Shani Boianjiu
Shani Boianjiu, 2022
Born	(1987-05-30) 30 May 1987 (age 37) Jerusalem, Israel
Occupation	Writer
Language	Hebrew, English
Nationality	Israeli
Citizenship	Israeli
Alma mater	Harvard University

Shani Boianjiu ( Hebrew: שני בוינג'ו; born 30 May 1987) is an Israeli author. Her debut novel, The People of Forever Are Not Afraid, was released in 2012, ^[1] and has been published in 23 countries. ^[2] In 2011 the National Book Foundation named her a 5 under 35 honoree.

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. ^{[3] [4]} She attended Phillips Exeter Academy, graduating in 2005. After two years of service in the Israeli Defense Forces, she attended Harvard, graduating in 2011. ^{[5] [6]}

While at Harvard, Boianjiu served as president of the Radcliffe Union of Students, Harvard's feminist organization, ^[7] and as the co-chair of Quincy House House's Committee. ^[8] She was a junior research partner at the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced study, working for the scholar Reuven Snir. ^[9] In the summer of 2008, she attended summer school at Waseda University, Tokyo. ^[10] In the summer of 2009, she interned at the Association for Civil Rights in Israel. ^{[11] [12] [13]} 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. ^[14]

She lives in the Western Galilee and is currently^{[ when?]} completing work on her second novel. ^{[15] [16]}

Boianjiu's writing has appeared in The New York Times, ^[17] The New Yorker, ^[18] Zoetrope, ^[19] Vice, ^[20] The Wall Street Journal, ^[21] The Globe and Mail, ^[22] Dazed and Confused, ^[23] The Guardian, ^[24] NPR.org, ^[25] Chatelaine ^[26] and Flavorwire. ^[27]

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). ^[28] Her debut novel was selected as one of the ten best fiction titles of 2012 by The Wall Street Journal, ^[29] as one of the Pakistani Herald's best books of 2012, ^[30] as one of the Swedish Sydsvenskan's best books of 2013, ^[31] and as one of the Israeli Haaretz's best books of 2014. ^[32]

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. ^[33] She was a finalist for the 2013 Sami Rohr Prize for Jewish Literature, ^[34] a semi-finalist for the VCU Cabell First Novelist Award, ^[35] and selected as one of The Algemeiner's Jewish 100. ^[36] She was shortlisted for the 2014 Jewish Quarterly Wingate Prize. ^[37]