Black Girl from Pyongyang: In Search of My Identity

In 1979, aged only seven, Monica Macias was transplanted from West Africa to the unfamiliar surroundings of North Korea. She was sent by her father Francisco, the first president of post-Independence Equatorial Guinea, to be educated under the guardianship of his ally, Kim Il Sung. Within months, her father was executed in a military coup; her mother became unreachable. Effectively orphaned, she and two siblings had to make their life in Pyongyang. At military boarding school, Monica learned to mix with older children, speak fluent Korean and handle weapons on training exercises. After university, she went in search of her roots, passing through Beijing, Seoul, Madrid, Guinea, New York and finally London
forced at every step to reckon with damning perceptions of her adoptive homeland. Optimistic yet unflinching, Monica’s astonishing and unique story challenges us to see the world through different eyes. AUTHOR: Monica Macias is the daughter of Francisco Macias, the first president of Equatorial Guinea following its independence from colonial Spanish rule. She has lived in several countries around the world and now resides in south London. Black Girl from Pyongyang is her first book to be published in English, and she will be the subject of a forthcoming documentary film.