Karen Jennings is a South African writer whose novel An Island was longlisted for the Booker Prize. She lives in Cape Town and is a writer-in-residence at the Laboratory for the Economics of Africa's Past, Stellenbosch University.
‘This is an extraordinary novel. It is shattering, almost bearable, yet—so good, so clear—it is unputdownable.’ * Roddy Doyle * ‘Deidre’s the kind of character who gets under your skin: furious, flawed and utterly unique. Jennings writes about broken people with unflinching honesty and deep compassion. A quietly devastating novel.’ * Jan Carson, author of The Raptures * 'Karen Jennings is a modern master of the castaway novel. Her characters are often exiled from the world—physically or psychologically, sometimes both. Crooked Seeds' Deidre and Trudy are unforgettable characters living on the margins of life. Together they make this an unsparing, yet profoundly beautiful novel.’ * Chigozie Obioma * 'A gripping, terrifying and unforgettable story.’ * Elleke Boehmer on An Island * ‘Thoroughly absorbing…Merciless political critique and allegory rendered in tender prose.’ * Guardian on An Island *