Taiye Selasi

Taiye Selasi is an author and filmmaker. Born in London and raised in Boston, she holds a BA in American Studies from Yale and an MPhil in International Relations from Oxford. In 2005, she published the seminal essay “Bye-Bye, Babar (Or: What is an Afropolitan?),” sparking a movement among transnational Africans. In 2013 Selasi’s debut novel, the New York Times bestseller Ghana Must Go (Penguin, 2014), was selected as one of the 10 Best Books of 2013 by The Wall Street Journal and The Economist. The same year Selasi was named to Granta’s once-in-a-decade list of Best Young British Novelists. Her 2015 TED talk, “Don’t Ask Where I’m From; Ask Where I’m a Local,” has reached over two million viewers, redefining the way a global society conceives of personal identity.