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Nigerian-American Nnedi Okoroafor’s science fiction charts new territory for the reader. With inspiration from the like of Octavia Butler, Ngugi wa’ Thiongo and Hayao Miyazaki, the author’s stories are strong and brave.
A PhD holder in English from University of Illinois, Chicago and Professor of Creative Writing at Chicago State University, Nnedi wrote her first official story 16 years ago as a patient sitting in a hospital bed and, since then, her career as a writer blossoms. Okorafor is a 2001 graduate of the Clarion Writers Workshop in Lansing, Michigan, Chicago. She is an associate professor of creative writing and literature at the University at Buffalo (SUNY) and lives between Buffalo and Illinois with her family. Among her prizes are the Wole Soyinka Prize for Literature in Africa and the Macmillan Prize for Africa.
In this interview with Literary Review in Abeokuta, Ogun State, Nigeria, Okorafor, the writer, who loves to see the world in a magical way, believes that there is no invention without a story. She bares her mind on why she is at home with local culture rather than whole nation, her soft spot for female characters, among other issues.

We understand you wanted to be an entomologist, which is the study of insects. What really upturned the idea?
Yes. I wanted to be an entomologist, which is the study of insect. I was good in the sciences and mathematics. I wrote my first book while in the hospital bed. And this took me away from the public glare. I had surgery and woke up sterilized without an idea of what happened. When I couldn’t move, that was when the story came. I have confidence in the sciences, and science fiction was one genre nothing was really happening. But I could neither figure if nor work it. I didn’t want to study science anymore. I still love sciences and biology, but I could not do that anymore. When I discovered everything about writing, and I was good at it, I started writing, and that is what I have been doing.
My first book is Who Fears Death. It is set in an alternate/post-apocalyptic/futuristic African desert (with magic). The book opens with a teenage Onyesonwu at her father’s funeral. Grieving, she briefly and unintentionally starts to bring him back to life. She is a
sorcerer, feared and hated because of her powers and her parentage. Her abilities, though spectacular, mostly endanger her and cause her suffering. But they also lead her on a quest to save her mother’s people from impending war, slavery, and eventual genocide.
The story is non-linear and framed as a more mature Onyesonwu’s last words. Though complex and exotic, the way it’s told makes everything clear and easy to follow, with background introduced just when we need to know it. In its skeleton, the novel is not so different from a classic quest fantasy. There’s a magical apprenticeship, prophecies, a quest to fight evil, and travels with a band of companions, but the details make the experience very, very different.
Who Fears Death deals frankly with some horrific subjects. The reader should be prepared to face the reality of topics like rape, war, genocide, and female circumcision. It’s never gory, gratuitous, or –amazingly –particularly depressing, but nothing is glossed over.
The characters were all distinct, real, and interesting. The plot is engaging and logical. While there are real-world political and social issues addressed, the story –Onyesonwu’s story –which is where the story derives its title –is what matters.
Your recent work is entitled Kabu-Kabu. Why did you choose the theme?
Kabu Kabu is a book of short stories. It is short stories I have written over the years. Some are either based in Nigeria, or in a place like Nigeria and other places. I have always believed my stories take place in Nigeria. And when I wrote my first official short story, it was in a place in Nigeria. So, from that period on, it has remained like that. It is a combination of Nigerian stories. There, was one novel of a bit under a hundred pages. And the story is called Kabu-Kabu. It is about Nigerian-American woman who is coming to Nigeria for a specific wedding, and she is late and hailing a taxi, but it couldn’t come.
It was not actually a taxi but a kabu-kabu. And it picked her on a very interesting journey to the airport. She never makes it to the airport end of story and straight to Nigeria in a magical way. It is where the title and idea of the story came from. Also, kabu-kabu is a legal taxicab in Nigeria. So, my stories go the way they should to go. It takes the same way and also breaks many rules and ideas that, when one writes about science fiction, one cannot put fantasy in it and vice-versa. I have always broken through. That is the whole idea about Kabu Kabu; that one cannot break away from the fact that it is a legal taxicab in Nigeria, it is the way to go and kind of perfect.
