Francesca Ekwuyasi is a Nigerian Canadian writer and director. She is most noted for her debut novel Butter Honey Pig Bread, which was published in 2020.
Ekwuyasi is also a mentor in the Master of Fine Arts in Fiction program at the University of King's College in Halifax, Nova Scotia. Her works explores themes of faith, family, queerness, consumption, loneliness, and belonging.
Personal life Originally from Lagos, Nigeria, Ekwuyasi is based in Halifax, Nova Scotia. She is queer.
Career Butter Honey Pig Bread was selected for the 2021 edition of Canada Reads, where it was defended by Roger Mooking. The book was longlisted for the 2020 Giller Prize. It was also shortlisted for the 2021 Lambda Literary Award for Lesbian Fiction, the 2021 ReLit Award for Novel, the 2021 Amazon Canada First Novel Award, and the 2020 Governor General's Award for English-language fiction. In 2022, it won the Dayne Ogilvie Prize.
In 2023, she collaborated with Roger Mooking on the non-fiction book Curious Sounds: A Dialogue in Three Movements.
In addition to her writing, she had an exhibition of papercut art at Halifax's The Khyber in 2019 and has directed short documentary films including Reconcile and Black & Belonging.
Awards Year Book Award Category Result Ref 2020 Butter Honey Pig Bread Giller Prize — Governor General's Award English-language fiction 2021 Amazon Canada First Novel Award — Canada Reads — Lambda Literary Award Lesbian Fiction ReLit Award Novel 2022 Dayne Ogilvie Prize —
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