Namwali Serpell is a highly regarded author, known for her contemporary, historical fiction, and science fiction stories. Born in 1980 in Lusaka, Zambia, Serpell was raised in a family of intellectuals. Her father, who is of British-Zambian origin, is a psychology professor at the University of Zambia, and her mother works as an economist. When Serpell was nine years old, she moved to Baltimore, United States, where she completed her early education. She studied literature at Yale and Harvard, and later went on to become a professor herself, teaching English in America.
Serpell made her debut in the literary world with her 2015 short story, "The Sack," which won her the Caine Prize in African fiction. Her work has also been recognized by the Rona Jaffe Foundation, which awarded her a grant for women writers in 2011. In 2014, Serpell was included in the Africa39 list, which featured 39 top writers from Sub-Saharan Africa under the age of 40 with the talent and potential for defining trends in the African literature.
Serpell's first novel, "The Old Drift", is a critically acclaimed work that combines historical fiction with magical realism. The novel explores the history of Zambia and its people, weaving together the stories of three different families over the course of several generations. One of the chapters in the novel, "The Falls," is derived from "The Autobiography of An Old Drifter," by the historical figure, Percy M. Clark (1874-1937). Serpell's ability to blend historical fact with fiction and magical realism has earned her a place as one of the most exciting and innovative voices in contemporary African literature.