Two Nigerian writers, Oghenechovwe Donald Ekpeki and Chinaza Eziaghighala, have been shortlisted for the 2025 British Fantasy Awards in the Best Anthology category for The Year’s Best African Speculative Fiction (2023), published by Caezik SF & Fantasy.
The British Fantasy Awards, organized by the British Fantasy Society, are among the most prestigious honors in genre publishing. This year’s jurors comprising Kristen Platt, Steven French, Ariana Weldon, Stuart Conover, and Jacqui Greaves will decide the winners, to be announced at FantasyCon 2025, one of the UK’s most anticipated speculative fiction events.
The full shortlist for Best Anthology includes:
- Nova Scotia 2, edited by Neil Williamson & Andrew J. Wilson (Luna Press Publishing)
- I Want That Twink Obliterated!, edited by Trip Galey, C.L. McCartney & Robert Berg (Bona Books)
- Fight Like a Girl 2, edited by Roz Clarke & Joanne Hall (Wizard’s Tower Press)
- Heartwood: A Mythago Wood Anthology, edited by Dan Coxon (PS Publishing)
- Bury Your Gays: An Anthology of Tragic Queer Horror, edited by Sofia Ajram (Ghoulish Books)
- The Year’s Best African Speculative Fiction (2023), edited by Oghenechovwe Donald Ekpeki & Chinaza Eziaghighala (Caezik SF & Fantasy)
Meet The Authors
Oghenechovwe Donald Ekpeki:
Born 19 January is a Nigerian speculative fiction writer, editor and publisher who was the first African-born Black author to win a Nebula Award. He has also received a World Fantasy Award, British Fantasy Award, Otherwise Award, and two Nommo Awards, along with being a multi-time finalist for a number of other honors, including the Hugo Award.
Ekpeki frequently writes about disability, class, inequality and other issues related to both colonization and decolonization. He also coined the term afro pantheology, which is a distinct genre of speculative fiction “conceived to capture the gamut of African works which, though having fantasy elements, are additionally imbued with African spiritual realities.”
Chinaza Eziaghighala:
A medical doctor and storyteller, she is a University of Iowa International Writing Program, Voodoonauts, and EbonyLife Creative Academy alumni. She has appeared in British Science Fiction Association’s (BSFA) Fission #2, Volume 1 anthology, Mythaxis, Planet Scumm, Metastellar, BrittlePaper, Afritondo, and BSFA’s Focus. She diversifies her writing by working as a screenwriter for TV and film and also moonlights as a budding film development executive. In her free time, she enjoys mobile photography, meditation, dancing, and spending time with loved ones, because she is a human being, not a human doing.
Congratulations, Oghenechovwe Donald Ekpeki and Chinaza Eziaghighala!
Bakare Oluwatobiloba
I write to educate, motivate and define history with literature. Just being me!
