limits and 3,028,000 within the Lisbon Metropolitan Area, metropolis, as of 2025. Lisbon is mainlan ...

. In 2014 he was chosen by the

National Centre for Writing The National Centre for Writing, formerly Writers' Centre Norwich, is a literature development agency and national centre for writing based in Norwich, England. It led the successful bid for Norwich to be granted the UNESCO City of Literature tit ...

for their mentoring programme, through which he met mentor

Daniel Hahn Daniel Hahn (born 26 November 1973) is a British writer, editor and translator. He is the author of a number of works of non-fiction, including the history book ''The Tower Menagerie'', and one of the editors of The Ultimate Book Guide, a ser ...

and agent Juliet Pickering. He was described by

HarperCollins HarperCollins Publishers LLC is a British–American publishing company that is considered to be one of the "Big Five (publishers), Big Five" English-language publishers, along with Penguin Random House, Hachette Book Group USA, Hachette, Macmi ...

as a "powerful new British literary voice". ''

The Observer ''The Observer'' is a British newspaper published on Sundays. First published in 1791, it is the world's oldest Sunday newspaper. In 1993 it was acquired by Guardian Media Group Limited, and operated as a sister paper to ''The Guardian'' ...

'' selected him as a ''New Face of Fiction'' in January 2018. He is inspired by

Zadie Smith Zadie Smith (born Sadie; 25 October 1975) is an English novelist, essayist, and short-story writer. Her debut novel, ''White Teeth'' (2000), immediately became a best-seller and won a number of awards. She became a tenured professor in the ...

Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie (born Grace Ngozi Adichie; 15 September 1977) is a Nigerians, Nigerian writer of novels, short stories, poem, and children's books; she is also a book reviewer and literary critic. Her most famous works include ''Purple ...

and

Toni Morrison Chloe Anthony Wofford Morrison (born Chloe Ardelia Wofford; February 18, 1931 – August 5, 2019), known as Toni Morrison, was an American novelist and editor. Her first novel, ''The Bluest Eye'', was published in 1970. The critically accl ...

Hold

Fourth Estate gained publishing rights to Donkor's ''Hold'', which was published in July 2018. It follows the stories of three teenage girls from

Kumasi Kumasi is a city and the capital of the Kumasi Metropolitan Assembly and the Ashanti Region of Ghana. It is the second largest city in the country, with a population of 443,981 as of the 2021 census. Kumasi is located in a rain forest region ...

, Ghana, to Brixton, London, in 2002, and has been described as a coming-of-age novel. Donkor chose to set ''Hold'' in 2002 as it marks the summer he was applying to study English at university. ''Hold'' was longlisted for the 2019

Dylan Thomas Prize The Dylan Thomas Prize is a leading prize for young writers presented annually. The prize, named in honour of the Welsh writer and poet Dylan Thomas, brings international prestige and a remuneration of £30,000 (~$46,000). It is open to published w ...

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Donkor, Michael 1985 births Living people British writers Schoolteachers from London Alumni of Wadham College, Oxford Alumni of the University of London English people of Ghanaian descent Black British writers 21st-century British male writers