The award-winning Nigerian-American fantasy writer Nnedi Okorafor has landed a rare opportunity to write a storyline for the world’s top publisher of comic books and related media, Marvel Comics.
The 43-year-old writer broke the news of her new gig on Twitter last week, revealing that the script for the first issue of the comic series is already done and is currently being translated into illustration.
I wrote the first script for Black Panther: Long Live the King while I was in Arusha, Tanzania plagued by jetlag. So fitting.
— Nnedi Okorafor, PhD (@Nnedi) October 10, 2017
Many of her fans have congratulated her, saying they are eagerly waiting to watch as well as read her first issue.
I cant wait for the movie to come out; all the racist trash in this country is going to have a collective aneurysm.
— Eric O’mally (@eric_mally) October 6, 2017
But there are those who for one reason or another are not happy about the achievement. Some even think she got the job because she is “black”.
lol everything else you’ve written is trash. Go read any DC comic by Geoff Johns to learn how to write good stories.
— m a t t (@MattsNeetWorld) October 5, 2017
I’m not trying to discourage your success but your company @Marvel hired you because you’re black. That’s the only reason.
— m a t t (@MattsNeetWorld) October 11, 2017
Throughout her illustrious career, the American-born daughter of Nigerian parents from Igboland has received numerous accolades and honors, including the World Fantasy Award in 2011, the Macmillan Writer’s Prize for Africa, the Children’s Africana Book Award, among others.
She has also published a number of award-winning books, such as “The Shadow Speaker” and “Zahrah the Windseeker”, which won the Wole Soyinka Prize for Literature in Africa in 2008.
Her fantasy book “Who Fears Death”, which was published in 2010, is also being considered by HBO for a new TV show produced by George Martin, the creator of the internationally-acclaimed TV series “Game of Thrones”.
The Nigerian-American writer is also working on another Marvel comic series titled “Blessing in Disguise”, which was inspired by the kidnapped Chibok girls in Nigeria. Okorafor holds a PhD in English from the University of Illinois, Chicago.
by Fredrick Ngugi
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