#209: Nnedi Okorafor, novelist

Rachel and Simon speak with the novelist Nnedi Okorafor. Nnedi is a prolific writer of science fiction and fantasy for adults, young adults and children; her best-known titles include the "Binti" trilogy, "Lagoon", the "Nsibidi Script" series and "Who Fears Death". Nnedi has won the Wole Soyinka Prize for Literature as well as the Hugo, Nebula, World Fantasy, Locus and Lodestar awards. Several of her books are currently being adapted for TV. We spoke to Nnedi about the hospital stay that led her to start writing, breaking into the worlds of science fiction and fantasy, and her latest novel, "Death of the Author". We have recently also overhauled our offer for those ⁠⁠⁠⁠who support the podcast on the crowdfunding site Patreon⁠⁠⁠⁠. Our central reward is a - now greatly expanded - sheaf of successful journalistic pitches, which we've solicited from friends of Always Take Notes. In the package we now have successful pitches to, among others, the New York Times, the Guardian, the New Yorker, the Financial Times, the Economist, the London Review of Books, Vanity Fair, Outside magazine, the Spectator, the Sunday Times, Esquire, Granta, the Literary Review, Prospect, Bloomberg Businessweek and GQ. Anyone who supports the show with $5 per month or more will receive the full compendium. Other rewards include signed copies of our podcast book (see below) and the opportunity to take part in a monthly call with the two of us to workshop your own pitches and writing projects. A new edition of “Always Take Notes: Advice From Some Of The World’s Greatest Writers” - a book drawing on our podcast interviews - is available now. The updated version now includes insights from over 100 past guests on the podcast, with new contributions from Harlan Coben, Victoria Hislop, Lee Child, Megan Nolan, Jhumpa Lahiri, Philippa Gregory, Jo Nesbø, Paul Theroux, Hisham Matar and Bettany Hughes. You can order it via ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Amazon⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ or ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Waterstones⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠.You can find us online at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠alwaystakenotes.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, on Twitter @takenotesalways and on Instagram @alwaystakenotes. Always Take Notes is presented by Simon Akam and Rachel Lloyd, and produced by Artemis Irvine. Our music is by Jessica Dannheisser and our logo was designed by James Edgar.