Lauren Liebenberg

Last updated

Lauren Liebenberg
Born (1972-08-03) 3 August 1972 (age 52) [1]
Zimbabwe
OccupationWriter
NationalitySouth African
Notable worksThe Voluptuous Delights of Peanut Butter and JamThe West Rand Jive Cats Boxing ClubCry Baby

Lauren Liebenberg (born 3 August 1972) is a Zimbabwe-born South African writer. Her debut novel The Voluptuous Delights of Peanut Butter and Jam was nominated for the Orange Prize for Fiction in 2008. [2] Her subsequent novels, The West Rand Jive Cats Boxing Club and Cry Baby, have also received international critical acclaim.[ citation needed ]

Contents

Background

Liebenberg was born in Rhodesia but as a child left newly independent Zimbabwe for neighbouring South Africa. She attended Brescia House, a Catholic school for girls in Johannesburg. After completing her undergraduate degree at the University of South Africa, she lived in England for some years, before returning to South Africa, where she graduated from the business school of the University of the Witwatersrand with a master's degree in business (MBA). She worked in investment banking and published in the field of financial markets, including a reference book entitled The Electronic Financial Markets of the Future, published in 2002. [3] [4] [5] [6]

Her debut novel, The Voluptuous Delights of Peanut Butter and Jam which drew upon her experiences as a child in Rhodesia during the Rhodesian Bush War, garnered much attention from critics when it was published in 2008. The Guardian described it as "astonishingly vivid", going on to say that "Rhodesia springs to fecund, fetid life before your eyes ... like the children at its heart ... it’s immediate, rarely judgmental ... charming, upsetting and poignantly strange ... burrowing deep under your skin". [7] The Financial Times described it as an "elegiac first novel [that] captures the insular vulnerability of this white African childhood." [8] The Times described it as a "touching debut". [9] The novel was also serialized by The Independent . [10]

Apart from being longlisted for the Orange Prize for Fiction, Liebenberg was one of only three women to be shortlisted for the Orange debut prize in 2008. [11] [12] In 2010, the novel was longlisted for the International Dublin Literary Award. [13]

Her follow-up novel, The West Rand Jive Cats Boxing Club, a coming-of-age story set in the gold-fields of Johannesburg, was published in 2011, and also drew warm praise from critics. The Guardian said the novel had "a true, raw feel about it" and described Liebenberg as a "terrific writer". [14] The Times called it "moving ... [an] excellently crafted story" [15] and The Financial Times hailed it as "vivid ... evocative ... and compelling". [16] Cry Baby her third and latest novel, a satire on contemporary suburbia with a strong feminist theme, was published in February 2014. [17] Liebenberg is married with two children and lives in Johannesburg, South Africa. [18]

In later years Liebenberg has become active in the environmental movement and African wildlife conservation. She serves on the board of the Philip Herd Nature Reserve, Limpopo Province, South Africa, and founded an advocacy group, LivingLimpopo, which campaigns against coal mining and industrialization of the UNESCO MAB Vhembe Biosphere Reserve, and promotes biodiversity conservation and expansion of the Transfrontier Conservation Area (TFCA) of Mapungubwe and Great Limpopo. She serves on the Academy of Science South Africa (ASSAf) Scientific Group for Emergencies (SAGE) sub-committee and co-authored the SAGE Advisory on the environmental and cultural heritage impacts of the Musina-Makhado Special Economic Zone (SEZ) located in the Vhembe District of South Africa's northern Limpopo Province. Her writing has concentrated on environmental themes.

Bibliography

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References

  1. ↑ Interview with Lauren Liebenberg by Amanda Patterson Archived 25 September 2010 at the Wayback Machine Writers Write. 25 June 2008.
  2. ↑ "Novelist who faced trial in Turkey makes long list for Orange Prize", The Independent, 18 March 2008.
  3. ↑ Liebenberg, Lauren (2002). The Electronic Financial Markets of the Future. doi:10.1057/9781403946065. ISBN   978-1-349-43314-8.
  4. ↑ An Evocative Debut from Lauren Liebenberg Archived 4 January 2011 at the Wayback Machine Penguin. 7 April 2008
  5. ↑ The Voluptuous Delights of Peanut Butter and Jam Orange Prize. Retrieved on 6 November 2010
  6. ↑ Lauren Liebenberg, author of The Voluptuous Delights of Peanut Butter and Jam, in conversation with Janet van Eeden Archived 27 September 2011 at the Wayback Machine Litnet. 14 May 2008
  7. ↑ Danger in the veld The Guardian. 5 April 2008
  8. ↑ The Voluptuous Delights of Peanut Butter and Jam Archived 1 September 2011 at the Wayback Machine Financial Times. 29 March 2008
  9. ↑ Paperback fiction – Alfred & Emily by Doris Lessing [ dead link ] The Times. 13 March 2009
  10. ↑ Book extract: The Voluptuous Delights of Peanut Butter and Jam, By Lauren Liebenberg The Independent. 4 May 2008
  11. ↑ Three authors on Orange shortlist BBC. 8 April 2008
  12. ↑ Orange Jam – Lauren Liebenberg shortlisted for debut award Archived 6 March 2016 at the Wayback Machine Little Brown. Retrieved on 6 November 2010
  13. ↑ The 2010 Award Archived 23 November 2010 at the Wayback Machine International Dublin Literary Award. Retrieved on 7 November 2010
  14. ↑ Wallace, Jason (8 April 2011). "The West Rand Jive Cats Boxing Club by Lauren Liebenberg - review". The Guardian. ISSN   0261-3077 . Retrieved 21 November 2017.
  15. ↑ "The West Rand Jive Cats Boxing Club by Lauren Liebenberg". The Times . Retrieved 21 November 2017.
  16. ↑ "The West Rand Jive Cats Boxing Club". Financial Times. 4 April 2011. Retrieved 21 November 2017.
  17. ↑ "Lauren Liebenberg Returns with Her Third Novel, Cry Baby". Penguin SA @ Sunday Times Books LIVE. Retrieved 21 November 2017.
  18. ↑ "Lauren Liebenberg is a South African modern family humour writer". www.laurenliebenberg.com. Retrieved 21 November 2017.
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