Dexter Gabriel (born 1971), better known by hispen namePhenderson Djèlí Clark, is an Americanspeculative fiction writer and historian, who is an assistant professor in the department of history at theUniversity of Connecticut. He uses a pen name to differentiate his literary work from his academic work, and has also published under the nameA. Phenderson Clark. This pen name, "Djèlí", makes reference to thegriots – traditionalWestern African storytellers, historians and poets.

In 2022, his fantasy novelA Master of Djinn won theNebula andLocus Awards. He has also won awards for his short fiction, including theNebula,Locus andBritish Fantasy Awards for the novellaRing Shout in 2021.

Dexter Gabriel was born inNew York City in 1971, but spent most of his early years living in his parents' original home ofTrinidad and Tobago.^[1][2] At age eight, he returned to the United States and lived inStaten Island andBrooklyn before moving toHouston, when he was 12.^[3][1] Gabriel went to college atTexas State University,San Marcos, earning aB.A. and then anM.A. in history. He then earned adoctorate in history fromStony Brook University. Gabriel is currently assistant professor in the department of history at theUniversity of Connecticut.^[4]

In 2011, Gabriel began publishing short stories variously as P. Djèlí Clark, Djèlí A. Clark, Phenderson Djèlí Clark, and A. Phenderson Clark.^[2] Phenderson was his grandfather's name, while Clark was his mother's maiden name; Djèlí refers to West African storytellers, known in French as griots.^[1][5] He chose to use apen name in order to separate his academic and literary work. In 2016, Clark sold his first major work, a novelette titled "A Dead Djinn in Cairo", toTor.com.^[1]

Since then, he has published novellas, short stories, and a novel. Four of his works – "A Dead Djinn in Cairo", "The Angel of Khan el-Khalili",The Haunting of Tram Car 015 andA Master of Djinn – are set in the same world, analternate-universe Egypt. They are collectively titled theMinistry of Alchemy series^[2] or theDead Djinn Universe.^[6]

He has been announced as Guest of Honour at the 2027Eastercon^[7] and was a Guest of Honor atReadercon 2025.^[8]

• "A Dead Djinn in Cairo" (novelette),Tor.com, 2016.
• "The Angel of Khan el-Khalili" (short story),Clockwork Cairo: Steampunk Tales of Egypt, ed. Matthew Bright, Twopenny Books, 2017.
• The Haunting of Tram Car 015 (novella),Tor.com, 2019.
• A Master of Djinn (novel),Tordotcom, 2021.

• Abeni's Song (YA Novel), Starscape, 2023
• Abeni and the Kingdom of Gold (YA Novel), Starscape, 2025

• The Black God's Drums (novella),Tor.com, 2018.
• Ring Shout (novella), Tordotcom, 2020.
• The Dead Cat Tail Assassins (novella), Tordotcom, 2024.

• "The Secret Lives of the Nine Negro Teeth of George Washington" (short story),Fireside Fiction, 2018
• "If the Martians Have Magic" (short story),Uncanny Magazine, 2021.

• Jubilee’s Experiment: The British West Indies and American Abolitionism.Cambridge University Press, April 2023.^[4]

• Official site
• Official Blog
• P. Djèlí Clark at theInternet Speculative Fiction Database
• Faculty page at theUniversity of Connecticut
• A Dead Djinn in Cairo atTor.com

• University of Connecticut faculty
• Living people
• Nebula Award winners
• 21st-century American historians
• American science fiction writers
• Speculative fiction writers of African descent
• 1971 births
• Texas State University alumni
• Stony Brook University alumni
• 21st-century American male writers
• American male non-fiction writers
• Writers from New York City
• Historians from New York (state)
• 21st-century pseudonymous writers
• 21st-century American novelists
• American fantasy writers
• 21st-century American short story writers
• American people of Trinidad and Tobago descent

• Articles with short description
• Short description is different from Wikidata
• Use mdy dates from September 2021
• Articles with hCards