IKENGA

227pp., hardback, d.w., New York, 2020

Fantasy novel for children aged 10 and older, set in contemporary Nigeria.

When Nnamdi's father, the chief of police, is murdered, Nnamdi vows to avenge his death. When he is given the Ikenga, a magical object that enables superpowers, he may be able to fulfil his mission.

"There's more imagination on a page of Nnedi Okorafor's work than in whole volumes of ordinary fantasy epics." Ursula Le Guin, author of the Earthsea Cycle

"Ikenga, the powerhouse speculative fiction writer Nnedi Okorafor's middle grade debut, is a propulsive, juju-filled novel set in a fictional Nigerian town ... Okorafor's narrative provides comfort precisely because she refuses to gloss over violence, loss and pain." The New York Times

Nnedi Okorafor is a writer of African-based science fiction, fantasy, and magical realism for children and adults. Born in the USA to Nigerian immigrant parents, she lives in Chicago. Her novels include Zahrah the Windseeker (winner of the Wole Soyinka Prize for Literature in Africa), The Shadow Seeker (winner of the Carl Brandon Parallax Award), Long Juju (winner of the Macmillan Writer's Prize for Africa), Who Fears Death, the Binti novella trilogy, The Book of Phoenix, the Akata books, and Lagoon.