She earned a Bachelor of Arts in English at Stanford University, and a Master of Fine Arts from the Iowa Writers' Workshop, a creative writing program at the University of Iowa. At the age of 17, while attending Grissom High School, Gyasi was inspired after reading Toni Morrison's Song of Solomon to pursue writing as a career. She was encouraged by receiving a certificate of achievement signed by LeVar Burton for the first story she wrote, which she had submitted to the Reading Rainbow Young Writers and Illustrators Contest. Gyasi recalls being shy as a child, feeling close to her brothers for their shared experiences as young immigrant children in Alabama, and turning to books as her 'closest friends'. The family also lived in Illinois and Tennessee, and from the age of 10, Gyasi was raised in Huntsville, Alabama.

Her family moved to the United States in 1991 when her father was completing his Ph.D. Early life and education īorn in Mampong, Ghana, she is the daughter of Kwaku Gyasi, a professor of French at the University of Alabama in Huntsville, and Sophia, who is a nurse. She was awarded a Vilcek Prize for Creative Promise in Literature in 2020. Her debut novel Homegoing, published in 2016, won her, at the age of 26, the National Book Critics Circle's John Leonard Award for best first book, the PEN/Hemingway Award for a first book of fiction, the National Book Foundation's ' 5 under 35' honors for 2016 and the American Book Award. Yaa Gyasi (born 1989) is a Ghanaian-American novelist.

2020 Vilcek Prize for Creative Promise in Literature.

National Book Foundation's ' 5 under 35'.

National Book Critics Circle's John Leonard Award.

Yaa gyasi book