Dorothy Koomson
Dorothy Koomson (born 1971 in London) is a contemporary English novelist, who is of Ghanaian descent.[2] She has been described as "Britain's biggest selling black author of adult fiction".[3]
Dorothy Koomson | |
---|---|
2014 | |
Born | 1971 (age 49–50)[1] London, England |
Occupation | Writer |
Nationality | English |
Period | 2003–present |
Genre | Fiction |
Website | |
www |
Biography
Koomson has two degrees in Psychology and Journalism when she graduated from Leeds University (Trinity and All Saints College).[4] She has written for a number of women's magazines and newspapers, as well as having had seven successful novels published in the UK and US.[1][5] Koomson spent two years living in Sydney and is currently living in Brighton.[6]
Koomson wrote her first novel, the unpublished "There's A Thin Line Between Love And Hate", when she was 13. In 2003 her debut novel, The Cupid Effect, was published.[7] Her second novel, The Chocolate Run, was published in 2004.[8] In 2006, she published her third novel, My Best Friend's Girl.[9] The book was chosen for the Richard and Judy's Summer Reads shortlist and it received a huge sales boost. Koomson's fourth and fifth novels, Marshmallows For Breakfast and Goodnight, Beautiful, were published in 2007 and 2008 respectively.[10] Koomson's sixth novel, The Ice Cream Girls, was published in 2010.[11] Koomson's seventh novel, The Woman He Loved Before, was released on 3 February 2011.[12] Her eighth book, The Rose Petal Beach, came out in August 2012 and was released in paperback form in April 2013. Her ninth book, The Flavours of Love, was published in November 2013, after which she took a longer break before writing her tenth book, That Girl From Nowhere, which was published in April 2015.
During the 2020 Black Lives Matter protests calling for racial justice, Koomson criticised the UK publishing industry as being a “hostile environment for black authors”, stating how those in the industry have gaslighted Black authors and demean, demoralise, and discard them in reality, while portraying an image of support to the public. [13] Later that year, Koomson was recognised as one of the United Kingdom's 100 most influential people of African or African Caribbean heritage when she was included in the 2021 edition of the annual Powerlist. [14]
Bibliography
- The Cupid Effect, 2003
- The Chocolate Run, 2004
- My Best Friend's Girl, 2006
- Marshmallows For Breakfast, 2007
- Goodnight, Beautiful, 2008
- The Ice Cream Girls, 2010
- The Woman He Loved Before, 2011
- The Rose Petal Beach, 2012
- The Flavours of Love, 2013
- That Girl From Nowhere, 2015
- When I Was Invisible, 2015
- The Friend, 2017
- The Beach Wedding (Quick Reads), 2018
- The Brighton Mermaid, 2018
- Tell Me Your Secret, 2019
- All My Lies Are True (Ice Cream Girls 2), 2020
References
- "Dorothy Koomson Bio". Waterstones. Retrieved 9 March 2010.
- "GH at 60 | Our Writers & Their Books", African Book Addict, 31 March 2017.
- Kean, Danuta, "Dorothy Koomson interview: On 'The Ice Cream Girls' and being one of Britain's biggest black authors", The Independent, 10 November 2013.
- "Alumni Stories". Leeds Trinity. Retrieved 29 May 2018.
- "Dorothy Koomson at Little Brown Book Group". Little Brown Book Group. Archived from the original on 25 February 2012. Retrieved 9 March 2010.
- "All About Me". Dorothy Koomson Official Website. Archived from the original on 10 November 2013. Retrieved 10 November 2013.
- "The Cupid Effect". Fantastic Fiction. Retrieved 9 March 2010.
- "The Chocolate Run". Fantastic Fiction. Retrieved 9 March 2010.
- "My Best Friends Girl". Fantastic Fiction. Retrieved 9 March 2010.
- "Marshmallows For Breakfast". Fantastic Fiction. Retrieved 9 March 2010.
- "The Ice Cream Girls". Waterstones. Archived from the original on 27 January 2010. Retrieved 9 March 2010.
- "The Woman He Loved Before". Waterstones. Retrieved 3 February 2011.
- Flood, Alison (10 June 2020). "Black British authors top UK book charts in wake of BLM protests". the Guardian. Retrieved 19 January 2021.
- Lavender, Jane (17 November 2020). "Lewis Hamilton ends incredible year top of influential Black Powerlist 2021". mirror. Retrieved 19 January 2021.