Caleb Azumah Nelson

Caleb Azumah Nelson (born 1993) is a British–Ghanaian writer and photographer. His 2021 debut novel, Open Water, won the Costa Book Award for First Novel.

Personal life
Azumah Nelson grew up in and currently lives in [London]. 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.

He was educated at a "predominantly black primary school" before obtaining a scholarship to the independent [Alleyn's School] London.

Beyond writing and photography, Azumah Nelson played violin for 10 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. Thereafter,    Azumah Nelson handed in his notice at Apple and began writing full time.

Photography
At 18 years old Azumah Nelson began using a film camera to continue his passion for photography.

Azumah Nelson believes his "writing and photography go hand in hand; as they both act as sites of honest expression, that continually encourage him to think about how he sees the world, to motivate others and himself and move through it through the eyes of the lens, and how he loves the truth of the lens and expresses that love in his photography. When confronted by the blank page, in a way, he is confronting himself, as a man through all of the nuances . “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 is 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.

Open Water (2021)
Azumah Nelson's debut novel, Open Water, was published on 4 February 2021 by Viking Press. It won a Costa Book Award for First Novel, and from the Society of Authors a Betty Trask Award (for a first novel by a writer under 35) as well as the Somerset Maugham Award, among other accolades.

Small Worlds (2023)
Azumah Nelson's second novel, that he wrote in three months, was published by Viking in 2023. Rights for a television adaptation have been acquired by Block Media.

Small Worlds has been described by The Voice as "an exhilarating and expansive novel about the worlds we build for ourselves, the worlds we live, dance and love within." It was characterised by Buzz magazine as "a stunningly poetic novel about identity, grief, and jazz." Colin Grant's analysis in The Guardian included observations about it being "an affecting meditation on the migrant experience," while the reviewer for i newspaper stated that "at times Small Worlds feels like the most sensitive book ever written, because no matter how serious its themes – race riots, a parent’s depression – Azumah Nelson deals with it with profound tenderness."

Small Worlds was shortlisted for the Orwell prize for Political Fiction in 2023 and won the 2024 Dylan Thomas Prize.

Novels

 * Open Water (2021)
 * Small Worlds (2023)

Short stories

 * A Little Unsteadily into Light (2022, New Island Books)