MEET MORENIKE MCFAAL

Morenike McFaal was born in Benin, a small country nestled on the West Coast of Africa. As a result of her father’s career as a physician with the World Health Organization (WHO), she grew up living all over the world, from Africa, to Europe, and to the Americas. She has worked for years as a Simultaneous Conference Interpreter for United-Nations agencies before embracing a new passion as a novelist. She is currently completing her Doctorate in Medicine, to become a neonatologist.

In addition to managing her dual careers, Morenike joggles multiple activities across three continents -- writing, watching movies, designing fashion, listening to music, traveling, and spending time with her family.

The story of Salou started many years back when Morenike was still a young girl living with her parents stationed in Yaoundé, Cameroon. Crouched behind the large curtains fencing the bedroom quarters from the living room, she would listen with all the attention of an 8-year-old, to the love story of a young doctor, a colleague of her father, who flew from France to his fiancée’s country in Africa, to ask her hand in marriage.

Five years ago, when she decided to write her first novel, images of this episode of her childhood resurfaced and enticed her to put down on paper this story that captivated her so much. This is how Salou and Benjamin, the main protagonists came to be, and the rest is history.

Morenike holds a Master's in Bioethics from Columbia University, as well as a Master’s in Fine Arts (M.F.A) in Fiction Writing from Wilkes University.