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Elleke Boehmer was born in Durban, South Africa and lives in Oxford, UK. She is the author of five novels including Screens against the Sky (shortlisted for the David Higham Prize), Bloodlines (shortlisted for the Sanlam Prize), Nile Baby, and The Shouting in the Dark (winner of the Olive Schreiner Award for Prose and longlisted for the Sunday Times prize). She is Professor of World Literature in English at the University of Oxford, and a founding figure in the field of postcolonial literature. Her edition of Baden-Powell’s Scouting for Boys was a bestseller, and her acclaimed biography of Nelson Mandela has been translated into several languages. She has published several other books including Stories of Women, the anthology Empire Writing, Postcolonial Poetics, and Indian Arrivals: Networks of British Empire which won the biennial ESSE 2015-16 Prize. She is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature. To The Volcano, and other stories is her second collection of short stories, following Sharmilla, And Other Portraits.
'These assured, accomplished stories are reports from a world in which unacknowledged dark energies undermine and render hollow our bright, rational self-understanding. With passion and intelligence, and rare moral insight, Elleke Boehmer traces the scars left on the psyche by the tortuous histories of the South.' - J.M. Coetzee; 'Compassionate, intelligent and evocative: this is a morally serious writing, lucidly rendered.' - Gail Jones; 'These are insightful, intelligent stories full of characters pursuing their dreams but often meeting with disappointment, unable to make a decisive move, pulled back by a longing for home or an inability to escape their past and often left lonely as a result. An enjoyable collection, written with a quietly perceptive insight.' - A Life in Books; 'Arresting, intriguing, and brilliantly crafted, these stories explore the psychic wounds of our rapidly contracting contemporary world, with its complications of race, migration and trauma. Each unfolds with impeccable pacing, and gradually unveils a deeply humane sense of the world.' - Kwame Dawes; 'o the Volcano does not eschew tough topics such as trauma, colonialism, illegal migration, ageing and loss, but Boehmer's exquisite, considered prose elucidates them with a tenderness I found deeply touching.' - Karina Szczurek Sunday Times: Best Books of 2020; 'Every story is unique, easy to read and the characters were vivid enough to be memorable after only a few short pages...' - Books and Cleverness, Bookstagrammer; '[Elleke] insightfully explores past traumas, disappointments, dreams, ambitions and self-knowledge. The language is richly evocative and loaded with sensory information, in particularly vivid, striking colours. Some of these stories were very cinematic and I'd love to have read on beyond their final pages.' - Silver Linings and Pages, Bookstagrammer 4/5 star review; 'Arresting, intriguing, luminous and seductive are some of the adjectives used on the cover of Boehmer's anthology of tales. Her stories describe people who are utterly real, raw and flawed. Both every day and yet so very washed in undercurrent, these stories are haunting and compelling.' - Nancy Richards, Country Life; 'I feel cheated that I was not knowledgeable about this talented, moral writer earlier in my reading career and delighted for the introduction now. Her word choices are sublime, exacting. I have now read this book three times, and I am putting it on my shelf of those books I draw out in the middle of the night when I cannot sleep and simply must read.' - Recommended Reading, Patricia's Wisdom.
