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Broken Places & Outer Spaces
Finding Creativity in the Unexpected
0 of 1 copy available
Wait time: About 4 weeks
Nnedi Okorafor was never supposed to be paralyzed. A college track star and budding entomologist, Nnedi's lifelong battle with scoliosis was just a bump in her plan—something a simple operation would easily correct. But when Nnedi wakes from the surgery to find she can't move her legs, her entire sense of self begins to waver. Confined to a hospital bed for months, unusual things begin to happen. Psychedelic bugs crawl her hospital walls; strange dreams visit her nightly. Nnedi begins to put these experiences into writing, conjuring up strange, fantastical stories. What Nnedi discovers during her confinement would prove to be the key to her life as a successful science fiction author: In science fiction, when something breaks, something greater often emerges from the cracks.
In Broken Places & Outer Spaces, Nnedi takes the reader on a journey from her hospital bed deep into her memories, from her painful first experiences with racism as a child in Chicago to her powerful visits to her parents' hometown in Nigeria. From Frida Kahlo to Mary Shelly, she examines great artists and writers who have pushed through their limitations, using hardship to fuel their work. Through these compelling stories and her own, Nnedi reveals a universal truth: What we perceive as limitations have the potential to become our greatest strengths—far greater than when we were unbroken.
A guidebook for anyone eager to understand how their limitations might actually be used as a creative springboard, Broken Places & Outer Spaces is an inspiring look at how to open up new windows in your mind.
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Creators
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Series
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Publisher
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Release date
June 18, 2019 -
Formats
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OverDrive Listen audiobook
- ISBN: 9781508278603
- File size: 66728 KB
- Duration: 02:19:00
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Languages
- English
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Reviews
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Fans of Okorafor's Africanfuturist fiction will enjoy hearing her narrate her memoir and discovering some of the roots of her celebrated stories. Okorafor was a skilled athlete at age 19 when she had surgery to correct her worsening scoliosis. When she awoke, she found she was one of the unlucky one percent who become paralyzed during spinal surgery. In a warm and straightforward voice, Okorafor recounts her dawning realization that her legs no longer worked, her intense effort to reawaken her legs, and the visions she experienced during that time. When her body broke, she discovered a passion and skill for writing about creative and fantastical worlds. Writers looking for inspiration should seek out this audiobook, narrated with confidence by a masterful author. E.E.C. © AudioFile 2019, Portland, Maine -
Starred review from May 27, 2019
Novelist Okorafor (Akata Witch) explains in this eloquent memoir how a harrowing medical experience caused her to reevaluate her potential, realize new goals, and begin writing science fiction. Okorafor has always suffered from scoliosis and decided while in college to have surgery to repair parts of her spine. The risky procedure left her paralyzed from the waist down. She explores how, lying in her hospital bed, her dreams of running with siblings—something she wouldn’t do again—and hallucinations of insects (induced by her morphine IV) kick-started her conception of the fantastical worlds she would eventually put to page. Filling her work with affecting, rich descriptions, she explains both her realization of what has happened and her process of moving forward: “Battling through my paralysis ignited my passion for storytelling and the transformative power of the imagination.” While recovering, Okorafor, on a whim during an arts-and-crafts class, makes a clay figurine that becomes the inspiration for her first novel. Also included is Okorafor’s wonderful analysis of how personal tragedy affected the careers of Frida Kahlo and Mary Shelley. Okorafor’s gripping account of her recovery will inspire any reader.
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