Death of the Author

Lists

2026 Hugo Awards Finalists | Best Novel

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.

3 editions

Published by William Morrow.

ISBN:: 978-0-06-339114-7
Copied ISBN!
ASIN:: 0063391147

Reviews

Flauschbuch reviewed Death of the Author by Nnedi Okorafor

Strange, thought-provoking tale

5 stars

Two books rolled into one and then, a third book plays a decisive role. I loved the poetic excerpts from "Rusted Robots" and its reflections about friendship and enemies, how immediate existing conflicts keep the robots from fighting an existential threat in an echo of what happened to humanity. The main framing story takes place in the near future and sometimes appears a bit meandering but I felt contained a lot of observations about storytelling and family relationships. There's a big twist towards the end which give the whole book another meta layer. I plan to re-read it at some point.