Imbolo Mbue

Imbolo Mbue immigrated to the United States from her native Cameroon in the late-1990s in pursuit of a better education. She enrolled at Rutgers University, where she received a Bachelor’s degree in business administration. She later received a Master’s in education from the Teacher’s College at Columbia University. After earning her advanced degree, Mbue landed a job working in market research at a media company in New York City. In 2008, in the midst of the financial crisis, Mbue lost her job. Around this time, the seeds of her debut novel, Behold the Dreamers, were planted. While walking past the Time Warner Center in Columbus Circle, she observed that there were numerous black chauffeurs waiting for their white employers, who were usually executives. Though Mbue had no professional background in writing and had only dabbled in the craft, she started work on a novel around this time, based on this initial observation. Behold the Dreamers earned Mbue a seven-figure advance and was an instant hit. Both The New York Times and The Washington Post named it one of the most notable books of 2016, and NPR declared it one of the best books of the year. The novel won the PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction and was selected in 2017 for Oprah Winfrey’s famed Book Club. It has been translated into twelve languages and adapted into an opera. Book-It Repertory Theater is turning the novel into a stage play, and the work has also been optioned for a film. Mbue currently resides in New York City.