[BHS Etree] LIBRARY: Black Futures Month: Featured Authors

[BHS Etree]

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contact meredithirby at berkeley.net.


This week, we wanted to highlight the works of *Nnedi Okaorafor*, *akwaeke
emezi*, and *P. Djeli Clark* -  three incredible Black authors who are all
pushing the boundaries of genre and storytelling in compelling ways.


Students and staff can check out the books below from the BHS Library, and
find audiobook versions through BPL via *Hoopla* and *Libby*:

*Nnedi Okorafor*

Winner of the Hugo, Nebula, World Fantasy, Locus and Lodestar Awards,
Nigerian-American *Okorafor* <https://nnedi.com/> is known for mind-melting
world building and hilarious Twitter takes
<https://twitter.com/nnedi/status/1430298750992338945>. A self-described
Africanfuturist, her gritty, unconventional fantasy and sci-fi stories
feature complex female leads and tackle the most pressing issues of our
time.


Need more from this genius? Checkout this discussion about Africanfuturism
<https://lithub.com/reading-women-discuss-afrofuturism-and-africanfuturism/>
or read about how all of her books somehow exist in the same universe
<https://www.tor.com/2021/07/27/exploring-nnedi-okorafors-africanfuturist-universe/>
.

For Horror Fans: *After the Rain *is a graphic novel adaptation of Nnedi
Okorafor’s terrifying short story “On the Road.”


>From *Nerds of Color*
<https://thenerdsofcolor.org/2021/01/06/after-the-rain-graphic-novel-review/>:
“It makes Nigeria a real and lived in place, while also making it
mythically fantastic. But best of all, it tells a great horror story that
relies on expert story-crafting, not just cheap gore and easy scares.“

*Binti *is a fantastic interstellar adventure that follows an impressive
central character.

"There's more vivid imagination in a page of Nnedi Okorafor's work than in
whole volumes of ordinary fantasy epics." ― Ursula Le Guin

(*Binti* is also about to be adapted for a series on Hulu
<https://afropunk.com/2020/01/nnedi-okorafor-binti-hulu/>!)

The electrifying third book in the series that started with *Akata Witch*,
named one of *Time* magazine’s “100 Best Fantasy Books of All Time”.


“With *Akata Woman*, Okorafor does what she does best, drawing on African
mythology and folklore, being free with her rhythm and language, telling a
classic hero’s journey set far from the Western canon of fantasy, while
always staying readable, aware, intelligent and playful.” —Tor.com


*akwaeke emezi*

*emezi* <https://www.akwaeke.com/> considers their work to exist in the
“liminal spaces”, writing stories that defy all attempts at categorization.
Their award winning debut *Freshwater *and YA novel* Pet *could be
considered fantasy, but also feel like magical realism mixed with a sci-fi
fictional future.


Raised in Aba, Nigeria, emezi’s work unapologetically centers the lives of
the most marginalized, as evidenced by their favorite line by Toni Morrison
<https://www.them.us/story/toni-morrison>: *"I stood at the border, stood
at the edge, and claimed it as central. Claimed it as central, and let the
rest of the world move over to where I was.”*

*Bitter *is the follow up to emezi’s award-winning *Pet*
<https://www.tor.com/2020/07/07/we-are-each-others-harvest-akwaeke-emezis-pet/>,
a genre-defying story about a transgender teen named Jam living in a world
where adults refuse to acknowledge the existence of monsters.


Read excerpt of Bitter
<https://www.tor.com/2022/02/09/excerpts-bitter-by-awkaeke-emezi/> here!

Propulsively readable, teeming with unforgettable characters, *The Death of
Vivek Oji*
<https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/48595550-the-death-of-vivek-oji> is a
novel of family and friendship that challenges expectations—a dramatic
story of loss and transcendence that will move every reader.

emezi's debut novel *Freshwater*
<https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/35412372-freshwater?from_search=true&from_srp=true&qid=QceP9mKcVJ&rank=1>
tells the semi-autobiographical story of the protagonist, Ada, who is an
ogbanje (an Igbo evil spirit). Emezi explores their Igbo heritage's
spirituality and gender alongside those of Western construction.



