I attended an event called "We The City" in Vancouver last year where Teju Cole gave a talk. He was, in my opinion, a far more interesting speaker than the others. He's what I suppose I would refer to as a pragmatic artist, he's extremely knowledgeable, yet humble and composed, which somewhat contrasted with the other artists present who, while sorta nice, felt pretty shallow. I've read some of his essays from "Known and Strange Things" and I would highly recommend them, they're genuinely insightful.
This guy is excellent. I recommend his first novel, "We the City," and you might also want to check out a literary form he renamed and whose revival he spearheaded, "small fates."