Eden Appiah-Kubi

Eden Appiah-Kubi writes contemporary novels shaped by classic literature, campus life, friendship, and the search for belonging. Born in Washington, D.C., and raised in Maryland, she later returned to the state with her family. Her debut, The Bennet Women, was published by Montlake in 2021 as a modern response to Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice. The story centers on EJ Black, an engineering student at fictional Longbourn University, and her friends Jamie and Tessa, who share a cooperative house called Bennet House. New relationships bring photographer Lee Gregory and his reserved friend Will Darcy into their circle, while the Austen framework is adapted to a diverse present-day college community. Appiah-Kubi uses friendships, misunderstandings, and romantic expectations to ask who receives welcome and who has to create it. The Bennet Women establishes the Austen-inspired approach that also informs her later novel Her Own Happiness, while retaining a voice grounded in Black identity, queer community, and the practical pressures of student life.