Ta-Nehisi Coates

Ta-Nehisi Coates is an American writer and journalist. He was born in Baltimore in 1975 and is regarded as one of the most important intellectuals in the US.

In 2014, his essay ‘The Case for Reparations’ sparked a major public debate on the issue of slavery. In 2015, he published his book *Between the World and Me*, which won the 2015 National Book Award and stood out as one of the best-selling books of recent years in America.

In his collection of essays, *We Were Eight Years in Power: An American Tragedy*, published in 2018, Coates chronicles Obama’s campaign for the presidency, its aftermath, and the election of Donald Trump.

Coates writes regularly for The Atlantic, primarily on issues affecting African Americans, covering politics, society, as well as issues of structural racism and ‘white supremacy’. The Water Dancer (Ikaros, 2021) is his first novel.
He lives in New York with his family.