The Paradox of African Writing and AI
The Atlantic · Essay
A continuing record
Latest Work
Recent writing, conversations, and appearances, followed by an archive of earlier work.
162 entries
Chigozie Obioma + Tope Folarin
Georgetown University · Copley Formal Lounge · Conversation
Hernan Diaz + Tope Folarin
Politics and Prose (Union Market) · Washington, DC · Conversation
804 Lit Salon
804 Lit Salon · Washington, DC · Reading
Susan Coll + Tope Folarin
Politics and Prose · Conversation
Richard J. Powell + Tope Folarin
Politics and Prose (Union Market) · Conversation
Metamodern Fiction
What Is Metamodern? · Conversation
A Novel About the Benefits—And Costs—Of Being a Rebel
The Atlantic · Essay
Robin Broad, John Cavanagh + Tope Folarin
Politics and Prose · Conversation
Miguel Ángel Hernández + Tope Folarin
Politics and Prose · Conversation
How Tope Folarin Makes Money Writing
How I Make Money Writing · Conversation
Nora Lange + Tope Folarin
Politics and Prose · Conversation
The Inner Loop Reading Series (Featured Reader)
Shaw’s Tavern (DC) · Talk
The Role of Art in Shifting Political Landscapes
AWP (Baltimore) · Panel
Split Lip Magazine Reading
AWP Offsite · Baltimore Unity Hall · Talk
Karl Ove Knausgaard + Tope Folarin
Politics and Prose · Conversation
on On Becoming a Guinea Fowl, directed by Rungano Nyoni
The Georgia Review · Essay
David Means + Tope Folarin
PEN/Malamud Award · American University · Conversation
Oyinkan Braithwaite + Tope Folarin
Politics and Prose (Union Market) · Conversation
Mukoma wa Ngugi + Novuyo Rosa Tshuma + Helon Habila + Tope Folarin
Georgetown University · Conversation
Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o Tribute Evening
When Scarcity Blurs the Line Between Right and Wrong
The Atlantic · Essay
Visiting Fellow
Georgetown University in Qatar · Fellowship
The Best Books of 2025 (So Far)
Vulture · Recommendations
Gbenga Adesina + Tope Folarin
Creative Grounds · Conversation
Rabih Alameddine + Tope Folarin
Georgetown University · Conversation
Rabih Alameddine + Tope Folarin
Baltimore Book Festival · Conversation
Art on Borrowed Time
The Georgia Review · Essay
The Best Books of 2025 (So Far)
Vulture · Recommendations
Is this book a breakup memoir? A murder mystery? Both?
The Washington Post · Essay
A Novelist’s Cure for the Loneliness Epidemic
The Atlantic · Essay
God-Like Confidence: Donald Trump’s Cult of Faith
The Drift · Essay
on My Lesbian Novel by Renee Gladman
The Georgia Review · Essay
Miguel Ángel Hernández + Tope Folarin
Lost City Books · Conversation
Patricia Coral + Majda Gama + Varun Gauri + Tope Folarin
Politics and Prose (Union Market) · Conversation
Identity and Belonging in Literature
The Best Books of 2025 (So Far)
Vulture · Recommendations
Blackbird Poetry Festival
Howard County Community College · Conversation
Arts & Culture Collective Spring Series
Residences at Vantage Point · Talk
The Best Books of 2025 (So Far)
Vulture · Recommendations
The Art of Storytelling
John Carroll Weekend (Philadelphia) · Panel
on Black Meme: A History of the Images that Make Us by Legacy Russell
The Georgia Review · Essay
Conversations are the new unit of culture
One Thing (Substack) · Conversation
Faculty Leader for Medical Humanities Program
Georgetown University Medical School (Virtual) · Teach
Publish Now! A One-Day Conference
The Writer’s Center · Talk
Metamodernism and Autofiction: A Discussion with Novelist Tope Folarin
What is Metamodern · Talk
Black Literary Festival: Ink & Impact
Georgetown University Qatar · Talk
How to Survive in the Book Criticism Landscape
National Book Critics Circle (Virtual) · Talk
On Autofiction and Black Self Expression
New Directions in Writing Program · Talk
‘Dawn’s Early Light’: Kevin Roberts’ vision for America is a dark rejection of pluralism
The Emancipator · Essay
The City Was All I Had
Places · Essay
In Search of a Faith Beyond Religion
The Atlantic · Essay
Delaware Seashore Writers Retreat
Lewes, Delaware · Prose Workshop Leader
Anne Newman Weeks Poetry Series
Westminster College · Talk
Nora Lange + Tope Folarin
Kramers · Conversation
Entitlement Is Not an Identity. It’s a Trap.
