Nnedi Okorafor: Sci-fi stories that imagine a future Africa
Nnedi Okorafor: Histórias de ficção científica que imaginam uma África futura
Nnedi Okorafor weaves African cultures into the evocative settings and memorable characters of her science fiction work for kids and adults. Full bio
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from a traditional family
de uma família tradicional,
university in the galaxy,
universidade da galáxia,
from my "Binti" novella trilogy:
da minha trilogia de novelas "Binti":
and said a silent prayer.
e fiz uma oração silenciosa.
to do if it didn't work.
fazer se não funcionasse.
or, more likely, a grain of sand,
ou, mais provavelmente, um grão de areia
I had to restart it over and over
tive de reiniciá-lo uma e outra vez
please not now," I thought.
pensei eu.
and I held my breath.
e eu sustive a respiração.
como uma pedra de oração,
slowly rose from the sand.
em seguida lentamente da areia.
the baggage-lifting force.
para levantar a bagagem.
to the shuttle on time.
a horas ao vaivém.
with my index finger and knelt down,
com o meu indicador e ajoelhei-me,
red clay into it.
de perfume suave.
along the dark desert road.
pela estrada escura do deserto.
I would make it there on time.
chegaria a tempo.
I paused and shut my eyes.
was pressing on my shoulders.
pressionava-me sobre os ombros.
part of myself for the first time
mais tradicional em mim,
and they had no clue.
e eles não faziam a mais pequena ideia.
exceto uma irmã e um irmão mais novos,
except for my younger sister and brother,
I'd do such a thing in a million years.
que eu fizesse algo assim.
what I'd done and where I was going,
do que eu tinha feito e para onde ia,
would growl to each other
os meus pais diriam um ao outro
to set foot in their home again.
pôr os pés na casa deles.
who lived down the road
e dois tios que viviam perto
the entire bloodline.
toda a sua linhagem.
to the transporter,
para o transportador,
around each ankle jingled noisily,
em cada tornozelo tilintaram,
when I didn't touch it.
funcionava melhor quando não lhe tocava.
sweat forming on my brow.
a formar-se na minha sobrancelha.
sitting atop the force field a shove.
no topo do campo de força.
and I breathed another sigh of relief.
e eu suspirei novamente de alívio.
of the Himba ethnic group.
do grupo étnico dos Himba.
into a university on another planet,
noutro planeta
of her people in her veins,
ways, even the land on her very skin,
forma de ser, até com a terra na sua pele,
she becomes not other, but more.
torna diferente, mas sim algo mais.
and then becoming more
e assim tornar-se mais
a different type of science fiction.
um tipo diferente de ficção científica.
classic science fiction and Afrofuturism
ficção científica clássica e Afrofuturismo
intelligent creatures on earth.
mais inteligentes à face da terra.
from a different evolutionary line,
evoluiu de uma linha evolutiva diferente,
of various forms of science fiction.
das várias formas de ficção científica.
societies, social issues,
sociedades, problemas sociais,
what's within our planet.
o que está dentro dele.
and most effective forms
e mais eficientes formas
has the same ancestral bloodline,
tem a mesma linhagem ancestral,
science fiction,
com raízes ocidentais,
de Jules Verne,
Robert Heinlein, etc.
de Robert Heinlein, etc.
wrote science fiction?
escrevesse ficção científica?
read much science fiction.
muita ficção científica.
colonization and seeing aliens as others.
a colonização
como estranhos.
who looked like me in those narratives.
refletido nessas narrativas.
to seek education from extraterrestrials.
educação junto a extraterrestres.
a line of classic space opera narratives,
de narrativa clássica da ópera espacial,
que corre profundo,
leave the planet on her own terms.
a sair do planeta nos seus termos.
had different ancestors,
tinha diferentes antepassados,
Nigerian immigrant parents
of classic science fiction.
da ficção científica clássica.
that led me to write science fiction.
que me levou a escrever ficção científica.
to Nigeria in the late '90s.
à Nigéria no fim dos anos 90.
with my family since I was very young.
desde muito pequena.
even wrote took place in Nigeria.
passava-se na Nigéria.
realismo mágico e fantasia
cosmologies and spiritualities.
tradicionais da África Ocidental.
the role of technology in Nigeria:
da tecnologia na Nigéria:
a ocuparem os cibercafés,
to my cousin's desktop computer
ao computador do meu primo
was always going on and off.
fez com que eu reparasse nestas coisas
that most Nigerians saw as normal.
consideravam normais.
gave birth to stories.
por dar à luz histórias.
a Lagos, na Nigéria?
from my novel, "Lagoon."
"Lagoon".
to the great mess happening in Lagos,
à grande confusão que acontecia em Lagos,
em África, aqui.
had portable, chargeable,
tinha aparelhos conectados,
communicating, connected devices,
'tweeting', comunicantes.
and posted online in some way,
e posto 'online',
is connected like a spider's web.
está ligado como uma teia de aranha.
dominated every international news source,
as fontes de notícias internacionais,
circle, pyramid and trapezoid.
sociais, círculo, pirâmide e trapézio.
past, present and future.
e no futuro, sempre misturados.
and ancestors who dwelled in Lagos.
poderosos que habitavam em Lagos.
of the people of Lagos.
dos habitantes de Lagos.
the supreme spider artist,
a aranha artista suprema,
beneath the city of Lagos,
por baixo da cidade de Lagos,
of extraterrestrials coming to Lagos.
dos extraterrestres a Lagos.
who was the size of a house
the past, present and future
o presente e o futuro,
and be a part of the story.
corre profundamente
as novas tecnologias,
and sociopolitical changes it'll inspire.
sociopolíticas que inspirará.
science fiction can be a will to power.
local pode ser uma vontade de poder.
ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Nnedi Okorafor - Science fiction writerNnedi Okorafor weaves African cultures into the evocative settings and memorable characters of her science fiction work for kids and adults.
Why you should listen
Nnedi Okorafor is an award-winning novelist of African-based science fiction, fantasy and magical realism. Born in the US to Nigerian immigrant parents, Okorafor is known for weaving African cultures into creative settings and memorable characters. Her books include Lagoon (a British Science Fiction Association Award finalist for best novel), Who Fears Death (a World Fantasy Award winner for best novel), Kabu Kabu (a Publisher's Weekly best book for Fall 2013), Akata Witch (an Amazon.com best book of the year), Zahrah the Windseeker (winner of the Wole Soyinka Prize for African Literature) and The Shadow Speaker (a CBS Parallax Award winner).
Her 2016 novel The Book of Phoenix is an Arthur C. Clarke Award finalist, while the first book in the Binti Trilogy won both the Hugo and Nebula Awards for Best Novella. Her children’s book Chicken in the Kitchen won an Africana Book Award. The final installment of the Binti Trilogy, titled The Night Masquerade, will be released in September 2017, and the sequel to Akata Witch (titled Akata Warrior) is was published in October 2017. Meanwhile, her book Who Fears Death has been optioned by HBO, with Game of Thrones' George R.R. Martin as executive producer.
Okorafor is a full professor at the University at Buffalo, New York (SUNY).
Nnedi Okorafor | Speaker | TED.com