Even the crying children and roaring camels had gotten quiet. Soon everyone had turned south, watching and waiting. Lastly, one of the greatest themes of the book is Change:Īs the green shape grew, the earthquake subsided. The novel is also about girlhood and womanhood, a heroine’s journey.

The Shadow Speaker also tackles the environment, commenting on the state of the earth and the ugly things human beings do to it. First is the complexity of violence vs nonviolence and the idea that a certain times, both must be employed. There are several key themes in The Shadow Speaker. Her latest novel, The Shadow Speaker, has characters from and takes place in the countries of Niger and Nigeria. Her first novel, Zahrah the Windseeker was shortlisted for the Parallax Award and Kindred Award in 2006, a finalist for the 2005 Golden Duck Award and nominated for a Locus Award (Best First Novel) 2005. She completed her Bachelor’s degree in Rhetoric (Creative Writing) and earned a PhD in English in 2007. Undeterred by advice not to pursue her passion, she changed majors. Nnedi credits that experience and having to learn to walk again with releasing her creative juices. Her people need to be protected from a force seeking to annihilate them. With a newfound friend by her side, Ejii comes face-to-face with an earth turned inside out - and with her own magical powers.īut she soon discovers that her travels across the sands of the Sahara have a greater purpose. In an era of mind-blowing technology and tantalizing magic, she embarks on a mystical journey to track down her father’s killer. When fifteen-year old Ejii witnesses her father’s beheading, her world shatters. Nnedi found herself among the one percent of people paralyzed after the surgery. Favoring the maths and sciences, she envisioned a career in either entomology or veterinary medicine.Īll this changed when following her freshman year at college, she made the difficult decision to undergo surgery to correct scoliosis, a condition involving curvature of the spine. Absent are any anecdotes about knowing she wanted to write since she was a small child, though she was always an avid reader. But, her path to writing was an unusual one. Nnedi was born in the United States to Igbo (Nigerian) immigrant parents and you can see that influence in her work.

Also, instead of the traditional Celtic setting, stories have a more earthy approach to magic. Not all of these books are set in Africa, but do contain aspects of African folklore. This genre combines elements of speculative fiction, magical realism and traditional fantasy with a decidedly cultural twist. Nnedi Okorafor (winner of the Wole Soyinka prize for Literature) thrives in a realm of fiction called African Fantasy. That voice is distinctly Nigerian…and American. There’s a discernible new voice in Young Adult Fiction.

The Shadow Speaker by Nnedi Okorafor