The Atlantic · Essay
Shehan Karunatilaka + Tope Folarin
Georgetown University · Conversation
Monica Youn + Tope Folarin
Rhodes Trust · Conversation
The Green Way Reading Series
People’s Book (Takoma Park) · Talk
Empathetic Leadership
Build Your Own Business Philosophy Podcast Series · Podcast
Charlottesville Reading Series
New Dominion Bookshop (Charlottesville, Virginia) · Talk
Diana Rojas + Tope Folarin
Politics and Prose (Union Market) · Conversation
A Family Story About Colonialism and its Aftereffects
The Atlantic · Essay
Vinson Cunningham’s Searching Novel of Faith and Politics
The Nation · Essay
Exploring Intersections Between Performing Arts and Public Policy
Busboys and Poets (Takoma Park) · Talk
The Best Books of 2024 (So Far)
Vulture · Recommendations
The Best Books of 2024 (So Far)
Vulture · Recommendations
Henry Louis Gates Jr. Unpacks Black Literature's 'Black Box'
The New York Times · Essay
Ridenhour Prizes
Watergate Hotel (D.C.) · Emcee
Writing about Yourself Isn’t Inherently Selfish
The Atlantic · Essay
How Book Reviewing is Changing and Why it Matters
AWP (Kansas City) · Talk
Panel and Conversation on “Do the Right Thing,” Directed by Spike Lee
Avalon Theater · Talk
Tope Folarin, Black Becomings
The New Africa Diasporas Podcast · Podcast
Introduction of Edwidge Danticat at Pen/Malamud Awards
American University · Talk
A Redacted Past Slowly Emerges
The Atlantic · Essay
The years-long search for an enslaved author’s true identity
The Washington Post · Essay
Teju Cole and the Forking Paths of Autofiction
The Nation · Essay
Leila Aboulela + Tope Folarin
Georgetown University · Conversation
The Best Books of 2023 (So Far)
Vulture · Recommendations
Itoro Bassey + Tope Folarin
Kramers · Conversation
Bauder Lecture: Nadia Owusu
Howard County Community College · Conversation
Duality’s Holding Place: Interview with Tope Folarin
Napkin Poetry Review · Conversation
The Best Books of 2023 (So Far)
Vulture · Recommendations
Colson Whitehead Loses the Plot
The Atlantic · Essay
The Best Books of 2023 (So Far)
Vulture · Recommendations
FOMCL Keynote Speech
Wheaton Library · Talk
Chuck Collins + Tope Folarin
Institute for Policy Studies · Conversation
Stephen Buoro + Tope Folarin
Politics and Prose · Conversation
Conversation with Dennis Lehane, Angie Kim, Lou Bayard, David Aldridge, and Torie Clarke
Chatter on Books · Podcast
The Best Books of 2023 (So Far)
Vulture · Recommendations
Alex Mar + Tope Folarin
Politics and Prose · Conversation
In This Novel, the Dead Are Never Far Away
The Atlantic · Essay
Lannan Symposium
Georgetown University · Conversation
Bisi Adjapon + Tope Folarin
Busboys and Poets · Conversation
How the Arts Help us Confront the World’s Greatest Crises
Rhodes Trust · Conversation
Who is African?
