Nigerian · b. 1987
Akwaeke Emezi is a Nigerian-born writer and artist of Igbo and Tamil heritage, based in the United States. Emezi's debut novel, Freshwater (2018), draws on the Igbo concept of the ogbanje, spirits born into a human body, and was named a New York Times Notable Book. Pet (2019), a young adult novel, won a Stonewall Book Award and was a National Book Award finalist. The Death of Vivek Oji (2020) became a New York Times bestseller and a finalist for the Dylan Thomas Prize. Emezi has also written the romance You Made a Fool of Death with Your Beauty, the memoir Dear Senthuran, and the novel Little Rot. Emezi identifies as non-binary and uses they/them pronouns. Their work centers on queer, trans and Black characters and on spiritual experience. Eclipse & the Wolf is their first full fantasy novel.