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Angela Flournoy

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Angela Flournoy
Flournoy at the 2016 Texas Book Festival
EducationUniversity of Southern California
Iowa Writers' Workshop
Writing career
Notable works
Notable awardsFirst Novelist Award
Websiteangelaflournoy.com

Angela Flournoy is an American writer. Her debut novel, The Turner House, won the VCU Cabell First Novelist Award and was shortlisted for the National Book Award for Fiction.[1][2] It was also shortlisted for the PEN/Robert W. Bingham Prize for Debut Fiction, nominated for an NAACP Image Award, and named a New York Times Notable Book of 2015.[3][4][5] She was also named a National Book Foundation 5 Under 35 Honoree in 2015, nominated by her former teacher ZZ Packer.[4][6]

Early life and education

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Flournoy was raised in Southern California by a mother from Los Angeles and a father from Detroit.[7][8] Flournoy attended the University of Southern California and the Iowa Writers' Workshop.[9] She started developing her first novel, The Turner House, while attending the Iowa Workshop and frequently traveling to Detroit to visit her father's family.[4][10]

Career

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After graduating, Flournoy taught writing for the University of Iowa, Trinity Washington University, and the DC Public Library.[6][11] She published The Turner House in 2015.[12] The New York Times called it "an engrossing and remarkably mature first novel [...] assured and memorable."[13] BuzzFeed describes Flournoy as "the most lauded debut novelist in America," noting her many awards and honors, as well as The Turner House's strong sales: "According to Bookscan, which tracks around 70% of U.S. book sales, her book has sold over 15,000 copies in paperback and hardcover as of April [2016]; anything over 10,000 is generally considered high for literary fiction."[9]

In 2020, she was scheduled to go on a State Department-sponsored reading tour of Germany. Flournoy canceled at short notice amid US tensions with Iran and published a justification in The New Yorker.[14]

Flournoy attributes her understanding of character development to Zora Neale Hurston's Mules and Men.[15]

The Wilderness was longlisted for the 2025 National Book Award for Fiction.[16] It was a finalist for the 2025 National Book Critics Circle Award for Fiction and the 2025 Kirkus Prize for Fiction.[17][18]

Works

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  • The Turner House. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. 2015. ISBN 978-0-544-30316-4.[19][20]
  • The Wilderness. New York: Mariner Books. 2025. ISBN 978-0-06-331877-9.[21][22][23][24]

References

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  1. ↑ "Angela Flournoy wins VCU Cabell First Novelist Award for 'The Turner House'". Richmond Times-Dispatch. July 26, 2016.
  2. ↑ "National Book Award 2015 Winners". National Book Foundation.
  3. ↑ Ho, Jean (August 9, 2016). "Diversity In Book Publishing Isn't Just About Writers — Marketing Matters, Too". NPR. Archived from the original on December 13, 2023. Retrieved December 13, 2023.
  4. 1 2 3 Vitcavage, Adam (October 27, 2005). "The Tortoise, Not the Hare: The Millions Interviews Angela Flournoy". The Millions. Retrieved April 1, 2016.
  5. ↑ Philyaw, Deesha (February 13, 2016). "The Saturday Rumpus Interview: Angela Flournoy". The Rumpus. Retrieved April 2, 2016.
  6. 1 2 "2015: Discover the 5 Under 35 Honorees". National Book Foundation.
  7. ↑ Harvin, Darian Symoné (August 11, 2016). "Angela Flournoy". Andscape. Retrieved 2026-08-13.
  8. ↑ Aistars, Zinta (2015-04-24). "Between the Lines: Family, With Ghost". WMUK. Retrieved 2026-08-13.
  9. 1 2 Shafrir, Doree (April 25, 2016). "Why America Is Ready For Novelist Angela Flournoy". BuzzFeed. Retrieved July 22, 2016.
  10. ↑ "The Risks Angela Flournoy Took". The Seam. 2016-06-23. Archived from the original on 2019-12-19. Retrieved 2018-06-09.
  11. ↑ "Angela Flournoy". The Los Angeles Review of Books. Retrieved April 2, 2016.
  12. ↑ Zolbrod, Zoe (June 18, 2015). "'There Aint No Haints in Detroit!': An Interview With Author Angela Flournoy". Belt Magazine. Retrieved April 2, 2016.
  13. ↑ Thomas, Matthew (April 29, 2015). "'The Turner House,' by Angela Flournoy". The New York Times. Retrieved July 22, 2016.
  14. ↑ Flournoy, Angela (24 January 2020). "The Difficulty of Being a Cultural Ambassador in 2020". The New Yorker.
  15. ↑ Fassler, Joe (September 1, 2015). "Subverting the Rule of 'Write What You Know'". The Atlantic. Retrieved April 2, 2016.
  16. ↑ "The Wilderness". National Book Foundation. Retrieved 2025-10-22.
  17. ↑ "The National Book Critics Circle Awards 2025". Bookreporter.com.
  18. ↑ Schaub, Michael (August 27, 2025). "Finalists for the 2025 Kirkus Prize Revealed". Kirkus Reviews.
  19. ↑ Thomas, Matthew (2015-04-29). "'The Turner House,' by Angela Flournoy". The New York Times. Retrieved 2025-10-22.
  20. ↑ Zipp, Yvonne (April 30, 2015). "'The Turner House' – a magnificent, unsentimental debut – visits the struggles of Detroit through one family's history". Christian Science Monitor. ISSN 0882-7729. Retrieved 2025-10-22.
  21. ↑ Summers, Juana (2025-09-16). "Author Angela Flournoy explores 20 years of adult friendship in 'The Wilderness'". NPR. Retrieved 2025-10-22.
  22. ↑ Orr, Niela (2025-09-16). "Book Review: 'The Wilderness,' by Angela Flournoy". The New York Times. Retrieved 2025-10-22.
  23. ↑ "The Wilderness by Angela Flournoy". Publishers Weekly. May 23, 2025. Retrieved 2025-10-22.
  24. ↑ Felicelli, Anita (2025-09-22). "Why Angela Flournoy Writes About Friendship and Grief". Alta Online. Retrieved 2025-10-22.
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