My Debut Afropantheology Novel Acquired By Publisher Of H.G. Wells, Jules Vernes, Heinlein, and G.R.R. Martin

My debut Afropantheology novel Birth of Orisha has been acquired by Shahid Mahmud, the publisher of Caezik Books, an imprint of Arc Manor, with Lezli Robyn editing.

They have also published the works of Joe Haldeman, Larry Niven, Andre Norton, Mike Resnick, Kevin J Anderson, Yaroslav Barsukov, Robert Silverberg, Jules Vernes, HG Wells, Robert Heinlein, GRR Martin and others.

They published my novelette O2 Arena, which made me the first & only African born writer to have won the Nebula award, and my anthology the Year’s Best African Speculative Fiction 2021 which made me the first African editor to have won the World fantasy awards, the only African and first Black editor alongside Sheree Renee Thomas to be nominated for the Hugo award best editor short form, and the first BIPOC, one of only five people to ever be nominated for the Hugo award editing and fiction categories, in the same year. I was also nominated for the Locus and British Fantasy awards, for it. They also published my latest anthology, The Year’s Best African Speculative Fiction 2023 co-edited by Chinaza Eziaghighala, which is currently a British Fantasy award finalist.

Birth of Orisha is set in the far future where nuclear war has wiped out nearly all life in Africa and the remnants of a once proud people must battle radiation, mutation, the environment, themselves, it blends spirituality with science fiction and takes on heavy moral questions. It is the first book in the trilogy titled The Orisha Cycle. It is a work of Afropantheology, a subgenre coined by I and Joshua Uchenna Omenga as a literary and philosophical framework for African spirituality. It also falls within the sub genres of Afrofuturism, Africanfuturism, dystopia, and horror.

The book has received blurbs from Pat Cadigan (“Oghenechovwe Donald Ekpeki is producing some of the most important new work in our field”), P. Djéli Clark (“one of the freshest and brilliant voices in SFF right now . . . this is one name to look out for”), Adrian Tchaikovsky (“wild and electric imagination”), Tananarive Due, (“His voice has risen to share his unforgettable stories”) and David Brin (“Ekpeki’s Afropantheology quest is like no other”).

I’m now represented for film/TV/media by Vince Gerardis of Starling Inc, the producer of Game of Thrones, House of Dragons, & the forthcoming Elden Ring movie. Also reps GRR Martin, Larry Niven, Joe Haldeman, the Heinlein, and Silverberg estates, amongst others and my literary agent is Trident Media’s executive vice president Mark Gottlieb.
TMG has also repped Kevin J. Anderson, Brian Herbert, Isaac Asimov, Marlon James, Tom Clancy, etc.