Victoria Adukwei Bulley
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Victoria Adukwei Bulley is a British-born Ghanaian poet. Her debut poetry book ''Quiet'' (2022) won the
Rathbones Folio Prize The Writers' Prize, previously known as the Rathbones Folio Prize, the Folio Prize and The Literature Prize, is a literary award that was sponsored by the London-based publisher Folio Society, The Folio Society for its first two years, 2014–2 ...
for Poetry and the John Pollard Foundation International Poetry Prize in 2023.


Early life and education

Bulley is of Ghanaian heritage, born and brought up in
Essex Essex ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the East of England, and one of the home counties. It is bordered by Cambridgeshire and Suffolk to the north, the North Sea to the east, Kent across the Thames Estuary to the ...
, England. In 2019, she was awarded a Techne scholarship for doctoral work at
Royal Holloway, University of London Royal Holloway, University of London (RH), formally incorporated as Royal Holloway and Bedford New College, is a public university, public research university and a constituent college, member institution of the federal University of London. It ...
. An alumna of The Complete Works poetry mentoring programme initiated by
Bernardine Evaristo Bernardine Anne Mobolaji Evaristo (born 28 May 1959) is an English author and academic. Her novel ''Girl, Woman, Other'' jointly won the Booker Prize in 2019 alongside Margaret Atwood's ''The Testaments'', making her the first Black woman to win ...
, Bulley has held residencies internationally in the US, Brazil, and at the V&A.


Writing

Bulley's writing has been published in ''
Granta ''Granta'' is a literary magazine and publisher in the United Kingdom whose mission centres on its "belief in the power and urgency of the story, both in fiction and non-fiction, and the story's supreme ability to describe, illuminate and make ...
'', ''
The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...
'', and ''
The White Review ''The White Review'' is a London-based magazine on literature and the visual arts. It is published in print and online. History Founding ''The White Review'' was founded by editors Benjamin Eastham and Jacques Testard, and released its firs ...
'', as well as in anthologies, including ''Rising Stars: New Young Voices in Poetry'' (Otter-Barry Books, 2017) and ''Ten: Poets of the New Generation'', edited by
Karen McCarthy Woolf Karen McCarthy Woolf (born 1966) is a poet of English and Jamaican parentage. Early life and education Karen McCarthy Woolf was born in London to English and Jamaican parents. Her father emigrated to the United Kingdom in 1957 as a part of th ...
(
Bloodaxe Books Bloodaxe Books is a British publishing house specializing in poetry. History Bloodaxe Books was founded in 1978 in Newcastle upon Tyne by Neil Astley, who is still editor and managing director. Bloodaxe moved its editorial office to Northumbe ...
, 2017). She produced the Mother Tongues intergenerational project, in which poets worked with their mothers to translate their poetry into their mother-tongues. Bulley's 2017 debut pamphlet ''Girl B'' was published by
Akashic Books Akashic Books is a Brooklyn-based independent publisher, formed in 1997. It was started by Johnny Temple (bassist), Johnny Temple, bassist of Girls Against Boys and mid-'80s Dischord band Soulside, with the mission "to make literature more part ...
and included in the collection ''New-Generation African Poets: A Chapbook Box Set'', edited by
Chris Abani Christopher Abani (born 27 December 1966) is a Nigerian American author. He says he is part of a new generation of Nigerian writers working to convey to an English-speaking audience the experience of those born and raised in "that troubled Afr ...
and
Kwame Dawes Kwame Senu Neville Dawes (born 28 July 1962) is a Ghanaian poet, actor, editor, critic, musician, and former Louis Frye Scudder Professor of Liberal Arts at the University of South Carolina. He is now Professor of English at the University of N ...
. Karen McCarthy Woolf called it "a probing, thoughtful, and quietly exhilarating debut". Bulley's first book collection, ''Quiet'' (2022), was praised in ''
The Times Literary Supplement ''The Times Literary Supplement'' (''TLS'') is a weekly literary review published in London by News UK, a subsidiary of News Corp. History The ''TLS'' first appeared in 1902 as a supplement to ''The Times'' but became a separate publication ...
'' for containing "clever and capacious poems" and described in ''
The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...
'' as "mark ngthe arrival of a major poetic talent". ''Quiet'' was shortlisted for the
T. S. Eliot Prize The T. S. Eliot Prize for Poetry is a prize for poetry awarded by the T. S. Eliot Foundation. For many years it was awarded by the Eliots' Poetry Book Society (UK) for "the best collection of new verse in English first published in the UK or t ...
and won the 2023
Rathbones Folio Prize The Writers' Prize, previously known as the Rathbones Folio Prize, the Folio Prize and The Literature Prize, is a literary award that was sponsored by the London-based publisher Folio Society, The Folio Society for its first two years, 2014–2 ...
for Poetry and the John Pollard Foundation International Poetry Prize.


Awards and recognition


Selected publications

* *


References


External links


Profile
on
Faber & Faber Faber and Faber Limited, commonly known as Faber & Faber or simply Faber, is an independent publishing house in London. Published authors and poets include T. S. Eliot (an early Faber editor and director), W. H. Auden, C. S. Lewis, Margaret S ...
. * Christopher Cox
"Victoria Adukwei Bulley on Feeling More 'Possible' in This World"
''Black Art and Design'', 25 November 2021.
Interview
with ''
Poetry London ''Poetry London'' is a literary periodical based in London. Published three times a year, it features poems, reviews, and other articles. Profile Adopting the title of an earlier bimonthly publication which ran from 1939 to 1951, ''Poetry London' ...
'' (2022) Year of birth missing (living people) Living people Alumni of Royal Holloway, University of London Black British women writers Black British writers British women poets English people of Ghanaian descent Ghanaian poets Writers from Essex {{UK-poet-stub