Nnedimma Nkemdili “Nnedi” Okorafor is a Nigerian-American author of science fiction and fantasy novels and comics written for audiences of children, young adults, and adults. Okorafor was born to Nigerian parents who, after coming to the United States to attend school were not able to go back to their homes in Nigeria due to the Nigerian Civil War. While she was born and raised in Illinois, her holidays would be spent traveling to Nigeria to visit her extended family. As a result Okorafor grew up feeling as if she belonged equally to two separate worlds while never completely fitting in at either one, something that would heavily influence her writings. In high school, she competed in track and tennis nationally and held an interest in math and science, wishing to become an entomologist and study insects. When she was 13, Okorafor was diagnosed with scoliosis and at 19 had spinal fusion surgery. She suffered from a rare complication that paralyzed her from the waist down, and while she was able to regain the ability to walk with the use of a cane after intensive physical therapy, this ended her athletic career. It was during this time that Okorafor took up creative writing for the first time. After jotting down short stories along the edges of a science fiction book that she owned. She enrolled in a creative writing class the next semester at her friend’s suggestion. It was there that she began to write her first book. She went on to obtain two master’s degrees, one in journalism and one in English, along with a PhD in English. Okorafor has written several short stories and over a dozen novels in the science fiction and fantasy genres including Binti (2015), Akata Witch (2011), and Zahrah the Windseeker (2005). After noticing that the majority of works written in these genres tended to have little in the way of diversity and mostly based off of European folklore, she decided to set her stories in Africa and used African and African American mythology. They are heavily influenced by her upbringing and Nigerian heritage, where the world is viewed as a place filled with mysticism. Within her novels, Okorafor examines various social issues including environmental destruction, political violence, genocide, and racial and gender issues and inequality. They have won numerous awards including The Nebula Award, The Hugo Award, and The World Fantasy Award. In addition to her novels, Okorafor has also written comics for Marvel, including issues for Black Panther and Shuri as well as ones based on her original character Ngozi, a Nigerian teenage girl who has attached to Venom

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