You are not based in Nigeria. How does the idea of a ‘close up’ view of local culture rather than whole nation come about?
I don’t know. It is like I was first born and raised in the United States of America, have an accent. But from a young age my parents were taking my younger siblings to Nigeria. While we were having our American story, coming to Nigeria, my American story was affecting my childhood and American upbringing as much. The connection has been maintained and, when I finally settled down to write and, coming to Nigeria, it is like I always see similar place, almost a quarter of a place, a mystical place. When I do that, it came back to Nigeria, the country of my parents. And it has always been like that. And that is how I found out that the connection is where my stories are coming from.
You also wrote the book, Lagoon, in 2014. Tell us about it?
Lagoon is a funny story with humour. The easy way to describe it is that the story is about something that happened to me. It probably had been at the back of my head for a long time. It came from a blockbuster movie project, the first of its kind, science fiction to come out of Africa. It gave me problems. And one of the greatest problems is that it portrays Nigerians specifically in very bad light. It mirrors Nigerians as prostitutes, cannibals, criminals, violent and every bad thing one can think of. And coming from the United States, I just expect to see this kind of film. So, when I call it Lagoon, it is everything it should be, and some of my sisters get more infuriated about the movie.
When one watches it, it is about everything going on in places like Johannesburg, South Africa, and when I think about the movie and aliens, the impression is that what would happen to Nigeria when the alien come to Nigeria and learn the skill. And When I think about alien in Nigeria, the first place I thought that it could happen is Lagos. So, the perfect place for the story is Lagos. So, the story is about Lagos, and its wide-wide lively, wonderful and terrible human being. Lagoon is a story about aliens coming to Nigeria. And when I wrote the story, it is not just about the alien, because, when they come, they can move like human being, manipulate, meet every body; and all the people in Lagos. They need the people, plants and animals. Lagoon is an alien encounter with all the people in Nigeria.
Considering the movie you watched in America that was woven around your book, Lagoon, would you say the screenplay represented Nigeria or Africa in better form?
My own interpretation of Nigeria is to present it the way I know it: diverse with different kinds of people. Some are negative, positive, in between and confused. And because I have visited Lagos and want to show it, I know I have to write the story and present it from my own point of view mainly at the same characters with different viewpoint. It is like looking at the same incident but with different kinds of people. That is talking about those who are positive, negative or confused. It is a character view with different worldview.
How do Nigerian youth in America think about the country?
My own story is different, but most of the immigrant kids don’t want to have anything to do with Nigeria. They don’t even want to be called Nigerians. They don’t want to come back; they don’t have any interface, because they claim most Nigerians are terrific human beings. So, they are not proud to be Nigerians. The country has issues –that is the problem, but no country is perfect. They feel they are not given the kind of unconditional love they desire. It is still the same way nothing seems to have changed. I have two of my brothers who are well connected. We always come back to Nigeria. That is the way we were raised, and that is the way we have maintained, and we are proud to be who we are.
I tell people I’m Nigerian-American, and I maintain that. And all of us have Nigerian names, and we are proud of that. None of us has American names. But we are not good in Igbo language. I still want to learn the language, but it is very difficult to speak it, because we aren’t living around people speaking the language. When I was growing up, I spoke the language; after a while, it became difficult and humiliating. I have friends, who come from different countries of the world they don’t care. They keep moving forward, but, for me, it makes me go back into myself, even though it is not the best for me.
How do you think we have used science fiction as a genre of literature in our development agenda?
I’m just one person. The genre is still new. The whole idea of science fiction movement is just starting in Africa. And not much yet has been done in this direction. But I think, in the future, we are going to see interesting developments and the ideas of science fiction coming from different indigenous people of different places, especially in Nigeria, different types of idea and technology coming forth, and those ideas are going to facilitate inventions. That is what science fictions do. They see different messages and ideas, and are able to facilitate it. I’m thinking about someone from Nigeria specifically coming up and saying something about the country’s needs through science fiction and start inventing. That is how it works. First, it is to get ourselves together, and we are working at it.
