Death of the Author

A Novel

De: Nnedi Okorafor

Narrado por: Liz Femi, Anthony Oseyemi, Jason Culp, Chris Djuma

Recommended by New York Times Book Review • People • NPR • Rolling Stone • Los Angeles Times • Reader's Digest • and more!

“This one has it all.” — George R.R. Martin • “As delicious as it is disorienting.” — Zakiya Dalila Harris • “Suspenseful, timely, and heartfelt.” — People • “Mind-bending.” — New York Times Book Review

In this exhilarating tale by New York Times bestselling and award-winning author Nnedi Okorafor, a disabled Nigerian American woman pens a wildly successful Sci-Fi novel, but as her fame rises, she loses control of the narrative—a surprisingly cutting, yet heartfelt drama about art and love, identity and connection, and, ultimately, what makes us human. This is a story unlike anything you’ve listened before.

The future of storytelling is here.

Disabled, disinclined to marry, and more interested in writing than a lucrative career in medicine or law, Zelu has always felt like the outcast of her large Nigerian family. Then her life is upended when, in the middle of her sister’s lavish Caribbean wedding, she’s unceremoniously fired from her university job and, to add insult to injury, her novel is rejected by yet another publisher. With her career and dreams crushed in one fell swoop, she decides to write something just for herself. What comes out is nothing like the quiet, literary novels that have so far peppered her unremarkable career. It’s a far-future epic where androids and AI wage war in the grown-over ruins of human civilization. She calls it Rusted Robots.

When Zelu finds the courage to share her strange novel, she does not realize she is about to embark on a life-altering journey—one that will catapult her into literary stardom, but also perhaps obliterate everything her book was meant to be. From Chicago to Lagos to the far reaches of space, Zelu’s novel will change the future not only for humanity, but for the robots who come next.

A book-within-a-book that blends the line between writing and being written, Death of the Author is a masterpiece of metafiction that manages to combine the razor-sharp commentary of Yellowface with the heartfelt humanity of Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow. Surprisingly funny, deeply poignant, and endlessly discussable, this is at once the tale of a woman on the margins risking everything to be heard and a testament to the power of storytelling to shape the world as we know it.

“An ambitious, inventive tribute to the power of storytelling itself.” — Nikki Erlick, New York Times bestselling author of The Measure

“A deeply felt dazzle. A blaze. It is true deep to the bones.” — Luis Alberto Urrea, Pulitzer Prize finalist and bestselling author of The House of Broken Angels

""There’s more vivid imagination in a page of Nnedi Okorafor’s work than in whole volumes."" — Ursula K. Le Guin

©2025 Nnedi Okorafor (P)2025 HarperCollins Publishers

The ending took me by surprise

I like the use of a story within a story and the timely AI material.

Wow. This novel within a novel is amazing.

We have broken through a meta wall - author and character collaborating creatively. Brilliantly taking the novel to a whole new place. Everything about this is perfect.

Really good book

I love the twist at the end. Equal doses of science fiction anazingness and African relativity. I really enjoyed it

The author’s best story yet

Beautifully written and recorded! Highly recommend listening. Having read many of the author’s books, I think this is her best yet. Loved the interwoven storylines.

creation flows both ways

You are shaped by those in your life and they are shaped by you. This story brought up so many parallels between culture & the individual and how we have to fight to reshape it and ourselves for survival from a disability, from a career change, from familial ties that hold us back, hell even survival from the end of the world. Storytelling and it's evolution are one of the tools to do just that.

I enjoyed the back and forth chapters of the author's real life and the life/plot of her creation: a story about creations long independent from their creators: Humes & No Bodies. Reading this i felt like I was in a constant fight against stagnant states but also rewarding evolutions toward a certainty of self. I recommend.

Incredible blending of stories within a story!!!

This book was so beautifully written! The main characters were so well developed! This novel pulls you in from the start and takes you along a beautiful journey of all involved!!! And the way this book came to an end was such a beautiful twist! Truly one of the best books I’ve read & listened to! I also def recommend buying the hard copy book as well as its cover(s) and pages make it easily the most beautiful book that I’ve ever purchased!

It made me travel back to Africa

Great story, great ending! I loved and sometimes was upset with Zelu. I do love her need for adventure and her rusted robot story. It made me travel through Africa now and maybe in the future 😉.

Good in a different sort of way

It is strange to listen to two stories in one book, but there you have it. One story is hard to call science fiction at all, it reads like a "this is my life" sort of story. Nothing much usual going on in that story, though I would like to know the power source for the long run as it seemed a little out of reach of the rig, that might be science fiction. But all that is a quibble the story was well told, the author can write well and told a good tale about an unusual life. The science fiction story is good, not as good as the way it is accepted in the book but still an ok story.

The mix of the two produces a good book. Worth the read.

The unique story telling

A stunning piece of literature. A thought provoking story within a story within a story! A must read/listen! The author has created a brilliant paradox!

WOW!!!

I loved it!!!! The characters everything. GREAT WORK!!! Thank you for your talents and sharing them with the world.