Oghenechovwe Donald Ekpeki

Oghenechovwe Donald Ekpeki (born 19 January) is a Nigerian speculative fiction writer, editor and publisher who is the first African-born Black author to win a Nebula Award. He's also received a World Fantasy Award, British Fantasy Award, Otherwise Award, and two Nommo Awards along with being a multi-time finalist for a number of other honors including the Hugo Award.

Ekpeki frequently writes about disability, class, inequality and other issues related to both colonization and decolonization. He also coined the term afropantheology, which is a distinct genre of speculative fiction "conceived to capture the gamut of African works which, though having fantasy elements, are additionally imbued with African spiritual realities."

Life
Ekpeki was born in Ughellii, Delta State, Nigeria. He studied law at the University of Lagos.

Writing
Ekpeki began publishing fiction in 2018, with one of his early stories "The Witching Hour" winning the Nommo Award. His 2020 novella, Ife-Iyoku, the Tale of Imadeyunuagbon, was published in 2020 and won the Otherwise Award along with being a finalist for the BSFA, Sturgeon, Nebula, and Nommo Awards.

In 2021, Ekpeki's climate fiction novelette "O2 Arena" was published in Galaxy's Edge magazine and received the Nebula Award, making him the first African-born Black author to be so honored. The novelette was also a finalist for the Hugo Award and other awards. This Is Africa described the story as a "biopolitical dystopia in which oxygen has become a commodity, with all the possible class implications." His 2022 short story "Destiny Delayed," published in Asimov's Science Fiction, was a finalist for the 2022 Nebula Award.

Ekpeki's Between Dystopias: The Road to Afropantheology, co-written with Joshua Uchenna Omenga, focuses on the "study of African (and African-descended) religions, gods, and the bodies of knowledge associated with them. The book contains thirteen stories and three essays "exploring the belief systems and lived experiences that inform African speculative fiction" and the "schism between Western and African perspectives on speculative fiction.

Ekpeki's fiction and non-fiction have also appeared in Omenana Magazine, Cosmic Roots and Eldritch Shores, Tor.com, Strange Horizons, Uncanny Magazine, NBC and other places. He is a member of the African Speculative Fiction Society, the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers Association, the Horror Writers Association, and Codex Writers Group.

Editing
Ekpeki has edited a number of books and magazines, starting with the 2020 anthology Dominion: An Anthology of Speculative Fiction From Africa and the African Diaspora (which he co-edited with Zelda Knight). The anthology won the British Fantasy Award for Best Anthology and was a finalist for the 2021 Locus Award and the 2020 This Is Horror award.

Ekpeki also edited The Year's Best Speculative Fiction: Volume 1 and published the anthology in 2021 through his own Jembefola Press. In 2022, he edited and published Bridging Worlds: Global Conversations On Creating Pan-African Speculative Literature In a Pandemic. The anthology is currently a finalist for the Locus Award for Non-Fiction.

In 2022 he co-edited the Tor Books anthology Africa Risen: A New Era of Speculative Fiction alongside Sheree Renée Thomas and Knight. The anthology is currently a finalist for the Locus Award for Best Anthology and was a finalist for the 2023 NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Literary Work – Fiction.

He has also edited individual issues of Invictus Quarterly and Interstellar Flight Press.

Ekpeki has been a multi-time finalist in the editing category for the Hugo and Locus Awards.

Awards and nominations
! scope="row" | 2019 ! scope="row" | 2020 ! scope="row" | 2020 ! scope="row" | 2020 ! scope="row" | 2020 ! scope="row" | 2020 ! scope="row" | 2021 ! scope="row" | 2021 ! scope="row" | 2021 ! scope="row" | 2021 ! scope="row" | 2022 ! scope="row" | 2022 ! scope="row" | 2022 ! scope="row" | 2022 ! scope="row" | 2023 ! scope="row" | 2023
 * "The Witching Hour"
 * Best short story
 * Nommo Award
 * Won
 * "Ife-Iyoku"
 * Best short story
 * Nommo Award
 * Ife-Iyoku, the Tale of Imadeyunuagbon
 * Short fiction
 * British Science Fiction Association Award
 * Dominion: An Anthology of Speculative Fiction From Africa and the African Diaspora
 * Best Anthology
 * This is Horror
 * Notes
 * Notes
 * Ife-Iyoku, the Tale of Imadeyunuagbon
 * Best Novella
 * Nebula Award
 * Ife-Iyoku, the Tale of Imadeyunuagbon
 * Otherwise Award
 * Won
 * Won
 * Ife-Iyoku, the Tale of Imadeyunuagbon
 * Best Novella
 * Nommo Award
 * Won
 * Dominion: An Anthology of Speculative Fiction From Africa and the African Diaspora
 * Best Anthology
 * Locus Award
 * Top Ten
 * Top Ten
 * Dominion: An Anthology of Speculative Fiction From Africa and the African Diaspora
 * Best Anthology
 * British Fantasy Award
 * Won
 * Ife-Iyoku, the Tale of Imadeyunuagbon
 * Short fiction
 * Theodore Sturgeon Award
 * "O2 Arena"
 * Best Novelette
 * Nebula Award
 * Won
 * "O2 Arena"
 * Best Novelette
 * Hugo Award
 * The Year's Best African Speculative Fiction
 * Anthology
 * World Fantasy Award
 * Won
 * Best Editor, Short Form
 * Hugo Award
 * 2nd place
 * 2nd place
 * 2nd place
 * "Destiny Delayed"
 * Short Story
 * Nebula Award
 * "Destiny Delayed"
 * Short Story
 * Asimov’s Science Fiction Magazine Readers’ Award
 * Won

Collections

 * Between Dystopias: The Road to Afropantheology, co-written with Joshua Uchenna Omenga (Arc Manor Books, 2023)