Teju Cole is aย photographer,ย artย historian, and an award-winningย authorย of four books which display the wide range of his interests:ย Every Day is for the Thief (2007), a novella;ย Open Cityย (2012), a full-length novel;ย Known and Strange Thingsย (2016), a collection of essays;ย Blind Spotย (2017), a photobook.
Teju Cole, theย nom de plume of Yemi Onafuwa, was born in 1975 in Kalamazoo, Michiganย toย Nigerianย immigrant parents. The oldest of four children, shortly after his birth his mother returned with him to Nigeria while his father completed aย MBAย from Western Michigan University (WMU). Cole stayed in Nigeria until he completed high school until his parents decided to send him to his fatherโs alma mater in Kalamazoo.
Cole spent a year at WMU and then transferred to Kalamazoo College where he obtained a Bachelorโs Degree in studio art and art history in 1996. After his graduation, Cole briefly attended the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor as aย medicalย student; an endeavor he soon gave up to pursue his artistic interests. He relocated toย Englandย and enrolled in the University of London where he earned a masterโs degree in art history. Relocating again to New York City,ย New York, Cole pursued and completed a masterโs degree in 16th century Northernย Europeanย visual culture from Columbia University. Cole hasย taughtย at Bard College, Hofstra University, New York University, and Columbia University where he is currently a Ph.D. candidate.
First published with a small Nigerian publishing company, Cassava Republic Press,ย Every Day is for the Thiefย (2007) is a fictional travelogue of a Nigerian man returning to Nigeria after living in the United States for years.ย It was written while Cole was pursuing his masterโs degree at Columbia University. The success of Coleโs second book,ย Open City, led toย Every Day is for the Thiefย being reprinted by Random House.
Open Cityย (2012) is set primarily in New York City where the main character, Julius, who had just broken up with his girlfriend, takes to walking the streets of the city. Coleโs debut full-length novel earned widespread recognition and awards including being a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle, winning the Hemingway Foundation/ Pen Award, and the Windham-Campbell Literature Prize which netted the author $150,000. Theย Germanย translation of Open City by Christine Richter-Nilsson won Germanyโs International Literature Award.
Known and Strange Thingsย (2016) contains essays written for various publications includingย The New Yorker,ย Granta, and theย New York Times. Containing more than 50 separate essays on a wide range of topics (literature, history, politics, art,ย etc.),ย Known and Strange Thingsย was a finalist for both the PEN/ Diamonstein-Spielvogel Award for the Art of the Essay and PEN/ Jean Stein Book Award.
Blind Spotย (2017) contains photographs taken by Cole and displayed in a solo exhibition in Milan,ย Italy. First published by the Italian publishing company, Contrasto Books, under the titleย Punto d’ombraย in 2016, the next year the English language version was published by Random House.
Teju Cole currently lives in Brooklyn, New York with his wife, Karen, a social worker.
