Chicago magazine

Future Tense

NNEDI OKORAFOR GOES TO THE gym to rest. Not to bulk up or slim down, not to seek strength or flexibility. Okorafor, an award-winning science fiction writer, works out daily to halt her propulsive mind. And what a mind it is — her brain has brought forth 18 works of fiction, including novels for children and adults, a short memoir, and five comics. Soon her storytelling will shift to the screen: HBO is developing her postapocalyptic novel Who Fears Death into a drama series, with Game of Thrones creator George R.R. Martin as executive producer. Hulu is adapting Okorafor’s outer-space coming-of-age novella Binti.

Her newest work, , the third book in the Nsibidi Scripts series, hits shelves this month. The YA series follows a 12-year-old Nigerian American girl who discovers she has magical powers and embarks on high-stakes missions with her friends., about a woman in Nigeria in the near future whose body is extensively augmented with biotechnology.

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