Nafissa Thompson-Spires author biography, plus links to books by Nafissa Thompson-Spires.

Nafissa Thompson-Spires

Nafissa Thompson-Spires is the author of the award-winning, National Book Awardlonglisted short story collection, Heads of the Colored People. She earned a doctorate in English from ­­­­Vanderbilt University and a Master of Fine Arts in creative writing from ­­­­­­the University of Illinois. Her short fiction and essays have appeared in The Paris Review Daily, New York magazine's "The Cut," The Root, The White Review, Ploughshares, 400 Souls: A Community History of African America 1619–2019, and The 1619 Project, among other publications. In addition to a debut novel, The Four Wives and Five Deaths of Rich Milford, her young adult debut is forthcoming. She is the recipient of a 2024 United States Artists Grant and a 2019 Whiting Award.

This biography was last updated on 10/13/2026.

The above represents the biographical information provided by the publisher for the most recent book by this author that BookBrowse has covered. As such, it is likely a brief snapshot in time. If you are looking for a more expansive biography, you may wish to do an internet search for the author's website or social media presence. If you are the author or publisher and would like us to update this biography, send the complete text and we will replace the old with the new.