He then earned a doctorate in history from Stony Brook University.

Gabriel went to college at Texas State University-San Marcos, earning a B.A. At age eight, he returned to the US and lived in Staten Island and Brooklyn before moving to Houston, Texas, when he was 12. He has also won awards for his short fiction, including the Nebula, Locus and British Fantasy Awards for the novella Ring Shout in 2021.ĭexter Gabriel was born in New York City in 1971, but spent most of his early years living in his parents' original home of Trinidad and Tobago. In 2022, his fantasy novel A Master of Djinn won the Nebula and Locus Awards. His pen name 'Djèlí', makes reference to the griots – traditional Western African storytellers, historians and poets. He uses a pen name to differentiate his literary work from his academic work, and has also published under the name A. Djèlí Clark’s SFF career to new heights as the highly-anticipated debut readers are clamoring for.Dexter Gabriel (born 1971), better known by his pen name Phenderson Djèlí Clark, is an American speculative fiction writer and historian, who is an Assistant Professor in the Department of History at the University of Connecticut.

His dangerous magical abilities instigate unrest in the streets of Cairo that threaten to spill over onto the global stage.Īlongside her Ministry colleagues and a familiar person from her past, Agent Fatma must unravel the mystery behind this imposter to restore peace to the city-or face the possibility he could be exactly who he seems…Ī Master of Djinn is poised to launch P. This murderer claims to be al-Jahiz, returned to condemn the modern age for its social oppressions.

Al-Jahiz transformed the world forty years ago when he opened up the veil between the magical and mundane realms, before vanishing into the unknown. So when someone murders a secret brotherhood dedicated to one of the most famous men in history, al-Jahiz, Agent Fatma is called onto the case.

Cairo, 1912: Though Fatma el-Sha’arawi is the youngest woman working for the Ministry of Alchemy, Enchantments and Supernatural Entities, she’s certainly not a rookie, especially after preventing the destruction of the universe last summer.

A Dead Djinn in Cairo by P. Djèlí Clark