Caleb Azumah Nelson
Caleb Azumah Nelson is a British-Ghanaian writer and photographer. His debut novel, "Open Water", won the Costa Book Award for First Novel. Personal life. Azumah Nelson grew up in and currently lives in southeast London (Bellingham). For the first six years of his life, he lived with his maternal grandmother after she moved to London from Ghana, though she eventually returned to her home country. Although Azumah Nelson hopes to travel more and visit Ghana again, he intends to remain in Bellingham for most of his life. Beyond writing and photography, Azumah Nelson played violin for  ten years. Azumah Nelson's dream to become an author began as a teenager. In 2019, after his godfather, aunt, and three of his grandparents died, he quit his job at Apple and began writing full time. Photography. Azumah Nelson began shooting using a film camera when he was around eighteen years old. He believes his "writing and photography go hand in hand; they both act as sites of honest expression, and encourage me to think about how I see the world, how I move through it, how I love and express that love. When I’m confronted by the  blank page, in a way, I’m confronting myself, who I am, all of the nuances which make me. There’s a freedom in affording myself or others this kind of space, to just be themselves, even if that’s for a brief moment." In 2019, Azumah Nelson won the Palm* Photo People's Choice prize and was shortlisted for the Palm* Photo Prize. Writing. Azumah Nelson's writing has been published in "Litro" and "The White Review." His short story "Pray" was shortlisted for the BBC National Short Story Award (2020). Although he's inspired by many artists, Azumah  Nelson has stated that his primary role models are Zadie Smith, Lynette Yiadom-Boakye, Kendrick Lamar, Barry Jenkins, and his parents. Section::::"Open Water" (2021). "Open Water" is Azumah Nelson's debut novel, published February 4, 2021 by Viking Press.