Akwaeke Emezi

1. Identity

• Name: Akwaeke Emezi (pronouns: they/them)
• Born: 6 June 1987, Umuahia, Abia State, Nigeria
• Nationality: Nigerian; Igbo and Tamil heritage. Based in the United States, and has lived in New Orleans [current residence to be verified].
• Language of writing: English

2. Biography

Akwaeke Emezi grew up in Aba, a market city in southeastern Nigeria, in a family shaped by Igbo heritage on their father’s side and Tamil heritage on their mother’s. Their childhood was marked by the country’s political instability. Together with their sister Yagazie, they found refuge early in fantasy novels and in the stories they invented. They began writing short stories at the age of five.

Emezi later moved to the United States to study, earning a master’s in public administration from NYU and an MFA from Syracuse [to be verified]. In 2017, they won the Commonwealth Short Story Prize for Africa. A year later, Freshwater established them on the literary scene.

The work is inseparable from a way of thinking. Emezi describes their practice as storytelling that centres indigenous Black realities, with the conviction that re-indigenization is a condition of liberation. They claim both an ọgbanje identity and a non-binary one. Their epistolary memoir Dear Senthuran makes this the very matter of the story, from bodily transformation to the ambiguities of success. In 2019, they became the first non-binary transgender author longlisted for the Women’s Prize for Fiction, which opened a debate about the categories literary prizes rely on.

Their work moves across forms: literary fiction, young adult fiction, romance, poetry and memoir. Emezi is also a video artist and musician, and released a debut EP in March 2024.

3. Published works

Novels (adult)

• Freshwater, Grove Press, 2018. French: Eau douce, Gallimard, 2020.
• The Death of Vivek Oji, Riverhead Books, 2020. French: La mort de Vivek Oji, translated by Blandine Longre, Gallimard, “Du monde entier”, 2023.
• You Made a Fool of Death with Your Beauty, Atria Books, 2022
• Little Rot, Riverhead Books, 2024
• Son of the Morning, Avon Books, November 2025

Young adult and middle grade

• Pet, Make Me a World, 2019
• Bitter, Knopf Books for Young Readers, 2022
• Somadina, Knopf, 2025

Memoir

• Dear Senthuran: A Black Spirit Memoir, Riverhead Books, 2021

Poetry

• Content Warning: Everything, Copper Canyon Press, 2022

Forthcoming

• Eclipse & the Wolf, an epic fantasy announced for 2027

Prizes and honours (selection)

• Commonwealth Short Story Prize, Africa region (2017)
• National Book Foundation “5 Under 35” (2018)
• Freshwater: Nommo Award for the novel and Otherwise Award (2019); finalist for the PEN/Hemingway Award and the NYPL Young Lions Fiction Award; longlisted for the Women’s Prize for Fiction, the Wellcome Book Prize, the Aspen Words Literary Prize and the Andrew Carnegie Medal
• The Death of Vivek Oji: Nommo Award (2021); finalist for the Dylan Thomas Prize, the Los Angeles Times Book Prize and the PEN/Jean Stein Award
• Pet: National Book Award finalist (Young People’s Literature), Walter Honor Book and Stonewall Honor Book
• Dear Senthuran: Stonewall Book Award for Nonfiction (2022)
• You Made a Fool of Death with Your Beauty: NAACP Image Award nominee (2023)

4. Presence in the Susu library

• Freshwater (Eau douce).