*P. Djèlí Clark*

Nebula, Locus, and Alex Award-winner *P. Djèlí Clark*
<https://pdjeliclark.com/about/> is one of the most exciting speculative
fiction writers out there, and his books are on our auto-purchase list.


Born in New York and raised mostly in Houston, Clark spent the formative
years of his life in the homeland of his parents, Trinidad and Tobago. His
work often involves inventive alternate histories and center non-White
locales, leads, and cultures.


Want to learn more? Checkout this interview
<https://www.lapl.org/collections-resources/blogs/lapl/interview-author-p-djeli-clark-0>
and book review
<https://www.npr.org/2019/02/18/694930932/tram-car-015-is-a-delightful-ride>
of one of his other fantastic novellas.

If you loved *Watchmen* and *Lovecraft Country*, you should check out *Ring
Shout*
<https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/49247242-ring-shout?from_search=true&from_srp=true&qid=YKhFC0ZBU4&rank=1>:
a dark fantasy historical novella that gives a supernatural twist to the Ku
Klux Klan's reign of terror.

Clark’s debut novella: *Black God’s Drums*
<https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/38118138-the-black-god-s-drums?from_search=true&from_srp=true&qid=NacVSLFrxc&rank=1>
is
an action-packed story set in an alternate New Orleans of orisha, airships,
and adventure.

*A Master of Djinn*
<https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/52504334-a-master-of-djinn?from_search=true&from_srp=true&qid=M2EickxYRY&rank=1>
is everything readers have come to hope for and expect from Clark:
fascinating characters, snappy dialogue, and thrilling adventures all set
in a gorgeously reimagined, magically infused Cairo of a century ago.


Other new notable reads and authors to watch:

A smash-up of art and text
<https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/58437699-ain-t-burned-all-the-bright?from_search=true&from_srp=true&qid=iWbuLx98wK&rank=14>
for teens that viscerally captures what it is to be Black. In America.
Right Now. Written by #1 *New York Times *bestselling and award-winning
author Jason Reynolds

>From P. Djeli Clark
<https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/55748103-no-gods-no-monsters?from_search=true&from_srp=true&qid=3v6CTWAUGa&rank=1>:
A haunting tale of the monsters that live among us, and those who despise
them. Turnbull deftly weaves together a story of supernatural beings,
otherworldly entities, magic and quantum physics.

>From the *New York Times *bestselling author and National Book Award
finalist Ibi Zoboi
<https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/57994153-star-child?from_search=true&from_srp=true&qid=97l8LcD9Yc&rank=1>,
a biography in verse and prose of science fiction visionary Octavia Butler.

"*The Conductors*
<https://www.npr.org/2021/02/28/972217823/the-conductors-is-a-history-buffs-dream-fantasy-novel>
is a history buff's dream fantasy novel. It is also a fantasy geek's dream
history novel.”


Novella: Soon to be adapted into film
<https://rollingout.com/2021/05/13/queen-latifah-developing-film-adaption-of-the-magical-novel-the-conductors/>
!

*Muted* <https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/52664814>: Novel in Verse:
ripped-from-the-headlines novel of ambition, music, and innocence lost,
perfect for fans of Elizabeth Acevedo and Jason Reynolds!

Be bold. Get seen. Be Heard.

"*Riot Baby* <https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/43719523>, Onyebuchi's
first novella for adults, is as much the story of Ella and her brother,
Kevin, as it is the story of black pain in America, of the extent and
lineage of police brutality, racism and injustice in this country, written
in prose as searing and precise as hot diamonds."―*The New York Times*


Also, don’t forget to catch the trailer for Jordan Peele’s new film, NOPE
<https://twitter.com/jordanpeele/status/1418224340764614656>, this Sunday!


In solidarity and literacy,

Your Berkeley High School Library Team



*_____________________________*

Nicole Chee, Jenny Fosket, Chaghig Walker, and Charlotte Le Liboux are the
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