Yaa Gyasi was born in Mampong, Ghana and raised in Huntsville, Alabama. Her first novel, Homegoing, was a Sunday Times bestseller, won the National Book Critics Circle Award for Best First Novel and was shortlisted for the PEN/Robert W. Bingham Prize for Debut Fiction. In 2017 Yaa Gyasi was selected as one of Granta's Best of Young American Novelists and in 2019 the BBC selected her debut as one of the 100 Novels that Shaped Our World.
Her second book Transcendent Kingdom is a New York Times bestseller.
A piercing story of faith, science and the opioid crisis . . . Transcendent Kingdom really sings. There's bravery as well as beauty here
Observer
Transcendent Kingdom is a novel for all times
Absolutely transcendent. A
gorgeously woven narrative..not a word or idea out of place.
I am quite angry this is so goodRoxane GayHer equally outstanding second novel,
Transcendent Kingdom, smaller in scale, is another
graceful exploration of trauma reverberating through a family...
introspective and intimateSunday TelegraphThis novel is
an unflinching account of loss, but it is also a moving tribute to the ability of the human spirit to ensure such tragediesThe TimesGyasi's novel is
a thoughtful analysis of a pressing social problemMail on SundayAmong other things [Transcendent Kingdom] is
a sharp reckoning with the tensions between race, science and religion...its scope is pared back, its register intimate -
not many writers can switch style like thisSunday Times CultureTranscendent Kingdom is
a quietly magnificent novel -
vivid, touching and beautifully written, and also unafraid to be, and to remain, really very sad.
i[A] mightily enjoyable novelDaily MailPerhaps neither science nor religion alone could capture transcendence, but Gyasi has proved, once again, that a novel can
GuardianA book of blazing brilliance . . . A
double helix of wisdom and rage twists through the quiet lines of this novel. Yaa Gyasi is
one of the most enlightening novelists writing todayWashington PostA compelling look at a woman's struggle to move on from the devastating effects of her family falling apart in front of her eyesStylistThe must-read book of the year so farElleA
powerful, wholly unsentimental novel about family love, loss, belonging and belief that is more focused but just as daring as its predecessor, and to my mind even more successful
Wall Street JournalGyasi's second novel,
Transcendent Kingdom, is a very different book, and, I think, a better one -
contemporary, personal, acutely focused on a single family, and intensely feltNew YorkerExquisitely written with a lightness of touch despite its difficult themes;
this novel is a triumphRedRaw, powerful storytelling that tackles race, religion, addiction and grief in a thoughtful way
Good HousekeepingWith
deft agility and undeniable artistry, Gyasi's latest is
an eloquent examination of resilient survivalBooklistThe Ghanaian-American has become a firm literary favour...Transcendent Kingdom is sure to cement her spot furtherStylistMeticulous, psychologically complex ... At once a vivid evocation of the immigrant experience and a sharp delineation of an individual's inner struggle, the novel brilliantly succeeds on both counts
Publishers Weekly, starred reviewTranscendent Kingdom is quiet in the way a wise soul will sit in the corner, clear their throat and when they speak, everyone listens...Transcendent Kingdom is a book always asking this question: how did we get here?Bad Form ReviewThe range Gyasi displays in just two books is staggeringUSA TodayRemarkable, a devastating account of America . . . explores horror without ever losing sight of humanity or hopeSunday Times on 'Homegoing'