Véronique Tadjo is Visiting Professor at the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg, South Africa, where she was Head of French and Francophone Studies from 2007 to 2015. She was born in Paris and grew up in Abidjan, Côte d'Ivoire. She holds a PhD in Black American Literature and Civilization from the Sorbonne Paris IV, France. She was awarded a Fulbright scholarship to Howard University in Washington, D.C. She was a lecturer at Abidjan University and Lagos University. She is an award-winning fiction writer, a poet and author of books for young people. She has travelled extensively in Africa, Europe and America. She now shares her time between London and Abidjan.