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Nnedi Okorafor is one of the most critically acclaimed writers in fiction today. She's won an Eisner Award, a Nebula Award, a Hugo Award, a World Fantasy Award, and many more. But you knew that already, didn't you? The prolific writer is back with a new novel called Death of the Author, which she spoke about on a panel at the LA Times's Festival of Books. Unlike Okorafor's previous work, Death of the Author is about a writer much like herself. 

"I've written predominantly what is considered science fiction and fantasy. And Death of the Author is my most personal, autobiographical work. It's fiction, but it's taken from me," says the author. "So it's natural that Zelu [the protagonist] would be a writer, and so that's the tip of it. But as I wrote her, I realized there were a lot of things that I had to say about writing, and they just came out very naturally in the story."

The writer was quick to also note that while Zelu from Death of the Author has a lot of commonalities with her, the character does things that Okorafor doesn't do - like smoke marijuana. So when you're reading Death of the Author, don't take everything that Zelu does as a 1:1 reflection of her writer. 

Death of the Author contributes to a vibrant tradition within fiction of writers examining writing and the "crazy" (Okorafor's words, not mine) folks who sit behind keyboards and put thought and feeling into prose. Most recently, Percival Everett's novel, Erasure, was adapted into the Academy Award-winning film, American Fiction, starring Jeffrey Wright. Will we see Okorafor's Death of the Author get the same cinematic treatment? We'll have to wait and see. 

Just like yourself, the Popverse staff spends a whole lot of time with our respective noses in respective books. It's why we've come up with stuff like:

• The hottest upcoming fiction
• Queer romance to add to your reading list
• A reading guide to Cassandar Clare's Shadowhunter Chronicles

...and a whole lot more. Join our metaphorical library, won't you? There are no late fees and you can be as loud as you want, so long as the people you live with are OK with it.