Nnedi’s works include WHO FEARS DEATH (in development at HBO into a TV series), the BINTI novella trilogy (optioned and in development with Media Res), THE BOOK OF PHOENIX, the NSIBIDI SCRIPTS SERIES and LAGOON. She is the winner of Hugo, Nebula, World Fantasy, Locus and Lodestar Awards and her debut novel ZAHRAH THE WINDSEEKER won the prestigious Wole Soyinka Prize for Literature.
Nnedi has also written an Africanfuturist comic series LAGUARDIA (winner of the Hugo and Eisner Award); comics for Marvel, including BLACK PANTHER: LONG LIVE THE KING and WAKANDA FOREVER (featuring the Dora Milaje) and the SHURI series; and her short memoir BROKEN PLACES AND OUTER SPACES.
Nnedi holds a PhD (literature) and two MAs (journalism and literature). She lives with her daughter Anyaugo and family in Phoenix, Arizona.
"Let the reader beware that there is juju in this book."
- The Obi Library Collective, Akata Warrior
Coming Soon
Shadow Speaker
THE DESERT MAGICIAN’S DUOLOGY Book 1: SHADOW SPEAKER (@dawbooks, Sept 26, 2023).
Niger, West Africa, 2074: Deep mysticism, a new type of desert, spontaneous forests, polyandry, fast cars, the power of Gerewol (google it; you won’t be disappointed!), this novel has many lives. SHADOW SPEAKER is available for pre-order where books are sold.
The Space Cat
When Periwinkle the Space Cat is uprooted from his cushy pampered life and moves with his family to Nigeria for a year, he must navigate a new part of the Earth where humans hate cats and there may be aliens.
A graphic novel by the team that brought you the Eisner and Hugo Award-winning graphic novel LaGuardia
Written by Nnedi Okorafor
Illustrated by Tana Ford
Published by First Second Books (pub date TBA)
Coming in 2024: SHE WHO KNOWS - The Trilogy
Announcing my new novella trilogy titled SHE WHO KNOWS.
It is a “prequel” AND “sequel” to WHO FEARS DEATH, it’s Najeeba’s story (the mother of Onyesonwu from WHO FEARS DEATH). You will see her as a girl and young woman, and then in middle-age.
The name Onyesonwu means “Who fears death?”
The name Najeeba means “Intelligent”…”She who knows”
Note: I sometimes write fantasy, but I’m not a “fantasy author”, just call me Nnedi Okorafor.
Latest books
Africanfuturism is concerned with visions of the future, is interested in technology, leaves the earth, skews optimistic, is centered on and predominantly written by people of African descent (black people) and it is rooted first and foremost in Africa. It's less concerned with "what could have been" and more concerned with "what is and can/will be". It acknowledges, grapples with and carries "what has been".
Nnedi Okorafor
LIKE THUNDER is Book 2 in the Desert Magician's Duology; pub date November 28th. This novel is an intense YA read set in a future Niger and a future Nigeria, when old and familiar human flaws, vindictive living sandstorms and advanced technology happily coexist.
"An epic collision of new tech and elemental magic—suspenseful, immersive, and chillingly relevant. Another stunning feat of imagination from Nnedi Okorafor." —Leigh Bardugo, #1 New York Times bestselling author of NINTH HOUSE
Get your copies at: https://astrapublishinghouse.com/the-desert-magicians-duology-by-nnedi-okorafor/
Nnedi Okorafor #leighbardugo #fantasy #fantasybook #nnedi #africanfuturist #africanfuturism #africanjujuism
Here are some screenshots since it may be behind a paywall, it was for me (subscription or giving your information, it's all payment, imho).
And here's a quote that's not part of the screenshots: “I don’t separate the Black diaspora from the Blacks on the continent,” the writer Nnedi Okorafor told us. “I speak about Blacks, globally, collectively. For many years, that was my personal definition of the Black diaspora: every Black person on the planet.”
You can read the whole piece here: https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2023/11/16/world/africa/african-artists-ruth-carter-mr-eazi.html
