Maryse Condé was born in Guadeloupe in 1937, the youngest of eight siblings. She earned her doctorate at Université Sorbonne Nouvelle, and taught Francophone Literature at Columbia University in New York, where she lived for many years. She has also lived in various West African countries, where she gained inspiration for her worldwide bestseller Segu, for which she was awarded the African Literature Prize. Condé was awarded the New Academy Prize (or “Alternative Nobel”) in Literature as well as the Cino Del Duca World Award for her oeuvre. Best known as a novelist, Maryse Condé’s essays are a cornerstone of her oeuvre.