Feminist Page-Turners Series: Who Fears Death
February 28, 2018
6:00 PM - 8:00 PM
Location
Women's Leadership and Resource Center (WLRC)
Address
1101 W. Taylor Street, 3rd Floor, Chicago, IL 60607
Cost
FREE
Calendar
Download iCal FileJoin us for a lively discussion of Nnedi Okorafor's Who Fears Death (Daw Books, 2010). Participants will explore many themes that the book and characters grapple with including gender roles, queerness, culture, and spirituality. Facilitated by Dr. Lynette Jackson (UIC, African American Studies and Gender and Women's Studies).
About The Book
In a far future, post-nuclear-holocaust Africa, genocide plagues one region. The aggressors, the Nuru, have decided to follow the Great Book and exterminate the Okeke. But when the only surviving member of a slain Okeke village is brutally raped, she manages to escape, wandering farther into the desert. She gives birth to a baby girl with hair and skin the color of sand and instinctively knows that her daughter is different. She names he daughter Onyesonwu, which means "Who Fears Death?" in an ancient African tongue. Reared under the tutelage of a mysterious and traditional shaman, Onyesonwu discovers her magical destiny- to end the genocide of her people. The journey to fulfill her destiny will force her to grapple with nature, tradition, history, true love, the spiritual mysteries of her culture- and eventually death itself.
About the Author
Identifying as Nigamerican, Nnedi Okorafor is an international award-winning novelist of African-based science fiction, fantasy, and magical realism for both children and adults. Born in the United States to Nigerian immigrant parents, Nnedi is known for weaving African culture into creative evocative settings and memorable characters. Nnedi holds a PhD in English from UIC and is an associate professor of creative writing and literature at the University of Buffalo (SUNY).
-This program is the first of a series exploring contemporary feminist texts. Learn more at wlrc.uic.edu
-In celebration of 2018 UIC Black History Month
Date posted
Jan 17, 2018
Date updated
Jan 22, 2018