Patrice Nganang is an American writer, poet, literary critic, professor, and activist who lives in Princeton, New Jersey, and serves as head of the Department of Africana Studies at Stony Brook University. A graduate of the University of Frankfurt/Main, where he defended his dissertation, he has taught at Humboldt University of Berlin, Shippensburg University of Pennsylvania, and Vassar College, where he was the Randolph Distinguished Professor of German and Africana Studies.
He is the author of more than fifteen books, including the award-winning novels Dog Days (University of Virginia Press), Mount Pleasant (FSG), When the Plums Are Ripe (FSG), and A Trail of Crab Tracks (FSG). A Trail of Crab Tracks was named one of the books of the year by The New Yorker in 2022, and When the Plums Are Ripe was selected by The Washington Post as one of the books to read in 2019.
Nganang has delivered keynote speeches at the PEN America Emergency World Voices Congress session held at the United Nations in 2022 and at the International PEN meeting in Berlin in 2006. In 2017, he was named one of the people of the year by the Spanish newspaper El País. His work has appeared in Harper’s Magazine, Le Monde, Der Spiegel, and other outlets, and he has appeared on television networks including CNN, ARD, and TV5.
His commitment to writing as a tool for change has led him to advocate for the liberation of incarcerated writers and activists. In 2017, he was arrested and jailed in his native Cameroon. Among other distinctions, a bill introduced in the U.S. Congress bears his name, and he has received a citation from the Massachusetts House of Representatives. Nganang now lives in exile with his wife and daughter. He writes and publishes in English, French, and German, and his books have been translated into more than a dozen languages.