Nnedi Okorafor
| Nnedi Okorafor | |
|---|---|
Nnedi Okorafor
|
|
| Born |
April 8, 1974 Cincinnati, Ohio, United States |
| Nationality | Nigerian American |
| Alma mater | University of Illinois, Chicago (PhD) |
| Known for | Writer, professor |
| Awards |
Wole Soyinka Prize for Literature in Africa The World Fantasy Award Nebula Award for Best Novella Hugo Award for Best Novella Macmillan Writers Prize for Africa Carl Brandon Parallax Award Children’s Africana Book Award |
Nnedi Okorafor (full name: Nnedimma Nkemdili Okorafor; previously known as Nnedi Okorafor-Mbachu; born April 8, 1974) is a Nigerian-American writer of fantasy, science fiction, and speculative fiction.
The American-born daughter of Igbo Nigerian parents, she has been visiting Nigeria since she was very young. During her years attending high school, Okorafor was known for being a star athlete tennis player and dominant in science studies, regarding the academic material as an engaging hobby more than a task. Upon discovering her diagnosis of scoliosis and the consequent surgery to resolve it, Okorafor's student athletic career was ultimately impeded along with her ability to walk. It was during this time that Okorafor redefined herself, as her condition prevented her from continuing her previous athletic career, let alone being able to excel in it until after recovery. Thus, during this phase of recuperation, she spent her time writing as a hobby. Her novels and stories reflect both her West African heritage and her American life. Okorafor is a 2001 graduate of the Clarion Writers Workshop in Lansing, Michigan, and holds a PhD in English from the University of Illinois, Chicago. She is an associate professor of creative writing and literature at the University at Buffalo (SUNY) and lives between Buffalo and Olympia Fields, Illinois with her family.
Okorafor received a 2001 Hurston-Wright literary award for her story "Amphibious Green." She then published two acclaimed books for young adults, The Shadow Speaker (Hyperion/Disney Book Group) and Zahrah the Windseeker (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt). Zahrah won 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, a finalist for the Essence Magazine Literary Award, the Andre Norton Award and the Golden Duck Award and an NAACP Image Award nominee. Okorafor's children's book Long Juju Man was the 2007–08 winner of the Macmillan Writer's Prize for Africa.
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