Oghenechovwe Donald Ekpeki’s debut Afropantheology novel, the first in a trilogy, has been acquired by Shahid Mahmud, the publisher of Caezik Books, an imprint of Arc Manor, with Lezli Robyn serving as editor.
Birth of Orisha, the first book of The Orisha Cycle Trilogy, is set in the far future where nuclear war has wiped out nearly all life in Africa, and the environment and survivors in Ile-Ife are altered by the power of the place, developing powers to survive.
Arc Manor & its imprints have published the works of Joe Haldeman, Larry Niven, Seanan McGuire, Andre Norton, Mike Resnick, Harry Turtledove, Kevin J Anderson, Yaroslav Barsukov, Robert Silverberg, Jules Verne, HG Wells, Robert Heinlein, and others.
Both Shahid and Lezli published and edited Oghenechovwe Ekpeki‘s novelette O2 Arena, which made him the first and only African born writer to have won the Nebula award, and his anthology the Year’s Best African Speculative Fiction 2021 which made him the first African editor to have won the World Fantasy Awards, the only African and first Black editor alongside Sheree Renee Thomas to be nominated for the Hugo award best editor short form, and the first BIPOC, one of only five people ever to be nominated for the Hugo award editing and fiction categories in the same year.
He was also nominated for the Locus and British Fantasy awards for it. They also published his latest anthology, The Year’s Best African Speculative Fiction 2023, co-edited by Chinaza Eziaghighala, which is currently a finalist for the British Fantasy Award.
Oghenechovwe Donald Ekpeki’s debut novel, Birth of Orisha, is the first book in the trilogy known as The Orisha Cycle. It’s set in the far future where nuclear war has wiped out almost all life in Africa and the remnants of a once proud people must battle radiation, mutation, the environment, themselves – their own social norms they adapted for survival, and a world that wants to exploit or forget them, as they either rise from the ashes of their near extinction or get buried in it.
The novel seamlessly blends African spirituality with visionary science fiction to tell an epic story, weaving together psychic warriors, quantum technology, ancient rites, and soul-shaking moral questions.
The novel is Afropantheology, a subgenre Oghenechovwe Donald Ekpeki coined together with Joshua Uchenna Omenga, as a literary and philosophical framework for African spirituality. It also falls within the sub-genres of Afrofuturism, Africanfuturism, Science fiction, dystopia, horror, and others.
The novel will delight fans of N.K. Jemisin’s The Inheritance Trilogy, Nnedi Okorafor’s Who Fears Death, Tomi Adeyemi’s Legacy of Orisha, Marlon James’s Dark Star Trilogy, as well as God of War, Black Panther, and The 100.
There are already blurbs for the novel and its author, from some of the genre’s finest.
Oghenechovwe Donald Ekpeki is producing some of the most important new work in our field.
– Pat Cadigan. Hugo, Arthur C Clarke award-winning author of Fools, & Synners
Oghenechovwe Donald Ekpeki is one of the freshest and brilliant voices in SFF right now. Whether creating stories of near-future dystopias or the abstract horror of the slush pile, Ekpeki writes with a witty insight into the human condition that is at once wry and visceral. As if all the awards and nominations aren’t clear enough, this is one name to look out for.
– P. Djéli Clark. Award-winning author of A Master of Djinn
One of the most fascinating voices to grace the genre in recent years, Oghenechovwe Donald Ekpeki’s wild and electric imagination spins out sharp, wicked, and funny ideas with effortless ease.
– Adrian Tchaikovsky. Hugo and Arthur C Clarke award-winning author of Children of Time
Oghenechovwe Donald Ekpeki is a force of nature. The world of fantastic fiction is not the same now that his voice has risen to share his unforgettable stories.
– Tananarive Due, author of The Reformatory, Bram Stoker, and American Book Award winner.
Oghenechovwe Donald Ekpeki takes us exploring the rich borderlands that range between science fiction and the parent genres, those of myth, legend, and religion. Enriched by African traditions, Ekpeki’s Afropantheology quest is like no other.
-David Brin. Hugo, Nebula & Locus award winner, author of The Postman, Foundation’s Triumph (The Second Foundation Trilogy #2)
Oghenechovwe Donald Ekpeki is the most awarded African-born SFF writer, editor, and publisher, with many of his awards being firsts in their respective categories.
He’s written, edited and published some of the most awarded works, authors and scholars of Black SFF, numbering in the hundreds, in collections, anthologies and magazines, which have garnered laurels like the Hugo, Nebula, Locus, British Science Fiction, British Fantasy, World Fantasy, NAACP Image awards, the Otherwise, Sturgeon, Nommo, Ignyte, Sidewise, This Is Horror awards, the Caine Prize, made the Levar Burton Podcast, and been mentioned in The Guardian, Washington Post, NBC, BBC and others.
He is the first African-born writer to have won the Nebula, Locus, and World Fantasy awards, and the first Black person to have won the Asimov’s Reader’s award. He’s the first African-born writer to be a finalist in the Hugo award, the first Black person alongside Sheree Renee Thomas to have been a finalist in the Hugo award best editor, short form category, and the first and only BIPOC and one of only five people to be nominated for the Hugo award editing and fiction categories in the same year. He’s also won the Otherwise, Nommo, British Fantasy awards, and been a finalist in the Sturgeon, British Science Fiction, NAACP Image awards, and others
He’s the youngest person ever and was the first Black man to be a guest of honour at the International Conference for the Fantastic In the Arts, following past guests like the Nobel laureates Isaac Bashevis Singer and Doris Lessing, and authors like Ursula K Le Guin, Stephen King, etc. There, he coined the genre label Afropantheology to create a literary framework for African spirituality.
His works have been translated into multiple languages, including Chinese, Persian, Czech, Italian, Bengali, Dutch & others.
He was the first African to be elected to the executive boards of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers Association and the International Association For the Fantastic In the Arts, where he currently serves as the Virtual conference coordinator. He delivered the keynote speech at the Center For African Literature and Cultures Jadavpur University, India and has further been a guest of honour at CanCon in Canada, Stranimondi, the Italian Science Fiction Convention, and invited to other conferences in Europe, Asia and North America. He’s listed alongside Octavia Butler, Samuel Delany, Pauline Hopkins, George Schuyler, NK Jemisin & Colson Whitehead in the National Museum of African American History and Culture at the Smithsonian, for his contributions to Afrofuturism and Black Literature.
