Author photo: David Yiu
MICHAEL DONKOR
Agent: Juliet Pickering
Assistant: Finlay Charlesworth
Biography: Michael Donkor was born in London in 1985. He was raised in a Ghanaian household where talking lots and reading lots were vigorously encouraged. Michael read English at Oxford where he developed a particular interest in the works of Woolf, Lessing and Achebe, and later undertook a Masters in Creative Writing at Royal Holloway.
Michael worked in publishing for a number of years, but eventually decided to put his literary enthusiasms to other uses: in 2010, he retrained as an English teacher, teaching A-Level students, trying to develop a curious excitement about books and storytelling within his students. He now lives in Portugal, where he works as a bookseller.
In 2014 Michael was selected by Writers Centre Norwich for their Inspires Mentoring Scheme, and worked with mentor Daniel Hahn. His first novel, HOLD, which explores Ghanaian heritage and questions surrounding sexuality, identity and sacrifice, was published by 4th Estate in 2018, and was longlisted for the Dylan Thomas and shortlisted for the Desmond Elliott Prizes. He has written for the Guardian, the Telegraph, BBC Radio 3, the TLS and the Independent.
‘His work has an immediacy and a warmth to it and his is a world you want to enter, whose characters spring vividly to life.’ – Jackie Kay
‘Hugely enjoyable and very moving, Donkor’s frank, clear-eyed and funny prose is so refreshing – an important voice in contemporary British fiction.’ – Diana Evans
‘A masterclass in character. Michael shapes lives that are so rich in texture that you genuinely care about who they are and what they’re going through.’ – Jeffrey Boakye
‘His eye for acute observations coupled with a gift for pitch perfect metaphors are joyful to read.’ – Courttia Newland
GROW WHERE THEY FALL
Literary, 336 pages, Fig Tree, March 2024
Bright and precocious ten-year-old Kwame Akromah knows how to behave. He knows the importance of good manners, how to stay at the top of the class and out of the way when his mother and father are angry with each other. But when his charismatic cousin Yaw arrives from Ghana to live with the family while he looks for work, the rules Kwame has learned about the world can no longer guide him.
Twenty years later, Kwame is a secondary-school teacher, popular with his students and depended on by his friends. His is a life spent elegantly weaving between the classroom, the labyrinth of Grindr politics and increasingly intermittent visits to his parents’ home. Behind the confident façade, however, he is as driven by caution as he was as a boy.
But when electrifying changemaker Marcus Felix is appointed as headteacher, Kwame must reckon with himself as he never has before. Can he face the ghosts of his childhood? How will he learn to move through the world without losing who he is? And where does existing stop and living begin?
GROW WHERE THEY FALL is a beautifully written, spirited and deeply moving novel about a young man finding the courage to expand the limits of who he might become, from the acclaimed author of HOLD.
HOLD
Literary, 320 pages
Fourth Estate, July 2018
Moving between Ghana and London, HOLD is an intimate, moving, powerful coming-of-age novel. It’s a story of friendship and family, shame and forgiveness; of learning what we should cling to, and when we need to let go.