Esi was born the daughter of Ghanian immigrants in Calgary, Alberta. Echoes of their experience can be found in her literary debut, The Second Life of Samuel Tyne, which was shortlisted for the 2005 Hurston-Wright Legacy Award.

While on a fellowship in Stuttgart, Germany, Esi began research for what would become her stunning second novel, Half-Blood Blues which O, the Oprah Magazine named one of the best books of the year. It was awarded the Scotiabank Giller Prize and earned nominations for the Rogers Writers’ Trust Fiction Prize, the Governor General’s Literary Award for English language fiction, and was shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize.

She is also the author of Dreaming of Elsewhere: Observations on Home and 2018’s Washington Black, which received a rapturous reception, being named one of the best books of the year by The New York Times, Washington Post, The Boston Globe, Slate, TIME and Entertainment Weekly, was one of President Obama’s Favorite Books of 2018, and was a New York Times Bestseller. Esi lives in Victoria, BC with her husband, the novelist and poet Steven Price, and their two children.

For more information about this speaker, please visit www.lyceumagency.com/speakers/esi-edugyan/