Posted by Anne Gray on February 14, 2014 at 9:11pm
Detroit, MI – Detcon1, the 2014 North American Science Fiction Convention, is delighted to announce that Award-winning author Nnedi Okorafor will be attending Detcon1 as our Young Adult (YA) Author Special Guest.Ms. Okorafor holds a Ph.D. in English from the University of Illinois, Chicago. A graduate of the Clarion Writers Workshop in East Lansing, MI, and a professor of creative writing at Chicago State University, her first YA novel, 2005’s Zahrah the Windseeker, won the Wole Soyinka Prize for Literature in Africa and the Black Excellence Award for Outstanding Literature. Her second YA novel, 2007′s The Shadow Speaker, won the Carl Brandon Parallax Award. Other works include Long Juju Man, winner of the Macmillan’s Writers Prize for Africa, Iridessa and the Secret of the Never Mine, Akata Witch and a sequel, Breaking Kola, due in 2015. Adult fiction includes the World Fantasy Award-winner Who Fears Death, and short fiction “The Magical Negro,” “Wahala,” and “Spider the Artist.”Detcon1 Chair Tammy Coxen says, “We are thrilled to have Ms Okorafor as our YA Special Guest. Her narrative voice and use of African settings and folklore greatly enriches the young adult fantasy field.”Detcon1 will be putting a special focus on YA literature at the convention. In addition to having Ms. Okorafor as a guest, Detcon1 will also present two awards for YA and Middle Grade Speculative Fiction in a joint ceremony with the 2014 Golden Duck Awards. Anyone may nominate works for the awards; for more information, see http://www.detcon1.org/award/. Nominations must be received by 11:59 p.m. EST on February 28, 2014.Funding for the Detcon1 Young Adult Author Special Guest, Awards, and related Young Adult programming was provided by Chicon 7, the 70th World Science Fiction Convention, held in Chicago, IL in 2012.
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