Emezi’s debut novel Freshwater is heavily autobiographical, and wrestles with the limitations of existing in a single body. Akwaeke Emezi’s social media followers love the videos they posts of themselves dancing when they are in a particularly good mood—and, lately, they have had many reasons to celebrate. The Igbo and Tamil writer’s debut novel, Freshwater, was published to resounding praise in early 2018, prompting the sale of two future novels. Both the protagonist of their unflinching bildungsroman and the author identify as ogbanje—in Emezi’s words, “an Igbo spirit that’s born into a human body, a kind of malevolent This story is from Kinfolk Issue Thirty Buy Now Related Stories Arts & Culture Issue 39 Archive: Jean Stein Annick Weber chronicles the life of one of New York’s great storytellers. Arts & Culture Issue 39 Susanna Moore The sharp-eyed writer on high society and her supermodel past. Arts & Culture Issue 37 Anne Tyler The author of sprawling family dramas on her own epic half-century of writing. Arts & Culture Issue 37 Cult Rooms On a barren stretch of British coastline, Derek Jarman’s Prospect Cottage is a bold celebration of beauty against all odds. Arts & Culture Issue 37 Peer Review Michelle Dean, author of Sharp: The Women Who Made an Art of Having an Opinion celebrates Renata Adler. Arts & Culture Issue 35 Mieko Kawakami Meet the rising author who already longs for obsolescence.
Arts & Culture Issue 39 Archive: Jean Stein Annick Weber chronicles the life of one of New York’s great storytellers.
Arts & Culture Issue 37 Anne Tyler The author of sprawling family dramas on her own epic half-century of writing.
Arts & Culture Issue 37 Cult Rooms On a barren stretch of British coastline, Derek Jarman’s Prospect Cottage is a bold celebration of beauty against all odds.
Arts & Culture Issue 37 Peer Review Michelle Dean, author of Sharp: The Women Who Made an Art of Having an Opinion celebrates Renata Adler.
