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.

Contents

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

Young Adult - writing as Nnedi Okorafor

Adult - writing as Nnedi Okorafor

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