CHARACTERS ARE INSPIRED BY REAL BOYS: Bush addresses a critical contemporary issue never-before represented in fiction—the dark side of many Quaranic schools in Senegal: forced begging and child trafficking. According to a 2014 Human Rights Watch report, 54,000 children aged 5-15 live in such schools in Dakar, and more than half of them are forced to beg for ten hours a day. Bush captures the disturbing backdrop of the lives of these young boys, subjected to slave-like conditions.

BASED ON AUTHOR’S EXPERIENCE: The novel is grounded in the author’s experience living and working for four years in Dakar, where she forged bonds with the young beggars.

Keisha Bush has received writing fellowships from the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council’s Workspace Residency, the Tyrone Guthrie Centre, Moulin à Nef, the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts, Vermont Studio Center, and VONA. She received her MFA in creative writing from The New School, where she was a Riggio Honors Teaching Fellow, Eugene Lang College Teaching Assistant, and recipient of an NSPE Dean’s Scholarship. After a career in corporate finance and international development that brought her to live in Dakar, Senegal, she decided to focus full-time on her writing. She now lives in East Harlem.

Author Residence: New York, NY

Author Hometown: Boston, MA

“No Heaven for Good Boys is a compelling, devastating novel with unforgettable characters. Keisha Bush doesn’t shy away from portraying the shattered lives of the children on Dakar’s streets and the injustices that they suffer, but she does so with great compassion and empathy.”—Deepa Anappara, author of Djinn Patrol on the Purple Line 

“An extraordinary literary debut, as mesmerizing as it is heartbreaking…Bush is an amazing storyteller, by turns harrowing and tender, and no matter how difficult the journey, she never lets us lose sight of the two young cousins who are the beating hopeful loving heart of this triumphant must-read novel.”—Junot Díaz 

“You’ll root for Ibrahimah at every heart-wrenching turn as Bush explores his world and the difficult choices his family makes for the sake of honor and tradition.”—Melissa Rivero, author of The Affairs of the Falcóns 

“A transporting and beautifully written novel, No Heaven for Good Boys is a testament to the power of friendship and the tenacity of the human spirit.”—Jasmin Darznik, author of Song of a Captive Bird 

“A propulsive and captivating novel…The characters are fully realized and empathetically rendered; I was rooting for Ibrahimah and his family from page one. I’m so glad that Bush has told this story.”—Mandy Berman, author of The Learning Curve 

“A captivating story of modern-day Senegal, beautifully written, wonderfully told.”—David Updike, author of Old Girlfriends 

“A tale of resilience and survival.”—The Millions 

“[A] powerful, Dickensian debut novel…Bush is a born storyteller, who knows how to speak in the language of the boys she brings to life. They are hungry and they want love—the latter being the word most often used in this devastating, drawn-from-real-events story.”—Literary Hub