Nnedi Okorafor

Nnedi Okorafor, born in Cincinnati in 1974 to Nigerian parents, is an author of prose for children and adults. She specializes in science fiction, fantasy, and magical realism with an Afrofuturist twist. She studied rhetoric and journalism and earned a PhD in literature from the University of Illinois. She has served as Associate Professor of Literature at the University of Buffalo and Chicago State University and has been Professor of Practice for the Department of Earth and Science at Arizona State University since 2021.

Okorafor’s career as a writer began with the young adult novel, »Zahrah the Windseeker« [2005], a fantasy story about a teenage girl steeped in Nigerian myths, for which she received the 2008 Pan-African Wole Soyinka Prize for Literature. »Who Fears Death« [2010], a debut for adults and the first novel to be translated into German, is set in a post-apocalyptic racist future. Once again, a strong, female protagonist leads the story – the girl Onyesonwu wants revenge for the rape of her mother – a story soaked in a mixture of fantasy and African folklore. This was followed by »The Book of Phoenix« [2015] and »Lagoon« [2016], in which the author remains true to her feminist style and the African setting while tackling new topics: genetic experiments, alien attacks, and the threat of nuclear weapons. »Binti: The Complete Trilogy« [2018], tells the story of the first Himba to ever be accepted to the University of the Galaxy and who has to give up her life with her family to do so. »Okorafor tells the old story of encounters with strangers, the misunderstandings that lead to deadly conflicts, in a refreshing new way – Binti’s balancing act between preserving her own identity and openness to the foreign makes this protagonist a special voice in science fiction«, according to the »Börsenblatt«.

Okorafor has been honored with numerous awards, including Hugo, World Fantasy, Locus, and Lodestar. She was nominated for the Eisner Award for her comic series »LaGuardia« and received the Nebula Award for »Binti« in 2015. »Who Fears Death« is currently being adapted by HBO as a TV series. Her next novel, »Death of the Author«, will be published in 2025.

The author lives in Phoenix, Arizona

Status: July 2024

Lagune
Cross Cult
Ludwigsburg, 2016
[Ü: Claudia Kern]

Wer fürchtet den Tod
Cross Cult
Ludwigsburg, 2017
[Ü: Claudia Kern]

Das Buch des Phönix
Cross Cult
Ludwigsburg, 2017
[Ü: Claudia Kern]

Binti: Allein, Heimat Nachtmaskerade
Cross Cult
Ludwigsburg, 2018
[Ü: Claudia Kern]