Dr. Frieda Ekotto is an intellectual historian and philosopher who specializes in 20th and 21st-century Anglophone and Francophone literature as well as the cinema of West Africa and its diaspora. She is the Lorna Goodison Collegiate Professor of Afroamerican and African Studies, Comparative Literature, and Francophone Studies at the University of Michigan. Frieda has authored numerous books, chapters, and articles in prestigious literary journals. She is currently working on LGBTQ+ issues, with an emphasis on sub-Saharan African cultures—within Africa as well as in Europe and the Americas. In addition to her academic work, she is also a creative writer.

Frieda’s many awards and accolades include the Nicolás Guillén Prize for Philosophical Literature in 2014, the Benezet Award for excellence in her field in 2015, and an honorary degree from Colorado College in 2018. As part of ongoing research on the images and cultural production of sub-Saharan African women, Frieda has produced two documentaries: Vibrancy of Silence: A Discussion with My Sisters (2017) and Zurura Zurura: A Smile Blooms(2021). She served as president of the Modern Languages Association in 2023-2024 and was the commencement speaker at Colorado College in May 2024.