Alain Mabanckou is a Congolese-French writer, poet, and academic, born in 1966 in Congo-Brazzaville. He is known for his novels, essays, and poetry, often exploring themes of African identity, diaspora, and postcolonial experience, particularly within the context of France. Mabanckou currently resides in Los Angeles, where he is a professor of French and Francophone studies at UCLA.