Nnedi Okoroafors’ book “Who fears death in development in HBO

The Story…

HBO has optioned sci-fi fantasy novel Who Fears Death to develop as a series, with George R.R. Martin attached to executive produce, according to the book’s author Nnedi Okorafor, PhD. The author announced the news on her on her Twitter page.

My novel WHO FEARS DEATH has been optioned by @HBO & is now in early development as a TV series with George RR Martin as executive producer. pic.twitter.com/POF7Dj2hWP

— Nnedi Okorafor, PhD (@Nnedi) July 10, 2017

According to Deadline Hollywood, “The deal is not officially closed” and “HBO declined to comment. “Meanwhile, Martin, the author of Game of Throne, has clarified that while he is an executive producer on the project, that is the limit of his involvement.

“As usual, however, the internet is blowing this story all out of proportion, at least in regards to my own participation,” he wrote ob his blog. “I will be an Executive Producer on WHO FEARS DEATH but I will not be the Executive Produce, i.e. the show-runner. That’s an important distinction. Should we move forward, there will be a number of Executive Producers, and probably some Co-Executive Producers and Supervising Producers and Producers as well. This is television.”

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The Book
Who Fears Death was published in 2010 by DAW, an imprint of Penguin Books. The story is set in a fictionalized post-apocalyptic future version of Sudan, where the light-skinned Nuru oppress the dark-skinned Okeke. The protagonist, Onyesonwu (Igbo for “who fears death”), is an Ewu, the child of an Okeke woman raped by a Nuru man. On reaching maturity, she goes on a quest to defeat her sorcerous father Daib using her magical powers.

The book received the 2011 World Fantasy Award for Best Novel, and the 2010 Carl Brandon Kindred Award “for an outstanding work of speculative fiction dealing with race and ethnicity.” Okorafor followed Who Fears Death with a prequel, The Book of Phoenix, published by DAW in 2015.

The Author

Sidomex
We could not be more happy for the project under development. One might call it reflected glory, but wouldn’t you rather hear good things about Nigerians, at home and at the diaspora. Our people are incredibly talented, creative with strong work ethics and recognitions of their effort is surely an impetus that encourages everyone to be the best they can. We are incredibly happy for Dr Nnedi Okoroafor, and we wish her more success in future endeavours