Shani Boianjiu (; born 30 May 1987) is an Israeli author. Her debut novel, The People of Forever Are Not Afraid, was released in 2012, and has been published in 23 countries. In 2011 the National Book Foundation named her a 5 Under 35 honoree.
Biography Boianjiu was born in Jerusalem to parents of Iraqi and Romanian descent, and grew up in Ma'alot Tarshiha and Kfar Vradim in the Western Galilee. She attended Phillips Exeter Academy, graduating in 2005. After two years of service in the Israel Defense Forces, she attended Harvard, graduating in 2011."Breaking News: You're Old," WORMBOOK.
While at Harvard, Boianjiu served as president of the Radcliffe Union of Students, Harvard's feminist organization, and as the co-chair of Quincy House House's Committee."Quincy Mole," Youtube. She was a junior research partner at the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced study, working for the scholar Reuven Snir.Reuven Snir, at the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study. In the summer of 2008, she attended summer school at Waseda University, Tokyo."Asia-related student research projects are awarded funding," Harvard Gazette. In the summer of 2009, she interned at the Association for Civil Rights in Israel.Human Rights Studies Award Recipients at Harvard ."2008-2009 Annual Report," The Association for Civil Rights in Israel (link in Hebrew)."Protocol of the Interior and Environmental Protection Committee, July 28 2009," the Israeli Knesset (link in Hebrew). In the summer of 2010, she used the funds she received as an Artist Development Fellowship recipient to rent an apartment right across from Iowa City's jail and write fiction.
She lives in the Western Galilee and is currently completing work on her second novel.
Boianjiu's writing has appeared in The New York Times,"What Happens When the Two Israel's Meet," The New York Times. The New Yorker," Means of Suppressing Demonstrations," The New Yorker. Zoetrope,"People That Don't Exist ," Zoetrope. Vice,"The Sound of All Girls Screaming," Vice. The Wall Street Journal, The Globe and Mail, Dazed and Confused,"Should Armies Use Social Media to Fight Their Wars?" Dazed and Confused. The Guardian, NPR.org, Chatelaine" The Sound of All Girls Screaming ," Chatelaine. and Flavorwire."10 Fantastic Books About Ladies on the Move ," Flavorwire.
Awards and recognition Boianjiu was the first Israeli author to be longlisted for the UK's Women's Prize for Fiction, and the youngest nominee that year (2013)."Israel's Shani Boianjiu in the running for top U.K. book award," Haaretz. Her debut novel was selected as one of the ten best fiction titles of 2012 by The Wall Street Journal, "The Best Fiction of 2012," The Wall Street Journal as one of the Pakistani Herald's best books of 2012,"Best Books for 2012 ," Herald. as one of the Swedish Sydsvenskan's best books of 2013,"Årets böcker 2013," Sydvenskan. and as one of the Israeli Haaretz's best books of 2014."The Best Books of 2014," Haaretz.
Boianjiu is the youngest recipient ever of the National Book Foundation's 5 Under 35 award, based on a recommendation from the writer Nicole Krauss. She was a finalist for the 2013 Sami Rohr Prize for Jewish Literature, a semi-finalist for the VCU Cabell First Novelist Award ,VCU Cabell First Novelist Award. and selected as one of The Algemeiner's Jewish 100."Jewish 100: Shani Boianjiu - Tomorrow," The Algemeiner. She was shortlisted for the 2014 Jewish Quarterly Wingate Prize."Jewish Quarterly Wingate Prize Shortlist Announced," Foyles.
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