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Hailed as "an inspiration" by writer Ta-Nehisi Coates, Yaa Gyasi’s debut novel, Homegoing, traces 300 years of history and family lineage through a sweeping account of the many descendants of two half-sisters born in 18th century Ghana. From the beginnings of slavery to the Harlem Renaissance to 21st century California, the novel captures with stunning immediacy how the memory of captivity was inscribed on the soul of a nation. Join as Gyasi takes the ALOUD stage for a discussion with comparative mythologist and scholar Ayana A.H. Jamieson.
Yaa Gyasi was born in Ghana and raised in Huntsville, Alabama. She is a graduate of the Iowa Writers’ Workshop and lives in Berkeley, California.
Ayana A. H. Jamieson is a writer, editor, and organizer. She is a lecturer for the State University of New York, Empire State College’s Center for Distance Learning. She is the founder of the Los Angeles-based Octavia E. Butler Legacy Network, a community organization that highlights the ongoing creative, scholarly, community, and social justice work inspired by speculative fiction author Octavia E. Butler. Jamieson was one of the organizers of the "Ferguson is the Future—Incubating Alternative Worlds Through Arts, Activism, and Scholarship" symposium at Princeton University. Her current book project is Octavia Butler’s biography based on Butler’s own published and unpublished writing and her Southern California origins.
