Diriye Osman is a British-Somali short story writer, visual artist, critic and essayist. He is the first writer of colour to win the Polari First Book Prize for his groundbreaking collection of stories, Fairytales For Lost Children, and was named one of the most influential LGBTQ people in the UK by The Independent on Sunday. He is also the author of the critically heralded, Afrofuturistic novel-in-stories, The Butterfly Jungle, which was written and designed almost entirely on his mobile phone. His work is studied widely across the world for its nuanced portrayals of queer Somalis across the spectrum. Osman's writing has appeared in The Guardian, Granta, The Financial Times, The Huffington Post, Vice, Poetry Review, Prospect, Time Out, Attitude and Afropunk. He lives a peaceful life somewhere in the Afrosphere.