Alecia McKenzie is a writer and journalist currently based in Paris. Her first book, Satellite City, and her novel Sweetheart have both won Commonwealth literary awards, and she was shortlisted for the Commonwealth Short Story Prize in 2015. Her other books are Stories From Yard, When the Rain Stopped in Natland, and Doctor’s Orders. Her early articles appeared in various international publications such as The Wall Street Journal/Europe and the former International Herald Tribune, and she has written for news agencies and magazines such as New African. She is the founder of Southern World Arts News (SWAN), a culture site about artists whose work contributes to improving lives globally.