Lauren Wilkinson books

Lauren Wilkinson is an American novelist and writing teacher known for her debut novel American Spy (2019), a Cold War thriller about a Black FBI agent. She has published 2 books.
Author · Literary Fiction · Spy Thriller · Historical Fiction

Short Stories/Novellas

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A Scandal in Brooklyn 2022 Buy

Standalone Novels

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American Spy 2019 Buy

Lauren Wilkinson is an American novelist and writing teacher based in New York. She studied at Columbia University’s MFA program and has taught creative writing at Columbia and other institutions. Her writing often deals with race, identity, and the hidden side of American power.

Her debut novel, American Spy (2019), attracted wide attention for the way it combined the spy thriller genre with a story about a Black woman navigating institutional racism in the FBI during the Cold War. The novel is set in the 1980s and centers on Marie Mitchell, who is recruited to help destabilize Thomas Sankara’s government in Burkina Faso. Wilkinson also published A Scandal in Brooklyn, a novella, in 2022. American Spy was named one of the best books of 2019 by several publications and won an NAACP Image Award nomination.

Frequently Asked Questions

How many books has Lauren Wilkinson written?

Lauren Wilkinson has written two books across two series.

What was Lauren Wilkinson's first book?

Lauren Wilkinson’s first book is American Spy, published in 2019.

What is American Spy about?

American Spy follows Marie Mitchell, a Black woman working as an FBI intelligence officer in the 1980s. She is recruited to help undermine Thomas Sankara, the president of Burkina Faso, during the Cold War. The novel blends spy fiction with questions about race, loyalty, and American foreign policy in Africa.

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