"Her best work yet... about fame and family, culture and change, the power of story, the writer’s life... and robots. This one has it all.” — George R.R. Martin

Recommended by New York Times Book Review • People • NPR • Rolling Stone • Los Angeles Times • Reader's Digest • and more!

In this exhilarating tale by New York Times bestselling and award-winning author Nnedi Okorafor, a disabled Nigerian American woman pens a wildly successful Sci-Fi novel, but as her fame rises, she loses control of the narrative—a surprisingly cutting, yet heartfelt drama about art and love, identity and connection, and, ultimately, what makes us human. This is a story unlike anything you’ve read before.

The future of storytelling is here.

Disabled, disinclined to marry, and more interested in writing than a lucrative career in medicine or law, Zelu has always felt like the outcast of her large Nigerian family. Then her life is upended when, in the middle of her sister’s lavish Caribbean wedding, she’s unceremoniously fired from her university job and, to add insult to injury, her novel is rejected by yet another publisher. With her career and dreams crushed in one fell swoop, she decides to write something just for herself. What comes out is nothing like the quiet, literary novels that have so far peppered her unremarkable career. It’s a far-future epic where androids and AI wage war in the grown-over ruins of human civilization. She calls it Rusted Robots.

When Zelu finds the courage to share her strange novel, she does not realize she is about to embark on a life-altering journey—one that will catapult her into literary stardom, but also perhaps obliterate everything her book was meant to be. From Chicago to Lagos to the far reaches of space, Zelu’s novel will change the future not only for humanity, but for the robots who come next.

A book-within-a-book that blends the line between writing and being written, Death of the Author is a masterpiece of metafiction that manages to combine the razor-sharp commentary of Yellowface with the heartfelt humanity of Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow. Surprisingly funny, deeply poignant, and endlessly discussable, this is at once the tale of a woman on the margins risking everything to be heard and a testament to the power of storytelling to shape the world as we know it.

BIO

Nnedimma Nkemdili "Nnedi" Okorafor is a Nigerian American writer of science fiction and fantasy for both children and adults. She is best known for her Binti Series and her novels Who Fears Death, Zahrah the Windseeker, Akata Witch, Akata Warrior, Lagoon and Remote Control. She has also written for comics and film.

REVIEWS

"Don’t be frightened by the title. Nnedi Okorafor is fine… and doing her best work yet. Death of the Author reads like three novels in one, or maybe four, about fame and family, culture and change, the power of story, the writer’s life… and robots. This one has it all.” -- George R.R. Martin

"Fans of masterful storytelling should definitely check out Death of The Author by Nnedi Okarafor. It blends genres in the most perfect way to be a suspenseful, timely and heartfelt read. I can’t wait for everyone to read this book!”  -- People Magazine, Monique Richburg

“I was captivated by the story—and the many stories-within-the-story—of this ambitious, inventive tribute to the power of storytelling itself.” -- Nikki Erlick, New York Times bestselling author of The Measure

[H]  William Morrow and Company  /  January 14, 2025

1.39" H x 9.17" L x 6.44" W (1.23 lbs) 448 pages