📢🔥 The cat’s out of the bag now, 😅. My novel THE AFRICANFUTURIST just sold to HarperCollins/William Morrow for SEVEN-figures!
This novel has been coming for THIRTY years. I needed to be ready. 🥹✍🏾🇳🇬🇺🇸🤖
Here we go. [Inhale, exhale]
Pinned
Follow
Nnedi Okorafor, PhD
@Nnedi
*THE* Naijamerican PhD-holding, World Fantasy, multi-Hugo, Nebula, Eisner Award-winning, New York Times bestselling rudimentary cyborg writer
Nnedi Okorafor, PhD🕷️’s posts
Wow, these people have even removed my NAME from my novel's cover in the tweet. Woooooooow, mschew. 😒. They don't even know details.
"Afrocentric"....at least say Afrofuturist, yeesh. Get with it. And *I* wrote the novel being adapted.
Mscheeeeeeeeeeew.
Quote
HBO orders Afrocentric new sci-fi series from producer George R.R. Martin trib.al/haelYJK
The giant wood moth, the heaviest moth in the world. 😍!!
Note: They are harmless (unlike humans), so no "kill it with fire" comments. Thanks.
My novel WHO FEARS DEATH has been optioned by & is now in early development as a TV series with George RR Martin as executive producer.
💥Announcement: I'm writing Shuri. 🤓
"Black Panther's Sister Shuri Is Getting Her Own Comic Book Series & It's Happening So, So Soon" bustle.com/p/black-panthe
Ok, I need to say this, as THE first black woman to write T'Challa...I'm the first black woman to write T'Challa. And I did it years ago. I wrote Long Live the King, a limited Black Panther series. That headline is wrong.
I am exhausted.
An owl sitting with its legs crossed. Why? We will never know and the owl will never tell.
As an avid Tomb Raider video game player back in the 90s, I appreciate this Lara Croft cosplay very much. 😊
Finally, I can be public about it!
We are adapting Binti into a TV series at . I’m co-writing the pilot with (HBO's Watchmen). #Africanfuturism #Binti 🌍🚀
Explanation #1: Gouldian Finch chicks have blue phosphorescent beads along their mouths, making it easier for their parents to feed them in their dark nests.
Explanation #2: Aliens.
A Japanese raccoon dog, also known as a tanuki. This one is especially rotund. 🥰
🌸I can finally publicly talk about it. We’re developing WILD SEED! 😃!!
Quote
#WildSeed: @ViolaDavis is developing an adaptation of the #OctaviaButler novel at Amazon, scripted by @Nnedi and @Wanuri. The latter will also direct. buff.ly/2usDPrX
This is allegedly a new species of coral that has arrived (👽)...I mean, that has, uh, been found near the Galápagos Islands.
Morning inspiration: The glorious roof of this Iranian mosque. 😍 I love this level of detail, color and creativity. It’s breathtaking.
This was from an article back in 2005 when Bush was president and it's still relevant today (also, read Persepolis, it is epic):
Replying to
…and I hold the same sentiment for my “overage” daughter, too.
If I can pack half as much of this drama and intensity into the fight scene I’m writing, I’ll have succeeded.
I try to get people to stop calling the Akata series a "Nigerian Harry Potter", but ppl keep doing it.🤷🏾♀️
My stories aren't the black version of white authors. My foundation isn't whiteness (no disrespect to whiteness). Ijs.
My foundation geminated in Arondizuogu & Isiekenesi.
I visited HP Lovecraft's grave today and paid my respect.
He was probably roiling in his grave.
He'll be ok.
These are different times.
I wish people would call Christian and Islamic traditions "folklore" in the way that people use the word "folklore" to talk about my culture's spiritual beliefs. 😒
I finally got my hands on some aerogel, 🤓 (have wanted to see what this stuff feels like for *years*). It’s the lightest solid on Earth (literally 99.8% air). It feels like grasping a ghost! #science 👻
Issue #1 is off to the printers and it’s fantastic. The series has a hell of a team.
I can officially say I have written the start of a Marvel unlimited series. 😎 It’s due out October 17. #Shuri #Marvel #wakandaforever
One of the most beautiful things about this planet is that when you look around, someone is usually looking back at you. 😊
Trader Joe’s worker: “You’re that sci-fi writer who always clears out the seaweed snacks, aren’t you?”
Me: 😬
Then I went and cleared out all the seaweed snacks. 😆
Here are some pikas bringing flowers and plants to your timeline. 🌻🌷💐🌺
Blackwashing white characters is not a step forward. And it WILL bite us in the backside down the line.
A black Superman is a lazy sad useless idea, just as a black Roland was.
We need new stories. And we can’t be afraid of the extra work it takes to gather new audiences.
😊
I'll be writing a 3-issue (so far) storyline of Black Panther for . Here's the cover of Issue 1.
