Akwaeke Emezi

Akwaeke Emezi (they/them) is the author of the New York Times bestseller The Death of Vivek Oji, 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 and a Walter Honor Book; Freshwater, named a New York Times Notable Book and shortlisted for the PEN/ Hemingway Award, the New York Public Library Young Lions Fiction Award, the Lambda Literary Award, and the Center for Fiction's First Novel Prize; Dear Senthuran: A Black Spirit Memoir; and a second young adult novel, Bitter. Their debut romance novel, You Made a Fool of Death with Your Beauty, was published in May 2022. Selected as a 5 Under 35 honoree by the National Book Foundation, they are based in liminal spaces.