Nnedi Okorafor’s Lagune, a German translation of Lagoon¸ is a recipient of the Kurd Laßwitz Preis 2017. The prize is handed out annually to the best German science fiction works and translations.
The Kurd-Laßwitz-Preis started in 1981, named after the science fiction author Kurd Laßwitz, is the best-known science fiction award from Germany. The foreign-language category of the prize includes novels, stories, collections and non-fiction. Previous winners of the prize include Hans Joachim Alpers, Carl Amery, Herbert W. Franke, Ian McDonald, Michael Marrak, and Connie Willis.
In the long history of the prize, there has been no African representative winning this prize. Until 2017. That honour went to the Nnedi Okorafor’s novel Lagune the German translation to Lagoon first published in English in 2014. Lagoon subverts the usual Hollywood trope that when the aliens came to invade planet earth that they would immediately attack the United States with a focus on the president. In this story, the aliens land in Lagos. The German translation was published in October 2016 by Cross Cult.
Lagune went home with two prizes. The first was Best Foreign Science Fiction Work Published in German and the other is the Best German Science Fiction Graphical Art. The book cover was designed by Greg Ruth.
It’s a good time for Nnedi Okorafor who is currently in the running for the Hugo Awards as well as working on Black Panther and Wakanda Forever both for Marvel Comics. Her book Who Fears Death has also been commissioned by HBO with George R.R. Martin of Game of Thrones fame attached as executive producer.
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