FEATURED ON THE COVER OF TIME MAGAZINE AS A 2021 NEXT GENERATION LEADER “A once-in-a-generation voice.” – Vulture “One of our greatest living writers.” – Shondaland A full-throated and provocative memoir in letters from the New York Times bestselling author, “a dazzling literary talent whose works cut to the quick of the spiritual self” (Esquire) In three critically acclaimed novels, Akwaeke Emezi has introduced readers to a landscape marked by familial tensions, Igbo belief systems, and a boundless search for what it means to be free. Now, in this extraordinary memoir, the bestselling author of The Death of Vivek Oji reveals the harrowing yet resolute truths of their own life. Through candid, intimate correspondence with friends, lovers, and family, Emezi traces the unfolding of a self and the unforgettable journey of a creative spirit stepping into power in the human world. Their story weaves through transformative decisions about their gender and body, their precipitous path to success as a writer, and the turmoil of relationships on an emotional, romantic, and spiritual plane, culminating in a book that is as tender as it is brutal. Electrifying and inspiring, animated by the same voracious intelligence that distinguishes Emezi's fiction, Dear Senthuran is a revelatory account of storytelling, self, and survival.
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Exploring the boundaries between corporeality and the spirit world, speculative fiction and non-traditional memoirs centered on queer indigenous Black realities have reshaped contemporary literature. Akwaeke Emezi is a Nigerian writer and multidisciplinary artist whose debut novel Freshwater introduced readers to a narrative framed through Igbo metaphysics and non-binary embodiment. Born in Umuahia and raised in Aba, Nigeria, Emezi uses storytelling, visual art, film, and music to center radical possibilities and re-indigenization as essential paths toward liberation.
Emezi relocated to Brooklyn in the early 2010s as a poet and filmmaker, earning recognition when their short film Ududeagu won Best Short Experimental at the 2014 BlackStar Film Festival. After pursuing creative writing studies at Syracuse University, they published their debut novel Freshwater in 2018, earning widespread acclaim and nominations for the PEN/Hemingway Award, the Center for Fiction's First Novel Prize, and the Women's Prize for Fiction. Named a National Book Foundation 5 Under 35 honoree and a Time Next Generation Leader, Emezi published seven books over the next four years across multiple genres. These include the young adult novel Pet, a finalist for the National Book Award for Young People's Literature, and the New York Times bestselling novel The Death of Vivek Oji. In 2021, they released Dear Senthuran, a memoir in letters that won the 2022 Stonewall Book Award for Nonfiction. Emezi expanded into music with their debut EP Stop Dying, You Were Very Expensive! in March 2024, followed by their eighth book, Little Rot, published in June 2024 by Riverhead Books. Represented by Jacqueline Ko at The Wylie Agency and by United Talent Agency, Emezi is based in liminal spaces and has forthcoming 2025 releases including Somadina and Son Of The Morning.
Emezi's creative work is deeply rooted in the metaphysics of Black spirit, using indigenous ontologies as a lens to focus on embodiment, ritual, incarnation, and rememory. By exploring the space between human existence and spiritual realms, Emezi constructs narratives that center non-binary, spirit, and queer realities. Their writing spans speculative fiction, romance, poetry, YA literature, and memoir, deliberately subverting Western narrative structures and rigid categorical distinctions. Combining poetic language with emotional vulnerability, Emezi frames re-indigenization not merely as a thematic focus, but as a philosophy and essential rite for Black liberation.
