Ryad Assani-Razaki facts for kids
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Ryad Assani-Razaki
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Born | Cotonou, Benin |
Occupation | Novelist, short story writer |
Nationality | Beninese, Canadian |
Period | 2010s–present |
Ryad Assani-Razaki (born November 4, 1981) is a Beninese-Canadian writer. His debut short story collection Deux cercles won the Trillium Book Award for French-language fiction in 2010, and his novel La main d'Iman won the Prix Robert-Cliche in 2011 and was shortlisted for the Governor General's Award for French-language fiction in 2012.
Born in Cotonou, Benin, Assani-Razaki first moved to North America in 1999, to study computer science at the University of North Carolina. After graduating in 2002, he struggled to find a job until registering for a master's in computer science at the Université de Montréal in 2004. He wrote his first short story in 2006, after witnessing an Asian man struggle to order food in a fast food restaurant because of his difficulties with the language. Deux cercles was published in 2009.
Awards
- 2010 Trillium Poetry Prize
- 2011 Prix Robert-Cliche
- 2012 Governor General's Award for French-language fiction