Taiye Selasi

Karen Ferreira-Meyers (University of Eswatini)

Ed. by Helen Rachel Cousins, Birmingham Newman University
The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 8.2.3: Anglophone African Writing and Culture: Subsaharan.
Vol. editors: Helen Rachel Cousins (Birmingham Newman University), David Firth (University of Manchester)

Dates

Born 2 Nov 1979
Activity 2011-ongoing

Places

Born in England
Active in United States

Cultural Identities

African American

Activities

Primary

Novelist

Resources

Selasi's Works

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Born on 2 November 1979 in London, and raised in Brookline, Massachusetts, Taiye Selasi is best known for her work as a photographer and an author. She was raised by her Nigerian paediatrician mother Dr Juliette Tuakli, as her Ghanaian-born father, a surgeon and poet named Dr Lade Wosornu, left the family when Selasi (her name means ‘first twin’ in Yoruba) and her twin sister Yetsa were only one year old. Her mother went on to live with an American professor, but they split up when Selasi was eight years old. When she was twelve, her mother renewed contact with the girls’ father, who was living in Saudi Arabia at that time. Later he joined Selasi in London.

Selasi was educated at Milton Academy and at Yale University where she did a BA in American Studies. Afterwards, she earned her

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988 words

Citation: Ferreira-Meyers, Karen. "Taiye Selasi". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 18 July 2017 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/speople.php?rec=true&UID=13894, accessed 21 November 2024.]