Lesley Lokko currently serves as Director and Professor of Architecture of the Graduate School of Architecture, University of Johannesburg. An architect, academic, and novelist, her work engages with the intersections of identity, race, African urbanism, and the speculative nature of African architectural space. She is the editor of White Papers, Black Marks: Race, Culture, Architecture (University of Minnesota Press, 2000) and eleven best-selling novels. She serves frequently on international juries and is a BBC World contributor for Africa. In December 2019 Lokko will assume the role of Dean of the Bernard and Anne Spitzer School of Architecture at The City College of New York.