BOOKS


The Black Issue 2023 Author Interview: Kelechi Okafor


Kelechi Okafor’s short story collection skirts sci-fi, romance and humour with a deft touch


Lakeisha Goedluck @Lakeisharaquel 08 26th May 2023


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’m going to keep this [Instagram] video nice and brief because every time I’ve tried to record it, I’ve said things that are likely going to [end up] with me in jail.” With more than 124,000 followers on Instagram, Kelechi Okafor has a knack for social commentary. Covering press- ing issues ranging from the cost-of-living crisis to missing migrant children, Okafor injects her own brand of humour to deliver messages in a comprehensible manner that is funny without being facetious. Master of social media and host of her own podcast “Say Your Mind”, Okafor has rapidly garnered fans for her abilit to work with words across different mediums. So, it only made sense for the multihyphenate to add the title of author to her repertoire with the release of Edge of Here, her collection of short stories. Having spent her early years in Nigeria, Okafor moved


to England at the age of five with Yoruba as her native tongue. “I remember my step-dad saying to me, ‘You’re


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