Taiye Selasi Explained

Taiye Selasi
Birth Name:Taiye Tuakli
Birth Date:2 November 1979
Birth Place:London, United Kingdom
Occupation:Novelist
Education:Yale University (BA)
Nuffield College, Oxford (MPhil)
Period:2005–present
Notable Works:Ghana Must Go (2013)
Movement:Realism, Drama

Taiye Selasi (born 2 November 1979 in London, England) is an American writer and photographer.[1] [2] Of Nigerian and Ghanaian origin, she describes herself as a "local" of Accra, Berlin, New York and Rome. In 2005, Selasi published "Bye-Bye, Babar (Or: What is an Afropolitan?)", her seminal text on Afropolitans. Her novel, Ghana Must Go, was published by Penguin in 2013.

Early life and education

Taiye Selasi was born in London, England, and raised in Brookline, Massachusetts, the elder of twin daughters of Dr. Lade Wosornu, of Ghanaian descent, a surgeon in Saudi Arabia[3] and author of numerous volumes of poetry,[4] [5] and Dr. Juliette Tuakli, of Nigerian heritage, a paediatrician in Ghana[6] [7] known for her advocacy of children's rights, including sitting on the board of United Way. Selasi's parents separated when she was an infant. She met her biological father at the age of 12.[8]

Selasi graduated summa cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa with a BA degree in American studies from Yale,[9] and earned her MPhil in international relations from Nuffield College, Oxford.[10]

Career

In 2005 The LIP Magazine published "Bye-Bye, Babar (Or: What is an Afropolitan?)",[11] Selasi's seminal text on Afropolitans. In "Bye Bye Babar", Selasi describes a new African diaspora: "Perhaps what most typifies the Afropolitan consciousness is the refusal to oversimplify; the effort to understand what is ailing in Africa alongside the desire to honor what is wonderful, unique." Selasi does not seek recognition as the originator of Afropolitanism, "She makes a point not to claim to have coined it, and she downplays her own role in the whole phenomenon that followed from it."[12] Selasi is the first writer ever to publish on the subject of Afropolitan identity. The conversation of Afropolitanism increased following the essay, and this paved the way for scholars such as Simon Gikandi and Achille Mbembe to "further develop"[13] the term, Afropolitan, into a widely known and used ideology. The same year she wrote the essay, she penned a play that was produced at a small theatre by Avery Willis, Toni Morrison's niece.[14]

In 2006, Morrison gave Selasi a one-year deadline; she wrote "The Sex Lives of African Girls" to meet it. The story, published by UK literary magazine Granta in 2011, appears in Best American Short Stories 2012.[15]

Selasi's novel, Ghana Must Go, was published by Penguin in 2013. It was acclaimed by Diana Evans in The Guardian,[16] Margaret Busby in The Independent,[17] by The Economist,[18] and by The Wall Street Journal.[19] Selected as one of the 10 Best Books of 2013 by The Wall Street Journal and The Economist, the novel had been sold in 22 countries as of 2014.[20] [21] [22]

Selasi collaborates frequently with fellow artists. In 2012, she partnered with architect David Adjaye to create the Gwangju River Reading Room, an open-air library erected in 2013 as part of the Gwangju Biennale's Folly II.[23] With director Teddy Goitom, founder of Stocktown, Selasi is Executive Producer of Afripedia, a documentary series about urban African creatives. With producers Fernando Meirelles and Hank Levine, Selasi is developing Exodus, a feature documentary about global migration.

In 2013, Selasi was a juror in the Italian reality TV show Masterpiece on Rai 3 with Andrea De Carlo.[24]

Selasi has been outspoken on publishers' tendency to pigeonhole African writers, making them bear the burden of representing their continent.[25] [26] She chooses to identify herself with localities, rather than with countries, having lived in New York City, Berlin, Rome, and Lisbon, as well as regularly visiting Accra.[27] [28]

She is a contributor to the anthology New Daughters of Africa (edited by Margaret Busby, 2019).[29]

In a 2020 interview published in Brittle Paper, Selasi's response to a challenge by Bhakti Shringarpure to "Define or Defy(ne) 'African' Literature" was: "Any human literature informed, to some meaningful extent, by one (or more) of an infinity of time-space realities described, by the author of said literature, as African (winks)."[30]

Selasi is the author of the children's book Anansi and the Golden Pot, published in 2022.[31]

Personal life

Her given name means first twin in her mother's native Yoruba.

Her twin sister, Yetsa Kehinde Tuakli, is a physiatrist in the US. The first African member of the International Paralympic Committee, she competes in the long jump for Ghana's national team.[32]

Selasi married Dutch cinematographer David Claessen in 2013.