The story is great. But...this headline though. No, no, just no. I'm Nnedi Okorafor, yesterday, today, & tomorrow. chicagomag.com/Chicago-Magazi
I know soooooo many people who need to hear and think about this for a few days before responding. I heard from many them during the whole Lovecraft/World Fantasy Award discussion. Yep.
As a black woman writing a black female main character in a scifi novel, seeing my character whitewashed on the cover felt-like-erasure:
My cat Periwinkle Chukwu is so photogenic. He happened to be in front of my computer screen and I saw a moment and took a photo. This is that photo:
The covers for issue 1 (October) and issue 2, illustrated by the incredible . And oh man, wait until you see the cover for issue 3.😃 #Marvel #WakandaForever
A black Batman? Ugh, can we JUST CREATE NEW CHARACTERS WHO ARE BLACK? Is it THAT HARD?
Blackwashing only means the foundation will ALWAYS be white. It’s NOT the answer. It’s not even AN answer. Mscheeeeeeew.
Again, the Akata series is NOT a “Nigerian Harry Potter”. That description feels like erasure (amongst other things). The foundation and fruition of my work is VERY proudly black. ❤️🖤💚 #Africanjujuism
Here is the proper way to describe this series:
Quote
Replying to @Nnedi
AKATA WITCH: Nigerian-American YA fantasy (#africanjujuism) set in present day Nigeria featuring juju, Nigerian jollof, masquerades, and friends.
AKATA WARRIOR: The story continues. Level 2 Juju, kola nut, confraternities, a djinn, & something dwelling beneath Lagos.
😔 My first love was found dead in his home last night. Arnell Damani Harris.
He helped me remember how to walk, he convinced me to take creative writing classes, he taught me what it was to BE a creative, he told me my Nigerian hair was beautiful.
This is us a lifetime ago:
I was the 1st black person to win the World Fantasy Award for Best Novel since its 1975 inception #BlackWomenDidThat
Replying to
Another instance of a black woman having to endure disrespect and STILL somehow create PERFECTION to be properly respected by mediocrity.
Bravo, Michaela. Onward.
My cat is showing off his sexy bod for the neighbors, again. 😏
Me when people try to tell me why they didn’t like Star Wars: The Last Jedi.
GIF
A Facebook message this morning: “Stop your writing about witchcraft. Try and go to church instead.”
My response: No.
Had dinner last night with George RR Martin at my favorite Chicago restaurant Yassa African Restaurant. He’s in town for a few things and when he suggested we meet up, I knew precisely where we should go. 😊
This article in Rolling Stone is a hell of a read.
“I saw who was building the AI systems and their points of view. I saw what they were being used for, and I was like, ‘Oh, my God, we have a problem.’ ”
— Timnit Gebru
It’s me! 😊 This is one of those moments where an illustration of me is more accurate than any photo. I really AM part machine, btw.
Illustration by Nigerian comics illustrator Abdulkareem Baba Aminu.
My daughter will have to tolerate hearing me talk about this grasshopper all weekend.
It's just sooooooo MARVELOUS. LOOK-AT-IT! 🤓🦗
They turned off the lights and disconnected the cameras, but the world has STILL seen.
A government that kills its own citizens peacefully calling for change is not a government.
#endsars
"Why owl have antenna?"
"That just scifi owl. She crazy."
"Ah, ok." twitter.com/41Strange/stat
This post is unavailable.
Ok, I might as well let the cat out of the bag (heehee)...meet Neptune Onyedike Okorafor.
Nope.
1. I am a black writer and proud of it.
2. I’ve written over 14 books all set in Africa or a place like Africa...uh, yeah, I revel in blackness. It’s not a pigeon hole to me, it is universes.
Quote
Hey @Nnedi don’t you run the risk like Christopher Priest of being pigeon holed as a “black writer”? io9.gizmodo.com/the-first-blac
Well, the cat's out of the bag now. 😊!! Glad I don't have to politely smile and say "Maybe" when people ask me if I'm doing more stuff with Marvel.
Quote
I LOVE when a film slows down, looks to the side and gives us a quiet moment of organic world-building. 🐭💧#DuneMovie
The cover for the one-shot issue featuring the character of Ngozi. Written by me, illustrated by Tana Ford.
Release date: February 28.
I've had dreams (never nightmares) that looked like this bookstore (the Dujiangyan Zhongshuge Bookstore in China). 🤓📚
My locs are freeform, all naturally grown from my head (since ‘94), not heavy, easy to wash, and about 4 feet long (trimmed only once, 6 months ago when they finally reached the ground; I’m 5’10), and this bun took me about 1 minute to make.
I was well-guarded by the Brown County Library’s arm of the Dora Milaje today. 😊#BrownCountyComicCon #WakandaForever
Replying to
correct this shit. We black people are not constantly starting over.
