Nnedi Okorafor

Nnedi Okorafor
Nnedi Okorafor
Born	April 8, 1974 Cincinnati, Ohio
Nationality	Nigerian American
Field	writer, professor
Influenced by	Octavia E. Butler Stephen King Ngugi wa Thiong'o Ben Okri
Awards	Wole Soyinka Prize for Literature in Africa The World Fantasy Award Macmillan Writers Prize for Africa Carl Brandon Parallax Award

Nnedi Okorafor (full name: Nnedimma Nkemdili Okorafor (also previously known as Nnedi Okorafor-Mbachu) is a Nigerian-American writer of fantasy, science fiction and speculative fiction.

Background and personal life

The American-born daughter of Igbo Nigerian parents, she has regularly visited Nigeria since she was very young. Her novels and stories reflect both her West African heritage and her American life. Okorafor holds a Ph.D. in English from the University of Illinois, Chicago. She is a professor of creative writing at Chicago State University and lives with her family in Illinois.

Works and critical reception

Okorafor received a 2001 Hurston/Wright literary award ^[1] for her story "Amphibious Green." She is the author of Who Fears Death (DAW/Penguin Books), The Shadow Speaker (Hyperion/Disney Book Group) and Zahrah the Windseeker (Houghton Mifflin). Zahrah is the winner of the Wole Soyinka Prize for Literature in Africa. It was also shortlisted for the 2005 Carl Brandon Parallax and Kindred Awards and a finalist for the Garden State Teen Book Award and the Golden Duck Award. The Shadow Speaker was a winner of the Carl Brandon Parallax Award, a Booksense Pick for Winter 2007/2008, a Tiptree Honor Book,^[2] a finalist for the Essence Magazine Literary Award, the Andre Norton Award and the Golden Duck Award and an NAACP Image Award nominee. Who Fears Death won the 2011 World Fantasy Award for Best Novel,^[3] was a 2011 Tiptree Honor Book and was nominated for the 2010 Nebula Award.^[4] Okorafor's children's book Long Juju Man is the 2007–08 winner of the Macmillan Writer’s Prize for Africa.^[5] Her short stories have been published in anthologies and magazines, including Dark Matter II, Strange Horizons, Moondance magazine and Writers of the Future Volume XVIII.

In 2009, she donated her archive to the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America (SFWA) Collection of the Department of Rare Books and Special Collections at the Northern Illinois University Library.^[6]

Bibliography

Young Adult - writing as Nnedi Okorafor-Mbachu

• Zahrah the Windseeker (2005, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt; paperback 2008, Graphia/Houghton Mifflin Harcourt)
• The Shadow Speaker (2007, Hyperion/Disney)

Young Adult - writing as Nnedi Okorafor

• Long Juju Man (2009, Macmillan)
• Akata Witch (2011, Viking/Penguin)
• Iridessa and the Secret of the Never Mine (2012, Disney Books)

Adult - writing as Nnedi Okorafor

• Who Fears Death (2010, DAW/Penguin)

References

1. ^ Hurston/Wright Award for College Writers: Recent Winners
2. ^ 2007 Tiptree Award Honor List
3. ^ "2011 WFA Winner: Who Fears Death". Worlds Without End. http://www.worldswithoutend.com/blog.asp. Retrieved 2011-10-31. 
4. ^ "2010 Award Winners". Worlds Without End. http://www.worldswithoutend.com/books_year_index.asp?year=2010. Retrieved 2011-10-31. 
5. ^ Macmillan Writer's Prize for Africa: 2007/8 Winners and Shortlist
6. ^ Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America (SFWA) Collection, Northern Illinois University

External links

• Nnedi Okorafor Home Page
• Publishers Weekly Profile: A Nigerian Sorceress Makes Her Way by Mikki Kendall
• New York Times Review of The Shadow Speaker by Donna Freitas
• Nebula Awards Guest Blog: Is Africa Ready for Science Fiction by Nnedi Okorafor
• Review of Zahrah the Windseeker by Gary K. Wolfe
• "Stephen King's Super-Duper Magical Negroes" by Okorafor-Mbachu
• "From the Lost Diary of TreeFrog7" (short story), Clarkesworld Magazine, May 2009
• Stories by Okorafor at AfricanWriter.com
• "If It Scares You, Write It: A Conversation with Nnedi Okorafor" (interview), Clarkesworld Magazine, December 2009
• Nnedi Okorafor at the Internet Speculative Fiction Database
• 2010 Audio Interview on the Geek's Guide to the Galaxy Podcast

Persondata
Name	Okorafor, Nnedi
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	April 8, 1974
Place of birth	Cincinnati, OH
Date of death
Place of death