One of Jackie Kay’s selected writers for the International Literature Showcase
“His work has an immediacy and a warmth to it and his is a world you want to enter.”
– Jackie Kay
One of the Observer’s New Faces of Fiction 2018
Michael Donkor was born in London, to Ghanaian parents, and teaches English Literature in West London. Many of the issues explored in his debut Hold are close to his heart, and his writing won him a place on the Writers’ Centre Norwich Inspires Scheme in 2014, where he received a year’s mentoring from Daniel Hahn. In 2018 he was named as one of the Observer’s New Faces of Fiction.
On Hold:
‘This is storytelling at its best—rich, heavy, painful, funny, and full. Hold is a book that held me, that gripped my chest and cradled me close as a Ghanaian, as a woman, and as a friend. To see these bonds on the page is a beautiful, special thing.’ – Bridget Minamore
‘A beautiful novel. A deeply engrossing, elegant tapestry of family and friendship from a stirring new voice.’ – Irenosen Okojie
‘There’s much to love in Michael Donkor’s debut novel. His eye for acute observations coupled with a gift for pitch-perfect metaphors are joyful to read. But it’s the emotional truths he unearths from the inner lives of three disparate women that make the novel stand up and sing. Hold is a powerful and important work of fiction.’ – Courttia Newland
‘Gorgeously written with bold and hypnotic prose, Hold is a moving, funny, and insightful exploration of female friendship. Donkor is a hugely skilful and fresh voice in literary fiction.’ – Anbara Khalidi
“Michael Donkor is a real talent, and Hold is a brave, unpredictable and generous-hearted novel.” Sarah Winman
Utterly thrilled to be included alongside such dynamic creative folk.
Bibliography
Hold (2018)
Contact Michael
Personal
Instagram: @m_donks
Twitter: @MichaelDonkor
Agent
Blake Friedmann: Isobel Dixon
Publisher
4th Estate: Michelle Kane
Main image by David Yiu.
