Vic Parsons, a non-binary critic, noted that the nomination presented unsettling issues, posing the following: “Would a non-binary writer who was given the gender of a man at birth have made the long list?” I hardly think so. When the panel chose the book, Emezi was unaware that she was non-binary, according to Women’s Prize judge Professor Kate Williams, who also said that Emezi was delighted to be nominated. Emezi was also honoured as one of the “ 5 Under 35” in 2018 by the National Book Foundation.įor the first time ever, a non-binary transgender author’s book, Freshwater, was shortlisted for the Women’s Prize for Fiction in 2019. Significant critical acclaim and nominations for many top prizes went to Freshwater. Emezi challenged her audience to consider this spirit/body binary critically as they examine the gender and spirituality of their Igbo background alongside that of the Western invention. Later, they travelled to Lagos, Nigeria, for a Nigerian writing workshop.įreshwater, Emezi’s first book, is a semi-autobiographical account of the protagonist Ada, an Ogbanje (an Igbo evil spirit). She enrolled in Syracuse University’s MFA creative writing programme in 2014, where she began composing the first draught of her debut novel, Freshwater. Emezi briefly launched a natural hair blog and a brief-lived anonymous sex blog, neither of which garnered much attention for her. She went to veterinary school after graduating from college but left before earning her MPA from New York University. She had her primary and part of her secondary education in Abia State before relocating to Appalachia, USA when she was 16 years old to attend college. She and her sister, Yagazie, used storytelling to escape the riots, authoritarianism, and perilous reality of their childhoods, Emezi began reading fantasy novels, which shows that when she was little, Emezi was a “voracious” reader, and at age five, they started to write short stories. Akwaeke Emezi was born on June 6, 1987, in Umuahia, Abia State, to an Igbo Nigerian father and a mother who was the daughter of a Sri Lankan immigrant who lived in Malaysia.
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