11 Feb 2021

Akwaeke Emezi

Black Authors post, day 11.

Black Authors post, day 11.

Today’s author is performer and groundbreaking author Akwaeke Emezi.

Akwaeke Emezi was born in Umuahia, Nigeria in 1987. They were born to an Tamil Indian mother and Nigerian father, and grew up in Aba, Nigeria.

Emezi and their sister Yagazie told stories to each other as a means of escape throughout their childhoods, to take their minds off of the reality of danger, riots, and dictatorship. They moved to the United States when they were 16 years old. They received a Master’s Degree from New York University.

Emezi has had several articles written in publications such as The Cut, Vogue, Buzzfeed, Commonwealth Writers, and Granta online. Their short story Who Is Like God won the 2017 Commonwealth Short Story Prize for Africa.

Their debut novel, Freshwater, a highly autobiographical and powerful work, was published in 2018. It won the Otherwise Award (formerly Tiptree Award) and the Nommo Award, and was a finalist for the Center for Fiction’s First Novel Prize, the PEN/Hemingway Award, the NYPL Young Lions Fiction Award, the Edmund White Award for Debut Fiction, and a Lambda Literary Award. Their debut YA novel, PET, was published in 2019. It was a winner of the Stonewall Award and finalist for the National Book Award and Lambda Literary Award.

Emezi’s most recently published book, The Death of Vivek Oji, published in 2020, was an instant New York Times Bestseller and has been named a Best Book of the Year by The New York Times, The Washington Post, NPR, USA TODAY, Vanity Fair, Elle, Harper’s Bazaar, Marie Claire, Shondaland, Teen Vogue, Vulture, Lit Hub, Bustle, Electric Literature, and BookPage.

Emezi’s memoir, Dear Senthuran, will be published June 8, 2021.

Emezi lives in New Orleans and other liminal spaces.

Some of my favorite works by Akwaeke Emezi:

A note: These Amazon links point to Amazon Smile, Amazon’s affiliate charity program. If you have not set up Amazon Smile, I encourage you to point it to an organization like RECLAIM, an nonprofit that works to increase mental health support to queer and trans youth in the Twin Cities, and to change the landscape of access to care for queer and trans youth.

Some links to learn more:

Image from an Instagram Post at https://www.instagram.com/p/CKUOs5NL9ZH/