People like P. Djèlí Clark

Dexter Gabriel (born 1971), also known as Phenderson Djèlí Clark or P. Djèlí Clark, is an American speculative fiction writer and historian. His fantasy novel A Master of Djinn won the Nebula and Locus Awards in 2022. He has also won awards for his short fiction, including the Nebula, Locus and British Fantasy Awards for the novella Ring Shout in 2021. Clark publishes his fiction and academic work under separate names, with his pen name "Djèlí" making reference to the griots, traditional Western African storytellers, historians and poets. He has also published under the name A. Phenderson Clark.

Dexter Gabriel was born in New York City in 1971, but spent most of his early years living in his parents' original home of Trinidad and Tobago. At age eight, he returned to the US and lived in Staten Island and Brooklyn before moving to Houston, Texas, when he was 12. Gabriel went to college at Texas State University-San Marcos, earning a B.A. and then an M.A. in history. He then earned a doctorate in history from Stony Brook University. Gabriel is currently Assistant Professor in the Department of History at the University of Connecticut.