Sefi Atta was born in Lagos, Nigeria, in 1964. She is the author of Everything Good Will Come, Swallow, News from Home, A Bit of Difference and The Bead Collector. Atta has received several literary awards, including the 2006 Wole Soyinka Prize for Literature in Africa and the 2009 Noma Award for Publishing in Africa. Her radio plays have been broadcast by the BBC and her stage plays have been performed internationally. She divides her time between the United States, England and Nigeria.