Abu and Obssa begin their read-through of Death of the Author by Nnedi Okorafor. They examine the three layers of the story: the present-day story of Zelu, the far-future robot novel she is secretly writing, and a string of interviews with the people who know her. They also break down Okorafor's career and where the book gets its title.
IN THIS EPISODE
Meet Zelu: a paraplegic adjunct professor and black sheep of a big Nigerian American family who gets fired and writes her way to a seven-figure book deal
Inside Rusted Robots, the novel within the novel, where a war between Humes and Ghosts take over a human-less Earth
Why Okorafor insists her work is Africanfuturism, not Afrofuturism, and the difference she draws
The Roland Barthes essay this book is arguing against, and how autobiographical the family really is
Where Abu and Obssa land after a third of the book, including who's Team Zelu and who's Team Chinyere
JOIN THE CLUB
Bookmark the reading schedule: https://sfbc.netlify.app/schedule
Join the conversation in our free Discord: https://discord.gg/bVrhwWm7j4
Get bonus content: https://www.patreon.com/scifibookclubpod
Watch video episodes and clips: www.youtube.com/@loreparty
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices