Great African Reads discussion

Greetings.

Just wanted to let you all know that my novel Who Fears Death was just released. It is a unique type of African novel being a mix of traditional African literature, science fiction and fantasy. So far, it's garnered wonderful praise from Publishers Weekly, Egyptian author Nawal El Saadawi, American author Peter Straub, Nigerian Chris Abani, Nigerian film director Tchidi Chikere and many more.

Below is an essay I wrote about how I conceived the idea for the book. It was originally posted on the Penguin Books Blog.

Read reviews and learn more about he book on its website here: http://nnedi.com/who_fears_death.html

Hope you guys check out the book.


The Tigritude of a Story, by Nnedi Okorafor
Thu, 06/10/2010
http://us.penguingroup.com/static/htm...

My mother, my sister Ifeoma and my brother Emezie flew with my father's body back to Nigeria for his burial. When they returned, I learned through my siblings about the way widows were treated within Igbo custom, even the ones with PhDs...like my mother. I was again infuriated. And I was reminded yet again of why I was a feminist.

A year later, I went to Nigeria for the one-year memorial where I met my cousin Chinyere's fiancé Chidi. His last name was Onyesonwu. I was intrigued. I knew "onye" meant "who" and "onwu" meant death. I wondered if it was an ogbanje name (these names often have the word "death" in them). I'd always been interested in the concept of the ogbanje. Amongst the Igbos, back in the day, girls who were believed to be ogbanjes were often circumcised (a.k.a. genital mutilated) as a way to cure their evil ogbanje tendencies.

I asked my cousin's fiancé what his name meant (I thought it would be rude to ask if it was an ogbanje name. Plus it was his last name, not his first.). He said it meant, "Who fears death." That night, I changed my character's name and the title of the story. When I did that, it was as if the novel snapped into focus.

During that trip, I touched my father's grave. I heard stories about the Biafran War and arguments about how what happened during this civil war was indeed the genocide of the Igbo people. I saw death on the highway and thanked the Powers That Be that my daughter (who was some months over one year old) was asleep. I got to watch the women in my father's village sing all night in remembrance of my father. My maternal grandmother, mother, daughter and I were all in the same room at the same time—four generations. My sister Ngozi and I visited the lagoon that seemed so huge when we were kids but was really quite small. It was populated by hundreds and hundreds of colorful butterflies.

I wrote, conceived and incubated parts of Who Fears Death while in my father's village, sometimes scribbling notes while sitting in the shade on the steps outside or by flashlight when the lights went out. I wrote notes on the plane ride home, too. When I think back to those times, I was in such a strange state of mind. My default demeanor is happy. I think during those times I was as close to sad as I could get.

When I got back to the States, I kept right on writing. Who Fears Death was a tidal wave and hurricane combined. It consumed all of my creativity and sucked in all the issues I was dealing with and dwelling on. It mixed with my rage and grief and my natural furious optimism. Yet when it came to writing the story, I was more the recorder than the writer. I never knew what was going to happen until my character told me and my hands typed it. When I finished Who Fears Death, it was seven hundred pages long. A Book 1 and a Book 2. Don Maass (my agent) felt this size was too great and suggested that I pare it down. This process took me another two years.

One of my favorite quotes is from one of my greatest idols, Nigeria's great writer and Nobel Laureate Wole Soyinka: "A tiger does not proclaim its tigritude. It pounces." This tiger of a story definitely pounced on me without proclamation or warning. I'm glad I was ready for it.

I loved this book when I read the promo copy. Thanks for sharing the process with us a little.

Will look out for your new book, Nnedi. I have just finished reading Zahrah the Windseeker and enjoyed it a lot - and I am not a teenager! But having been in forests in Nigeria, I can appreciate some of the environments you were describing, even if they had many fantasy elements in them.

Nnedi-- would you mind if I cross post this under "recognition and accolades"?

@Andrea, thanks. :-D! i was just glad to have a platform to explain the book a bit. Who Fears Death drew from so much.

@Nina, your comments made me smile. indeed i DID draw from some of my experiences of being in Nigerian forests for Zahrah!

@Marieke, nope, wouldn't mind at all. thanks!

Nnedi -

I have your book and my reading buddy will be reading shortly. We are both waiting for work to calm down a little for us so we can savor the pleasure.
I am so excited about reading Who Fears Death and have anticipated its publication for some time.

I love this book...words cannot describe how much I loved reading this book. It was captivating and fascinating from the first page. I did not want it to end and I hope there will be a sequel. All I can say is Thank You, Nnedi for writing this book with wonderful strong female characters..thank you so much.

Karen wrote: "I love this book...words cannot describe how much I loved reading this book. It was captivating and fascinating from the first page. I did not want it to end and I hope there will be a sequel. All ..."

Your endorsement makes me want to read it next -- I placed it in my July queue.