Works

Novels

Children's books

Short stories

Essays

Awards

External links

Notes and References

  1. News: Tim. Lewis. 2019-03-27. Taiye Selasi: 'I'm very willing to follow my imagination'. The Guardian. 22 March 2013. 0261-3077.
  2. News: Taiye. Selasi. 2019-03-27. Taiye Selasi on discovering her pride in her African roots. The Guardian. 22 March 2013. 0261-3077.
  3. http://www.uod.edu.sa/en/colleges/college-of-medicine/faculty/prof-lade-wosornu "Prof. Lade Wosornu"
  4. Web site: Lade Wosornu . Amazon . 9 September 2009 . 31 March 2011.
  5. News: Prof. Lade Wosornu Compiles His Articles into A Book . The Ghanaian Times . Lawrence . Markwei. 10 April 2010. 31 March 2011 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20110823060853/http://newtimes.com.gh/story/1165 . 23 August 2011 . dmy-all .
  6. http://www.jhsph.edu/research/centers-and-institutes/bill-and-melinda-gates-institute-for-population-and-reproductive-health/about/impacts/JTuakli.html "Dr. Juliette Tuakli, Child and Reproductive Health, University of Ghana, Legon
  7. Web site: Juliette Tuakli . Jhsph.edu . 31 March 2011 . dead . https://archive.today/20121214215155/http://www.jhsph.edu/gatesinstitute/about/impacts/JTuakli.html . 14 December 2012 . dmy-all .
  8. News: Family matters: how novelist Taiye Selasi came to terms with her very modern family. Taiye. Selasi. London Evening Standard. 5 April 2013.
  9. News: The loving spoonful. The Economist. Taiye. Selasi. 23 October 2014.
  10. Web site: Center for the Study of Africa and the African Diaspora - Artist-in-Residence February 2020: Taiye Selasi. 9 October 2019.
  11. Taiye . Selasi. Bye-Bye, Babar. The LIP Magazine. 3 March 2005.
  12. Bady, Aaron, and Taiye Selasi. "From That Stranded Place." Transition 117 (2015): 148. Web.
  13. Cosmopolitanism with African roots. Afropolitanism's ambivalent mobilities . 10.1080/13696815.2015.1112770 . November 11, 2015 . Gehrmann . Susanne . Journal of African Cultural Studies . 28 . 61–72 . 146791639 .
  14. News: Stefanie . Cohen. Growing Up With a Panther Mom. The Wall Street Journal. 28 February 2013.
  15. Taiye Selasi Interview . Yuka . Igarashi. Granta. 10 June 2011.
  16. News: Diana . Evans. Ghana Must Go by Taiye Selasi – review. The Guardian. 3 April 2013.
  17. News: Margaret . Busby. Reviews Ghana Must Go, By Taiye Selasi. The Independent. 29 March 2013.
  18. https://www.economist.com/news/books-and-arts/21573525-debut-particularly-gifted-writer-singular-voice "A singular voice"
  19. News: Sam. Sacks. An Auspicious How-Do-You-Do. The Wall Street Journal. 1 March 2013.
  20. News: Molly . Fischer. Penguin Press Buys First Novel with Salman and Toni's Seal of Approval. New York Observer. 14 June 2010. https://web.archive.org/web/20100615021628/http://www.observer.com/2010/daily-transom/penguin-press-buys-first-novel-salman-and-tonis-seal-approval . 15 June 2010 .
  21. News: The WSJ Best Fiction of 2013. The Wall Street Journal. 13 December 2013.
  22. https://www.economist.com/news/books-and-arts/21591150-best-writing-2013-covered-among-other-things-american-foreign-policy-israel "Books of the year: Torrents of words"
  23. http://www.designboom.com/architecture/david-adjaye-taiye-selasi-gwangju-river-reading-room-12-20-2013/ "david adjaye & taiye selasi: gwangju river reading room"
  24. News: Tired Metaphors? Ciao, Contestant!. Tom. Rachman. The New York Times. 13 November 2013.
  25. News: Taiye Selasi: stop pigeonholing African writers. Taiye. Selasi. The Guardian. 4 July 2015.
  26. Taiye Selasi 'I am a little tired of talking about the African book or African literature'. The Bookseller. Tom. Tivnan. 20 December 2012. 23 July 2023.
  27. Web site: Taiye Selasi: How Do The Places We Call Home Inform Our Identities?. TED Radio Hour. NPR. June 15, 2018. 23 July 2023.
  28. Web site: Don't ask where I'm from, ask where I'm a local. TED TEDGlobal 2014. 29 September 2015 . 23 July 2023.
  29. Onyeakabu, Adaobi (12 March 2019), "Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, Taiye Selasi among 200 female contributors for New Daughters of Africa Anthology", Pulse Nigeria.
  30. Web site: Revisiting Afropolitanism: An Interview with Taiye Selasi. Bhakti. Shringarpure. Brittle Paper. 9 September 2020. 23 July 2023.
  31. Web site: Taiye Selasi's New Children's Book Anansi and the Golden Pot Reimagines the West African Trickster Classic. Chukwuebuka. Ibeh. Brittle Paper. 23 March 2022. 23 July 2023.
  32. Vitzthum. Virginia. 2013-03-15. The Fascinator: Taiye Selasi. 2020-07-02. ELLE. en-US.
  33. Web site: Taiye Selasi's 'Ghana Must Go': A Reader's Response. www.thenewblackmagazine.com. Juanita. Cox Westmaas. 23 April 2013. 2020-05-30.
  34. Web site: 'The Sex Lives of African Girls' by Taiye Selasi. www.litro.co.uk. Bella. Whittington. December 17, 2012. 2023-07-23.
  35. Web site: 2018-06-05. Biography Of Taiye Selasi. 2021-05-27. Media Nigeria. en-US.
  36. Selasi. Taiye. African Literature Doesn't Exist. Edition. 25. Berliner Ensemble. Berlin. en, de. 1 November 2016. 2022-01-20.
  37. http://granta.com/issues/granta-123-best-of-young-british-novelists/ Granta 123: Best of Young British Novelists 4
  38. Granta list 'proves publishing has broadened horizons'. The Bookseller. Katie. Allen. April 15, 2013.
  39. Web site: Africa39. Hay Festival. 29 June 2024.
  40. News: Africa39: how we chose the writers for Port Harcourt World Book Capital 2014. Margaret. Busby. The Guardian. 10 April 2014.

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