David Wright Faladé

David Wright Faladé

David Wright Falade is best known as a University of Illinois professor of English in addition to being a Cullman Center for Scholars and Writers fellow at the New York Public Library. As a creative, he is the author of several non-fiction history books, young adult fiction, and historical fiction.

During the 1950s, Wright Falade’s mother met an African American GI in Paris, and the couple moved back to the US, where they got married. In the US, Wright was brought up in the small town of Borger in Texas as the son of a Jewish woman who survived the Holocaust.

It was while he was in his twenties that David Wright Falade started dabbling in writing, even though he never thought he would make a career out of it. He would then work as a coach and player in several football teams in London and Paris before he became a creative writing teacher.

In addition to his books, Falade is the author of essays and a columnist for prestigious publications such as Newsday, The New Yorker, Southern Review, and Village Voice.

David Wright Falade’s career combines writing about fiction and real history with teaching, as he shares stories about the many untold chapters of American history.

In 2022, David Wright Falade published the work Black Cloud Rising as a historical fiction work with an 1863 setting when Union Forces controlled parts of North Carolina and Tidewater Virginia. The work tells the story of former slaves now known as the African Brigade who are part of the Union Army fighting the Confederate forces. One of the leaders is a mixed-race man named Richard Etheridge, who is looking to prove his worth but is struggling to reconcile himself with his past. As they raid southern plantations, the soldiers are fighting for dignity, family, and freedom in addition to fighting for the Union.

In 2025, David Wright Falade published the critically acclaimed work The New Internationals, set in 1947 Paris, which is struggling to recover from social upheaval and Nazi occupation. It is here that Cecile Rosenbaum, a woman who comes from a ruined Jewish family, meets a bold French-born girl named Minette Traore while on their way to a Communist Youth Conference. There, she meets a West African architecture student named Sebastien Danxome, resulting in a romance complicated by cultural divides and politics. As they have fun in the jazz clubs and cafeterias, their relationship is tested when Cecile gets the attention of an African American GI named Mack Gray.

David Wright Faladé: Lists & Other Mentions

• Black Cloud Rising was a New York Times: Best Historical Fiction Books in 2022.

Related Authors

Fans of David Wright Faladé also enjoy these authors:

1. J.K. Rowling, author of the Harry Potter Series.
2. Robert Galbraith, author of the Cormoran Strike Series.
3. Keigo Higashino, author of the Detective Galileo Series.
4. George Saunders, author of: Lincoln in the Bardo.
5. Margaret Atwood, author of The Handmaid's Tale Series.

David Wright Faladé: F.A.Q