Discover The Vision Behind Afropantheology And African Speculative Fiction
Oghenechovwe Donald Ekpeki discusses Afropantheology, his anthology Between Dystopias, and his journey as a writer, editor, and publisher.
Oghenechovwe Donald Ekpeki is a celebrated Nigerian speculative fiction writer, editor, and publisher whose works have earned critical acclaim across the globe. With a career punctuated by numerous prestigious awards, including the Nebula, Hugo, and Locus, Ekpeki has become a leading voice in the African speculative fiction scene. His thought-provoking anthology Between Dystopias: The Road to Afropantheology has been widely praised, alongside his groundbreaking coinage of the genre label Afropantheology. As an advocate for African storytelling, Ekpeki’s contributions go beyond writing, having edited and published numerous influential works, and significantly shaping the discourse surrounding Black literature. In this interview, Ekpeki reflects on his creative journey, the inspirations behind Afropantheology, and his unique approach to balancing his multiple roles as writer, editor, and publisher. He also offers insightful commentary on the misconceptions surrounding African speculative fiction and shares his vision for the future of storytelling. His responses provide a rare glimpse into the mind of one of the most influential figures in contemporary speculative fiction.
Ekpeki is a pioneering force in African speculative fiction, reshaping narratives with his unique voice and vision.
What inspired you to create the new genre label Afropantheology, and how do you see it evolving in the future?
A: Afropantheology came naturally. It’s like picking a name. You exist before the name. I wouldn’t say I created Afropantheology, rather than that we discovered it. You don’t create a name. You discover it. I believe because things exist before we name them. Afropantheology was born out of the stories that I already tell. And that many like me tell. And the issues that we face while telling those stories. And the need for those stories. And the things that those stories do. Afropantheology was something we discovered to cater to all this. You see a name is a story. Afropantheology is like that. The story of our stories.
“Afropantheology was born out of the stories that I already tell. And that many like me tell.” – Oghenechovwe Donald Ekpeki
Your anthology Between Dystopias: The Road to Afropantheology has received critical acclaim. What was the most challenging part of putting it together?
A: I’ll say it wasn’t actually challenging at all. I’ve been putting together stories for a while. I’ve edited about half a dozen anthologies, half a dozen or so collections. I’ve put together hundreds of stories by countless writers. Worked with stories from inception, to creation, to editing, to publishing, to award stage & beyond. Even to adaptation & translation. Frankly, it was easy. I can do this in my sleep. Putting together a collection that represented a collective vision of just two people, one of them my co-author Joshua Omenga exceedingly brilliant, didn’t take much. And I may be no genius, but I have some experience, having edited/published like I said, hundreds of works, the most award winning/nominated works by African writers in the entire SFF industry, in near a century, since inception in fact. But if I just say something that was challenging I’d say…yeah, nothing.
As a writer, editor, and publisher, how do you balance these roles while maintaining your creative voice?
A: I don’t know if I balance them, if I have to. They flow into each other. You don’t have to balance the different parts of a river do you? They are one thing. The story, creating it, editing it, publishing it, promoting it. Translating it. They are all different stages of life for the story. Maybe it’s like raising a child. It’s still the same child. Every one of us is part of every story we hear, and part of every story we tell. It’s like they say a child is raised by a community, not just their parents. So whether my own stories, or those of others, in whatever stage it is, I just sort of let it carry me in its flow.
How has your background in law influenced your approach to speculative fiction and storytelling?
A: Studying Law interestingly contributed to my development as a storyteller. Case laws are stories. Clients tell stories. The lawyers are telling stories. In court, what comes out, that’s litigated, between the plaintiff and defendants, what the witnesses have to contribute, stories. Every participant in court is contributing to the grand story of the case. It’s a different kind of storytelling, but still a story. Interesting in its own way. A story collaborated on by a dozen or so people. One might be tempted to think of them as facts. But they are really just stories. Our perspectives make them stories. Even memories are stories, of things that happened, how we remember them. So law gave me that, a different way of looking at stories, and gave me stories to listen to everyday in class. But maybe I should have been focused on the academics of it, instead of the story of it. Perhaps I’d have done better in law school then. But that’s another story I gues.
What are some common misconceptions about African speculative fiction that you’d like to challenge?
A: That we need to challenge misconceptions about our stories. We are all just here to tell and live our stories. Misconceptions are stories you see. Racism is a story. Misogyny is a story. Stories of inferiority. A misconception is a story the holder tells themselves about us. That they live. If I decide to challenge, I’d be stepping outside my story, into their own, to live it with them. I’d rather go on telling my story, and perhaps let my story challenge their story. That way I get to live, in mine, not theirs. The thing with stories is, they die. Stories die eventually. Those misconceptions, those stories will die eventually. So I’d rather live, and let every other African storyteller live, than spending their life chasing after stories that will die.
If you could collaborate with any writer, past or present, on a speculative fiction project, who would it be and why?
I do collaborate with many writers, past and present. You see, any time you consume a writer’s work, you are collaborating with them, in the grand finish of the work. No story is wholly complete till it’s consumed. And so never completed ever, because there are always more people to consume them, and endless cycle of collaborating that happens across time. In that way I have collaborated with many many writers across time.
