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Nnedimma Nkemdili "Nnedi" Okorafor (formerly Okorafor-Mbachu; born April 8, 1974) is a Nigerian-American writer of science fiction and fantasy for both children and adults. She is best known for her Binti Series and her novels Who Fears Death, Zahrah the Windseeker, Akata Witch, Akata Warrior, Lagoon and Remote Control. She has also written for comics and film.

Her writing is "Africanfuturism" and "Africanjujuism", which is heavily influenced by her dual Nigerian and American heritage. She is the recipient of multiple awards, including the Hugo Award, Nebula Award, Eisner Award and World Fantasy Award. She is considered to be among the third generation of Nigerian writers.

Background and personal life
Nnedimma Okorafor was born in Cincinnati, Ohio, in 1974 to Igbo Nigerian parents who travelled to America in 1969 to go to school but could not return to Nigeria because of the Nigerian Civil War. Okorafor is the third child in a family of four children and grew up in Chicago, Illinois, and would often travel to Nigeria to spend her holidays with her extended family. Her first name is Igbo for "mother is good".

During her years attending Homewood-Flossmoor High School in Flossmoor, Illinois, Okorafor was a nationally known tennis and track star and excelled in math and the sciences. Due to her interest in insects, she desired to be an entomologist.

The Shadow Speaker was a winner of the Carl Brandon Parallax Award, a Booksense Pick for Winter 2007/2008, a Tiptree Honor Book, a finalist for the Essence Magazine Literary Award, the Andre Norton Award and the Golden Duck Award, and an NAACP Image Award nominee. [citation needed] Okorafor's children's book Long Juju Man was the 2007–08 winner of the Macmillan Writer's Prize for Africa.

Work
Okorafor's first adult novel, Who Fears Death (DAW/Penguin Books), won the 2011 World Fantasy Award for Best Novel.