Quote by Nnedi Okofor: “Stories can conquer fear, you know. They can make the heart larger.”

Reading and hearing stories about people different from you stretches what you can feel empathy for. Stories are not escapism — they are a technology for expanding your capacity to understand experiences you have not lived and to face ones that frighten you.

Okofor published Who Fears Death in 2010, a speculative novel set in post-apocalyptic Sudan that engaged with themes of genocide, gender-based violence, and magic. It was published during a period when Afrofuturism was gaining wider recognition as a literary and cultural movement.

Nigerian-American author of science fiction and fantasy whose work draws extensively on African history, mythology, and culture. Her 2010 novel Who Fears Death won the World Fantasy Award, and she wrote the comic series Black Panther: Long Live the King for Marvel.