Mr. Fox

Helen Oyeyemi is widely celebrated for her imaginative storytelling and her ability to blend myth, reality, and the surreal in ways that challenge traditional literary forms. Born in Nigeria in 1984 and raised in London, Oyeyemi’s background plays a key role in shaping her works, which often explore themes of identity, displacement, and cultural hybridity. Her experience as a Black female writer operating in predominantly Western literary traditions allows her to bring fresh perspectives to familiar stories and myths, often interweaving elements from her Nigerian heritage with European folklore.

Oyeyemi’s distinctive voice began to emerge with her debut novel, The Icarus Girl (2005), which she wrote when she was still a student at Cambridge. Since then, she has continued to push the boundaries of genre and narrative structure, creating works that resist easy categorization. Her novels frequently feature elements of fantasy and the supernatural, and she is known for incorporating myth and fairy tales into her storytelling. In Mr. Fox, for example, Oyeyemi engages with the Bluebeard (1697) myth while also exploring modern themes of gender, power, and the ethical responsibilities of writers (Lyons, Gráinne.