His mother is a white Jewish woman who survived the Nazi occupation of Paris.

His mother was a member of the French Communist Party; she immigrated to the US in the 1950s as the GI bride of an African-American soldier.

He also studied at the École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales.

Before he started teaching creative writing, he was a player/coach on various American football teams in Paris and London.

[2] He has also published under the name "David Wright Faladé," in honor of his biological father, Max Faladé, from Porto-Novo in Benin, the grandson of Béhanzin, the last King of Dahomey.