Alain Mabanckou is a Franco-Congolese author and Professor of French and Francophone Studies at the University of California, Los Angeles. His novels include Blue White Red, African Psycho, Broken Glass, Memoirs of a Porcupine, Black Bazaar, Tomorrow I'll Be Twenty, and The Lights of Pointe-Noire. He is the recipient of numerous literary prizes such as the Grand Prix Littéraire de l'Afrique noire, Prix Renaudot, Prix Georges Brassens, and the Grand Prix de Littérature Henri Gal from the Académie Française for his life's work.Bill Johnston's most recent translations include Adam Mickiewicz's epic poem Pan Tadeusz and Julia Fiedorczuk's Oxygen from the Polish, as well as Jeanne Benameur's The Child Who from the French. He has received numerous awards for his work, including the PEN Translation Prize, the Best Translated Book Award, and the Found in Translation Prize. He teaches literary translation at Indiana University.

"Nearly twenty years removed from its French publication, Mabanckou's aptitude for characterization and his unflinching glimpse of plight echo within every movement of Vercingetorix. With The Negro Grandsons of Vercingetorix, Mabanckou stresses that even as violence is an accomplice to life, perseverance is synonymous."—World Literature Today