Nnedi Okorafor opens strange doors through her writing as a Afrofuturist, and she takes on a ride

 "What if a Nigerian-American wrote science fiction?" These two words-and if, are the basis of author Nnedi Okorafor's lecture, "Sci-fi Stories That Imagine a Future Africa," at the TEDGlobal Conference in Arusha, Tanzania. Nnedi projected the words - and so, as powerful and able to open doors of possibilities. Citing examples from her book, Binti, Nnedi tells how she started writing science fiction. Even though America is home to science fiction, Nnedi said she is still inspired by her African roots. Nnedi is one of the most successful writers of science fiction novels. She has published several novels and short stories about African societies. Her  novel, Who Fears Death, is in production with HBO as an upcoming series.
She said,
Growing up, I didn’t read much science fiction. I couldn’t relate to these stories preoccupied with xenophobia, colonization and seeing aliens as others. And I saw no reflection of anyone who looked like me in those narratives.
In the Binti novella trilogy, Binti leaves the planet to seek education from extraterrestrials. She goes out as she is, looking the way she looks, carrying her cultures, being who she is. I was inspired to write this story not because I was following a line of classic space opera narratives, but because of blood that runs deep, family, cultural conflict and the need to see an African girl leave the planet on her own terms.


My science fiction has different ancestors, African ones. So, I’m Nigerian-American. I was born to two Nigerian immigrant parents and raised in the United States, one of the birth places of classic science fiction. However, it was my Nigerian heritage that led me to write science fiction.
Specifically I cite those family trips to Nigeria in the late ‘90s. I had been taking trips back to Nigeria with my family since I was very young. These early trips inspired me. Hence the first story I ever even wrote took place in Nigeria. I wrote mainly magical realism and fantasy, inspired by my love of Igbo and other West African traditional cosmologies and spiritualities.



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