Akwaeke Emezi, lauded as 'one of our greatest living writers' (Shondaland) and 'a once-in-a-generation voice' (Vulture), is a writer and artist using storytelling to centre indigenous Black realities and radical possibilities with the philosophy that re-indigenization is essential for liberation.Born and raised in Nigeria, Emezi's work spans literature, music, film, and visual art. They are the author of the New York Times bestseller The Death of Vivek Oji, which was a finalist for the Dylan Thomas Prize, the Los Angeles Times Book Prize, and the PEN/Jean Stein Award; Pet, a finalist for the National Book Award for Young People's Literature, a Walter Honor Book, and a Stonewall Honor Book; Freshwater, which was shortlisted for the PEN/Hemingway Award, the New Public Library Young Lions Fiction Award, the Lambda Literary Award, and the Centre for Fiction's First Novel Prize; and Dear Senthuran: A Black Spirit Memoir, which won the 2022 ALA Stonewall Prize for Best Nonfiction Book. Their romance novel You Made A Fool Of Death With Your Beauty was a Sunday Times bestseller, a 2023 NAACP Image Award nominee and is in development for the screen at Amazon Studios. Selected as a 5 Under 35 honouree by the National Book Foundation and featured on a Time cover as a Next Generation Leader, they are based in liminal spaces.

November 2025 Indie Next List

Akwaeke Emezi, lauded as 'one of our greatest living writers' (Shondaland) and 'a once-in-a-generation voice' (Vulture), is a writer and artist using storytelling to centre indigenous Black realities and radical possibilities with the philosophy that re-indigenization is essential for liberation.Born and raised in Nigeria, Emezi's work spans literature, music, film, and visual art. They are the author of the New York Times bestseller The Death of Vivek Oji, which was a finalist for the Dylan Thomas Prize, the Los Angeles Times Book Prize, and the PEN/Jean Stein Award; Pet, a finalist for the National Book Award for Young People's Literature, a Walter Honor Book, and a Stonewall Honor Book; Freshwater, which was shortlisted for the PEN/Hemingway Award, the New Public Library Young Lions Fiction Award, the Lambda Literary Award, and the Centre for Fiction's First Novel Prize; and Dear Senthuran: A Black Spirit Memoir, which won the 2022 ALA Stonewall Prize for Best Nonfiction Book. Their romance novel You Made A Fool Of Death With Your Beauty was a Sunday Times bestseller, a 2023 NAACP Image Award nominee and is in development for the screen at Amazon Studios. Selected as a 5 Under 35 honouree by the National Book Foundation and featured on a Time cover as a Next Generation Leader, they are based in liminal spaces.

November 2025 Indie Next List