It’s easy to imagine these trees uprooting themselves in the night and walking to a nicer spot. twitter.com/welcomet0natur
This post is unavailable.
Lol!!! People and thier troll accounts. 🤣 The hating on my PhD is hilarious. I’ve got two master’s degrees, too. The only reason I didn’t include them in my name is because it would’ve gotten to long. I’m proud AF of my degrees. 🥇🏆🎖💪🏾
Replying to
He really thought he was doing something with that tweet, 🤣.
💥This is what Storm looks like when I’m the one writing her. 😏.
This is part of a panel in the 2nd Issue in the Dora Milaje series. This one’s titled X-Men: #WakandaForever, written by me, illustrated by Ray-Anthony Height (due out July 25).🌪🌧
This fake diversity nonsense (where they replace white characters with people of color) is disgusting. It is not sincere or a solution. NEW STORIES BY PEOPLE OF COLOR ABOUT PEOPLE OF COLOR is the solution.
WE get to tell OUR stories!
Stop USING us and GET OUT OF THE WAY!
Quote
Barnes & Noble Fifth Avenue to launch sales of classic novels with new covers promoting diversity @amNewYork pwne.ws/2GU1jN2
I really wish people would stop calling my Akata series a “Nigerian Harry Potter”. I appreciate people being excited about these books and I know people want some kind of easy shorthand to describe it, BUT you’re doing a disservice to my hard work in the long run.
Stop everything. Godzilla iguana is swimming through your timeline.
THIS is just a hint of why I'm so proud and pleased to be working with Viola Davis on Wild Seed and in general. She moves with CLARITY.
Quote
LISTEN TO VIOLA DAVIS AND GIVE HER WHAT SHE DESERVES, AND THATS EVERYTHINGGGG
0:43
I've been listed as one of the best science fiction writers in the last 150 years. 😊🚀.
The continent of Africa lags in COVID vaccinations.
Yet, from what I recall, it was one of the first places to be considered for the TESTING of vaccinations.
Interesting.
I was talking to my mom when I saw this and I couldn't hold in my gales of laughter. The...little butt...🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
This piece of shit just *used* Nigerians to try and show he has black supporters. He said not a word during the EndSars protests last week and today, when he needs...black faces, he has Nigeria’s name in his filthy orange mouth.
Oh man, this is all so sickening to me. Wow.
I write africanfuturism.
I write africanfuturism.
I write africanfuturism.
I write africanfuturism.
It’s not afrofuturism.
I write africanfuturism
I write africanfuturism
I write africanfuturism
I write africanfuturism
#africanfuturism
My daughter is reading the 3rd Binti book The Night Masquerade. She asked me to do “that thing I do” to her copy. I gave it the royal treatment and she was pleased. 😊
Lin-Manuel Miranda
is a genius of his craft and the In the Heights film was FANTASTIC and beautiful.
Colorism happened and happens allllll over the place (especially toward black women) and it needs to be acknowledged and STOP.
Yes, two things can be true at the same time.
Racism is not a “differing point of view” I will ever tolerate. I cannot/will not “get along with” or “join hands with” with racists.
Replying to
It’s official! This is the face of a woman who just closed on a 2nd home (in Phoenix, AZ). Me! All-by-myself (+child & cat, of course). During a goddamn pandemic. 🎊🎉🥳
Yes, I ❤️ the desert and the heat (just read my novels, lol). Oh the stories I’ll write in this place. 🏜📚🌞
It's official. I'm going to Morocco to study the world's largest concentrated solar farm. 😊🖊️📝🏜️🌞
Replying to
I said what I said.
I pick and choose my battles. I'm choosing this one. This is some BS and I'm not going to stay quiet about it. This is blatant misinformation and they should correct it. Stop erasing people's hard work for the sake of clickbait headlines. The F*cking End.
Still feels surreal that I can say I wrote some of T’Challa’s story. 😊.
Walking the red carpet at the Emmy’s with George RR Martin is an experience I won’t be forgetting anytime soon. 😎 By this time, we’d done this talk with, like, 10 media sources, lol.
The media had tunnel vision, but that’s cool. They haven’t caught up. 😏
Quote
George R. R. Martin: “This is Nnedi Okorafor. She wrote an amazing book called Who Fears Death that HBO has optioned. We are developing that to be one of the next big HBO fantasy series.” — Okorafor at the 70th Primetime Emmy Awards with friend and colleague #georgerrmartin #hbo
0:20
Yesterday, a man at the gym mansplained to me about how women can’t do pull-ups. I’d had a rough stressful day, so I just let him talk. He wasn’t interested in listening to me, anyway.
When he was gone, I did my usual two reps of ten pull-ups and continued on my way.