A writer is supposed to address issues of the society; unfortunately, many of them don’t adequately do that. What are your burdens as a writer?
A writer is not ‘supposed’ to. That is the job of a writer. I don’t know what other writers do, but I know I have to. In Lagoon, my alien invasion in Lagos, set in 2009, has a lot of politics. The book addresses issues on government, the military, religion –not specific one, and I have fun with that, and the people. It is very political. I didn’t set out that way, saying, ‘Oh! I have an agenda’. I set out writing on an idea of alien coming to Lagos and what would happen. When I settled down to do that, all the politics came forth. When it comes to political statements, I don’t have a strong view. I don’t have what I specifically set out to say, there was no agenda.
In all my novels, there is politics, and it is has Nigeria influence. There is Nigerian magic in them, whether is about child soldier, female prostitution, circumcision and all that, it is science fiction with a lot of fantasy. It is an idea of realistic novel versus science fiction and realism; it is about the idea of relating it to our world, as issues of the country’s present and future. And talking about African writers using literature to address specific issues, yes! We are expected to do that. In the West view, it is believed that African novels have to be addressing wars, famine, diseases and other stereotypes. I know I like to write from strong African female characters. It is a big issue for me.
I read a lot of African literature. I’m an avid reader who can read anything. Of all the African literature I read, African female character gives me more burdens. It is always good a lot of times but I need to see more of the African female characters. I wouldn’t say it is my agenda; it is what gives me comfort. The idea of presenting a modern Nigeria is one of the reasons I started writing science fiction in the first place. I read stories that portray African in science fiction, especially among the West as a place of dark.
African-American would portray it as a place they left behind, something in the past, alien and without a future. And coming to Nigeria and going back and forth, I want to see a Nigeria that is, in the future, in terms of technology and innovation. Technology is used in unique ways everywhere around the world. And many countries are warming up to see Nigeria excel through science fiction. And imagine what Nigeria would be in future!
What is your imagination of Nigeria of the future?
I would like to see in terms of corruption a Nigeria that is free from it. Imagine what would happen to the country if corruption were gone. Aliens would come and bring change in Lagos, radiating to the people of Lagos. I’m imagining if we can deal with corruption in a magical way, patriotism instilled and people wanting to do well for the nation as opposed to oneself. I think that is what many of us especially the politicians should crave for.
Authors now find it easier to sell their books online. Which one is favouring you most?
It is all about balance. I’m still a strong believer in physical book. This is not to say I don’t like e-book. I love it, too. I read things electronically sometimes, but I feel reading physical books, because it doesn’t give any charge. There is physical dynamism. And I know people have different opinions about that. In a study that came out, it is said that when one reads electronically, one doesn’t retain as much. It makes sense, because the feel and touch of a physical book is also part of the reading. I’m a strong believer in physical book, but the dissemination of information is much easier and faster electronically, especially in places where one cannot physically reach in parts of the world. That is what world leaders are doing now; bringing in electronically many books and novels to many parts of Africa using different mechanism. I feel there should be a balance between physical books versus e-book.
What is the picture of your family background?
My parents were both born and raised in Imo State, Southeast of Nigeria. My mum was born in Jos. The reason they came to the United States in the first place was for education. My father went on to become a cardiovascular surgeon (Heart Surgeon) and my mum very educated with PhD. They came to the United States to acquire education and planned to go back to showcase what they have learnt from the United States to Nigeria but were stalled by the Biafran War. They weren’t able to come back. And trust Nigerians, wherever they go, they find the way to get by. That was how they found themselves in the United States. Even though they stayed behind, they never wanted to be in a country they never returned, so they came back to Nigeria and maintained connection with the aborigines.