Tiyambe Zeleza is a writer, Malawian historian, and literary critic born in 1955 in Salisbury, Southern Rhodesia (today Harare, Zimbabwe) to Malawian parents.
He earned his master's degree from the University of London and a PhD in economic history from Dalhousie University in Nova Scotia. Zeleza has since established a career as a leading historian of Malawi history and African economics. His book, A Modern Economic History of Africa and Manufacturing African Studies and Crises, won the prestigious Noma Award in 1994.
He is the author of two collections of short stories, Night of Darkness and Other Stories (1976) and The Joys of Exile: Stories (1994) and the novel Smouldering Charcoal (1992). He currently works at Case Western Reserve University as their North Star Distinguished Professor and Associate Provost in Cleveland, Ohio, US.