Namwali Serpell was born in Lusaka. Her first novel, The Old Drift, won the Anisfield-Wolf Book, the Arthur C. Clarke Award for science fiction, the Grand Prix des Associations Littéraires Prize for Belles-Lettres and the L.A. Times’ Art Seidenbaum Award for First Fiction. It was also named one of the 100 Notable Books by the New York Times Book Review. She is a co-recipient of a 2020 Windham-Campbell Prize for fiction, with Yiyun Li. She is a Professor of English at Harvard University. Her book of essays, Stranger Faces, was long-listed for a Believer Book Award for Nonfiction and a finalist for a National Book Critics Circle Award for Criticism.