Nnedi Okorafor had never intended to become a writer; a talented track runner in her teens, Okorafor was a nationally-ranked athlete, and also excelled academically with a particular interest in the sciences. Her plan was to attend college on a track scholarship, and to become an entymologist after graduation. However, a diagnosis of scoliosis of the spine turned all of these plans upside down; paralyzed from the waist down by the degenerative disease. she turned to writing. Although she eventually regained the use of her legs, she was never able to resume her athletic career. She took a creative writing class during the spring semester of her junior year, and began work on her first novel shortly afterwards.
Who Fears Death, was Okorafor's first adult novel, and it takes place in post-apocalyptic Sudan; the darker-skinned Okeke is oppressed by the lighter-skinned Nuru; the protagonist is the child of an Okeke woman who was raped by a Nuru man. When she is old enough, Onyesonwu searches for her father by utilizing her magical powers, intending to defeat him. Her name means "who fears death".
The novel was inspired by an article written by Emily Wax in 2004 which addressed the Arabic use of rape as a weapon against black African women in Darfur. The novel itself includes a graphic rape scene, and also female genital mutilation, a traditional practice still found in Africa and the Middle East. This proved to be controversial but did not prevent the novel from being awarded a Nebula Award for Science Fiction Writing, and also the World Fantasy Award for Best Novel in 2011.
