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Yaa Gyasi

American

Born 1989

Yaa Gyasi is the author of Homegoing, a sweeping historical fiction novel that traces the interconnected stories of two half-sisters separated by circumstance across centuries of African and African American history. The novel spans from 18th-century Ghana through the 20th century, weaving together narratives of slavery, colonialism, and their lasting legacies across generations and continents.

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In Yaa Gyasi's own words

Author Yaa Gyasi discusses the background, themes, and historical inspiration behind her novel Homegoing.

Uploaded by Penguin Books UK, 2017 · Watch on YouTube ·

Uncovering Alabama's convict leasing system

Gyasi was astonished during her research to discover Alabama's convict leasing system. Despite growing up in the state, she had never been taught about this era of post-Civil War criminalization of Black men.

Mapping characters with a family tree

Gyasi wrote her debut novel without a formal outline, relying instead on a family tree diagram to keep track of the generations and outline each character's trajectory.

Giving historical figures moral complexity

Gyasi intentionally avoided depicting characters as purely good or evil. She wanted to reflect the difficult, compromised moral choices real people make under oppressive historical systems.

Writing the book she needed growing up

Invoking Toni Morrison's advice to write the book you want to read, Gyasi explained that she wrote the book she wished had existed during her childhood when exploring questions of race, ethnicity, and identity.

Viewing home as people, not place

Having immigrated to the United States at a young age and lived in multiple states, Gyasi views home as fluid and portable, rooted in family and loved ones rather than geography.

Homegoing

Coming soon

Homegoing, published in 2016, is the debut novel by Ghanaian-American author Yaa Gyasi. The narrative begins in 18th-century Ghana with an Asante woman named Maame, whose two daughters are half-sisters separated by circumstance. From that point, each chapter follows a different descendant of Maame a

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Authors Like Yaa Gyasi

Tim Holden

Tim Holden was born in 1979 in Norfolk, England, where he still lives with his wife and two sons. He writes historically grounded fiction rooted in established history, drawing on the work of historians to place real and fictional characters within social, political, and military realities. He is the author of the New World Saga series, which includes Rule Britannia.

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