Nafissa Thompson-Spires (born 1983) is an African-American writer. Her first book, ''Heads of the Colored People'', won the ''

Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the Un ...

'' Art Sidenbaum Award for First Fiction, the PEN Open Book Award, and a Hurston/Wright Award for fiction

Biography

She was born in

San Diego, California San Diego ( , ; ) is a city on the Pacific Ocean coast of Southern California located immediately adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a 2020 population of 1,386,932, it is the eighth most populous city in the United States ...

, in 1983. She earned a PhD in English from

Vanderbilt University Vanderbilt University (informally Vandy or VU) is a private research university in Nashville, Tennessee. Founded in 1873, it was named in honor of shipping and rail magnate Cornelius Vanderbilt, who provided the school its initial $1-million ...

and an MFA in creative writing from

University of Illinois The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (U of I, Illinois, University of Illinois, or UIUC) is a public land-grant research university in Illinois in the twin cities of Champaign and Urbana. It is the flagship institution of the University ...

and

. Her first book, ''Heads of the Colored People'', won the ''

'' Art Sidenbaum Award for First Fiction, the PEN Open Book Award, and a Hurston/Wright Award for fiction, among other prizes. ''Heads of the Colored People'' has been translated into Italian, Turkish, and Portuguese. She also won a 2019

Whiting Award The Whiting Award is an American award presented annually to ten emerging writers in fiction, nonfiction, poetry and plays. The award is sponsored by the Mrs. Giles Whiting Foundation Mrs. (American English) or Mrs (British English; standard E ...

. She was long-listed for the 2018

National Book Award The National Book Awards are a set of annual U.S. literary awards. At the final National Book Awards Ceremony every November, the National Book Foundation presents the National Book Awards and two lifetime achievement awards to authors. The Nat ...

. Her fiction and creative nonfiction have appeared in ''

New York Magazine ''New York'' is an American biweekly magazine concerned with life, culture, politics, and style generally, and with a particular emphasis on New York City. Founded by Milton Glaser and Clay Felker in 1968 as a competitor to ''The New Yorker'', ...

s “The Cut,” “The Root,” “The Paris Review.'', “The White Review,” “Ploughshares,” and many other places. Her short piece, “Unbought, Unbossed, Unbothered,” is included in The 1619 Project. In 2020, she served as a judge for PEN America. She currently teaches at

Cornell University Cornell University is a private statutory land-grant research university based in Ithaca, New York. It is a member of the Ivy League. Founded in 1865 by Ezra Cornell and Andrew Dickson White, Cornell was founded with the intention to teach an ...

as the Richards Family Assistant Professor of Creative Writing, where she teaches fiction and television studies. In October of 2018, she appeared on ''Late Night with Seth Meyers'', alongside

David Cross David Cross (born April 4, 1964) is an American stand-up comedian, actor, director, and writer known for his stand-up performances, the HBO sketch comedy series ''Mr. Show'' (1995–1998), and his role as Tobias Fünke in the Fox/Netflix sitcom ...

and

Wanda Sykes Wanda Yvette Sykes (born March 7, 1964) is an American stand-up comedian, actress, and writer. She was first recognized for her work as a writer on ''The Chris Rock Show'', for which she won a Primetime Emmy Award in 1999. In 2004, ''Entertainm ...

Works

* ''Heads of the Colored People'', London: Vintage, 2019.

References

External links

INTERVIEW: NAFISSA THOMPSON-SPIRES
Midwestern Gothic, 2015 {{DEFAULTSORT:Thompson-Spires, Nafissa Living people 21st-century American writers African-American writers University of Illinois alumni Vanderbilt University alumni Cornell University faculty 21st-century American women writers Writers from San Diego 1983 births