Marie N’Diaye was born in Pithiviers, France in 1967. Born to a French mother and Senegalese father, N’Diaye studied linguistics at the Sorbonne and started writing when she was thirteen.  She was just eighteen when her first novel, Quant au riche avenir, was published by the highly esteemed éditions de Minuit. Legend has it that immediately after reading her manuscript, Jérôme Lindon, the heroic publisher of Minuit, went straight to Marie N’Diaye’s high school to wait for her at the door with a book contract in hand. N’Diaye’s impressive debut was heard throughout the French literary scene. 

Marie N’Diaye has since dedicated herself to writing and built one of the most singular yet powerful oeuvres of contemporary French literature. In 2001, she was awarded the prestigious Prix Femina literary prize for her novel Rosie Carpe (Bison Books, 2004), and in 2009, she was awarded the Prix Goncourt for Three Strong Women (Knopf, 2012). The latter was an International Booker Prize finalist. Marie N’Diaye has also published Self-portrait in Green (Two Lines Press, 2014) and All My Friends (Two Lines Press, 2013).