Litnet (Virtual) · Talk
Artist Talk
Dumbarton Oaks · Talk
The Best Books of 2022 (So Far)
Vulture · Recommendations
A World Where Death Isn’t the End
The Atlantic · Essay
Anna Badkhen + Tope Folarin
Politics and Prose · Conversation
Are You Done Yet? On the Art of Revising
F. Scott Fitzgerald Literary Festival · Workshop/Talk
Chinelo Okparanta + Tope Folarin
Loyalty Bookstore · Conversation
Family Through A Literary Lens
The Writer’s Center · Workshop/Talk
Utah Humanities Book Festival
Salt Lake City, Ogden · Talk
Abdulrazak Gurnah + Tope Folarin
Sixth and I · Conversation
Alice McDermott + Tope Folarin (Ulysses Symposium)
Georgetown University · Talk
The Best Books of 2022 (So Far)
Vulture · Recommendations
Past Pain, Future Hope: Perseverance in Literature with Tomás Q. Morín and Morgan Talty
National Book Festival · Conversation
The Best Books of 2022 (So Far)
Vulture · Recommendations
An Opportunity to Act
The Drift · Essay
Writer or Black Writer?: On Craft and Racial Consciousness
D.C. Public Library · Talk
The Ambitious and Overstuffed World of Hanya Yanagihara
The Nation · Essay
Anthony Barnett + Tope Folarin
Greenlight Books (virtual) · Conversation
NoViolet Bulawayo + Tope Folarin
Howard County Library (virtual) · Conversation
Oprah Winfrey Introduction/PEN Faulkner Awards
PEN/Faulkner Foundation · Talk
W.E.B. DuBois Men’s Conference
George Mason University · Talk
Person/a: Mysteries of the "Self" in Poetry & Autofiction
Barrelhouse (virtual) · Talk
The Existential Turn: A Symposium
Duke University · Talk
Lannan Symposium
Georgetown University · Talk
Roads Less Travelled
Rhodes Trust · Podcast
Literary, Identity + Being a Creative
Black + Raww Podcast · Podcast
The Quake
Kulturaustausch · Essay
Most Anticipated Books of 2022
Vulture · Recommendations
The Empty Chair
PEN South Africa · Podcast
Special Event: Tope Folarin Reading
Georgetown University · Talk
The Lives of Writers
Autofocus · Podcast
Conversation with Marita Golden
Institute for Policy Studies · Conversation
Big Brother
The Continental Literary Magazine · Essay
Living in Two Worlds
2 Pages with MBS · Podcast
Contest to Book Deal
The Inner Loop · Podcast
Utah Humanities Book Festival
St. George, Cedar City, Ephraim, Park City, Salt Lake City · Talk
George Mason Visiting Writers Series
George Mason University (virtual) · Talk
40 Books We Can’t Wait to Read This Fall
Vulture · Recommendations
Always Call Yourself a Writer
The Republic · Conversation
Nadia Owusu + Tope Folarin
Greenlight Books (virtual) · Conversation
Is There Really Freedom in the Outdoors?
High Country News · Essay
Split Infinitive: Four Writers on Star Trek
The Writer’s Center (virtual) · Talk
Answer, July
The Inner Loop (virtual) · Talk
Masters of Reality
The Baffler · Essay
On Autofiction and its Whiteness
Autofocus · Podcast
Conversation with John Feffer
Haymarket Books (Virtual) · Conversation
35 Books We Can’t Wait to Read This Summer
Vulture · Recommendations
The Future is HBCU
OzyFest (virtual) · Talk
Maine Humanities Council Readers Retreat
Maine Humanities Council (virtual) · Keynote
Chatter on Books
Chatter on Books · Podcast
Pass the Peas
The Root · Podcast
Whiting Award Ceremony
Whiting Awards (virtual) · Reading
Bauder Lecture: Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenya
Howard Community College (virtual) · Conversation
Meet the Author: Tope Folarin
Weber County Library (virtual) · Talk
Literary Conversations: Intersections
Pen/Faulkner Foundation (virtual) · Talk
Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Speaker Series
UCLA (virtual) · Talk
46 Books We Can’t Wait to Read in 2021
Vulture · Recommendations
Can a Black Novelist Write Autofiction?
The New Republic · Essay
If We Want a Vital, Creative Society, We Need Universal Dental Care, Too
The Washington Post · Essay
Wrestling With Prejudice in Three Debut Novels
The New York Times Book Review · Essay
Tope Folarin on the Misguided Urge to Carve the World Into Binaries
Literary Hub · Essay
Donald Trump: Eight Months On
BBC Radio · Focus on Africa · Essay
An Architect of Dreams: On Ngugi wa Thiong’o’s “Devil on the Cross”
Los Angeles Review of Books · Essay
The First National Museum of African American History
BBC Radio · Essay
Against Accessibility: On Robert Irwin, Chinua Achebe, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, and Imbolo Mbue’s “Behold the Dreamers”
Los Angeles Review of Books · Essay
Genesis
BBC Radio · Essay
Oscar Diversity and Fiction in Times of Crisis
BBC Radio · Essay
To Be Where We Are
Transition Magazine · Essay
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