Who Fears Death has won the World Fantasy Award for Best Novel! See the full list of winners here.
And where was I when this awesome news was announced? In a maximum security jail in Chicago visiting one of my students who'd gotten into some trouble. I needed to make sure he was ok. He was. As much as he could be. He’s maintaining.
It was good to see him. He said he was enjoying the latest book I’d sent him- a copy of His Dark Materials. Regardless, seeing him there made my heart ache and eyes burn (as it did back in April). He’s a brilliant young black man.
I came out of there fighting sadness. So many young men of color, predominately black, locked up like animals. I'd noticed when I walked in that on the controls on the wall (which featured several buttons), the one marked "trouble" was flashing and beeping. Apparently (my student told me), someone had just been stabbed and was in bad bad condition.
So, I got into my car sat there for a few moments and then looked at my cell phone (you can't bring your cell phone into the jail). Even as I picked it up, it buzzed as it received another text. When I flipped it open, my eyes nearly popped out of my head. For several minutes I was in a sort of mental turmoil as my sadness battled my extreme happiness. I drove to my mother's house in a sort of shock (had to pick up Anyaugo).
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| Happy Flower by Anyaugo Okorafor |
But when I got there, my family had already heard the news from my editor and I could do nothing but give in to the happy dancing and confetti throwing. Now, week later, I sit here smiling.
I am really proud of this novel. I worked so hard on it. It worked so hard on me. This is beautiful.
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