Available to book
Teju Cole
Book Teju Cole, award-winning novelist, cultural critic, and visual storyteller. Teju helps organisations explore storytelling, cross-cultural leadership, and creative thinking through literature and photography. PEN/Hemingway Award winner, praised by Salman Rushdie, featured in TIME's essential reading lists.
Teju Cole is a novelist, critic, and photographer whose work explores the intersection of memory, place, and perception across cultures and borders. Born in the United States and raised in Nigeria, Teju has written four acclaimed books, including Tremor, named to TIME's 10 Best Nonfiction Books and 100 Must-Read Books of 2023. His novel Open City won the PEN/Hemingway Award, and Every Day Is for the Thief was named a Book of the Year by The New York Times. Salman Rushdie has called him "among the most gifted writers of his generation." T
eju's cross-cultural perspective and practice across multiple art forms give him a rare ability to illuminate how we see the world and what we overlook. His writing and photography demonstrate how close attention to everyday life can reveal hidden structures of power, history, and beauty. Audiences benefit from his capacity to connect personal narrative with broader social and political currents in ways that feel immediate and grounded.
From Teju's sessions, audiences gain a deeper understanding of how storytelling shapes identity, practical frameworks for observing the world with greater nuance, and renewed confidence that art and literature remain vital tools for making sense of complexity. Book Teju Cole to bring intellectual rigour and creative vision to any stage where ideas matter.
Teju Cole brings the intellectual depth of a PEN/Hemingway winner with a cross-cultural lens that helps leadership teams reframe how they read complexity and narrative in global markets. His work on perception and overlooked structures translates directly into sharper strategic thinking and cultural fluency for organizations navigating ambiguity.
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frequently asked questions
Something we've not covered here?
Email teju.cole@getapeptalk.com or call PepTalk on +44 20 3835 2929 (UK) or +1 737 888 5112 (US), and one of our speaker agents will contact you within hours to confirm Teju's availability and fees. If you can, please include your budget upfront – it helps us fast-track your request. It’s also helpful to know the date, format (virtual or in-person), location, and a bit about your audience.
No. PepTalk adds no booking fee, so you pay the speaker's fee and nothing beyond it. The service, from shortlist through to contracts and event-day logistics, is included. For repeat or multi-event bookings, PepTalk can agree preferential rates with your procurement team.
Share your event date, audience, format, objectives and budget, and PepTalk sends a hand-picked shortlist within 24 hours. Each suggestion comes with a profile, a fee and a recommendation on the strongest fit. Once you choose, PepTalk handles contracts, travel and logistics through to event day.
The typical fee range is the speaker's standard in-person fee in their home market, shown in their local currency. It moves with format, location, date and session length: virtual sessions and shorter slots usually cost less, while international travel and peak dates cost more. Send your brief to PepTalk and the team will confirm the exact fee in your currency.
Not all of them, and it makes no difference to your booking. PepTalk's network of 15,000+ speakers covers talent the team works with directly alongside speakers represented by agents and agencies worldwide. PepTalk approaches the speaker, negotiates the fee and handles contracting either way.
Three to six months ahead is comfortable for most events, and 12 months is better for large conferences, peak-season dates or one specific in-demand speaker. Shorter timelines are workable, and PepTalk regularly fills last-minute and replacement bookings within days. Availability is the constraint, so get in touch as soon as you have a date.
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