Wole Talabi

Nigerian engineer, author and editor

Wole Talabi
Born	Oluwole Talabi (1986-02-28) 28 February 1986 (age 38) Warri, Delta State, Nigeria
Nationality	Nigerian
Other names	The Alchemist^[1]
Occupation(s)	Author, editor
Notable work	Africanfuturism: An Anthology (2020), Shigidi: and the Brass Head of Obalufon (2023)

Oluwole Talabi (born 28 February 1986) is a Nigerian speculative fiction writer, engineer, and editor,^[1]^[2]^[3] who is considered among the Third Generation of Nigerian Writers.^[4] His works include an amount of short stories; the anthologies These Words Expose Us: An Anthology (2014), Lights Out: Resurrection (2016), Africanfuturism: An Anthology (2020); his collections, Incomplete Solutions (2019) and Convergence Problems (2024); and the debut novel Shigidi and the Brass Head of Obalufon (2023). He was described in Scientific American as "an author who blends transhumanism and the Turing test".^[5]

Early life and background

Wole was born in Warri, Delta, a village in southern Nigeria.

He married Rocío Vizuete Fernandez in 2023 at Madrid, Spain.^[6]

Awards and recognition

Winner of ROSL Readers' Award in Caine Prize for African Writing.^[7]^[8]
Nominated for the 2021 Locus Award for Best Anthology.^[9]
Shortlisted for 2017 Nommo Award for Short Story ("Wednesday's Story").
Winner for 2018 Nommo Award for Short Story ("The Regression Test").^[10]
Winner 2020 Nommo Award for Novella (Incompleteness Theories)
Shortlisted for 2020 Nommo Award for Short Story ("When We Dream We Are Our God").
Finalist for the 2022 Jim Baen Memorial Short Story Award.^[11]
Shortlisted for 2022 Nommo Award for Short Story ("An Arc of Electric Skin").
Winner of the 2022 Sidewise Award for Alternate History, best short-form story ("A Dream of Electric Mothers").^[12]
Shortlisted for 2023 Hugo Award for Best Novelette ("A Dream of Electric Mothers")
Pending for 2024 Nommo Award Novel (Shigidi and the Brass Head of Obalufon)

Bibliography

Novels

Shigidi and the Brass Head of Obalufon (2023)

Collections

Incomplete Solutions (2019)
Convergence Problems (2024)

Anthologies

Lights Out: Resurrection (2016)
Africanfuturism: An Anthology (2020)
Mothersound: The Sauútiverse Anthology (2023)

Short Fiction

"Zombies" (2013)
"Crocodile Ark" (2014)
"Eye" (2015)
"A Short History of Migration in Five Fragments of You" (2015)
"Nested" (2016)
"Wednesday's Story" (2016)
"If They Can Learn" (2016)
"Necessary and Sufficient Conditions" (2016)
"I, Shigidi" (2016)
"The Last Lagosian" (2016)
"Home Is Where My Mother's Heart Is Buried" (2017)
"Nneoma" (2017)
"The Regression Test" (2017)
"The Harmonic Resonance of Ejiro Anaborhi" (2018)
"Drift-Flux" (2018)
"When We Dream We Are Our God" (2019)
"Incompleteness Theories" (2019)
"Abeokuta52" (2019)
"Tends to Zero" (2019)
"Comments on Your Provisional Patent Application for An Eternal Spirit Core" (2021)
"An Arc of Electric Skin" (2021)
"A Dream of Electric Mothers" (2022)
"Blowout" (2023)
"Aboukela52" (2023)
"Debut" (2024)
"Embers" (2024)
"Gamma (or: Love in the Age of Radiation Poisoning)" (2024)
"Ganger" (2024)
"Lights in the Sky" (2024)
"Nigerian Dreams" (2024)
"Performance Review" (2024)
"Silence" (2024)
"The Million Eyes of a Lonely and Fragile God" (2024)

References

^ ^a ^b Ryman, Geoff (7 February 2019). "Wole Talabi: 100 AFRICAN WRITERS OF SFF – PART THIRTEEN: THE TRAVELERS". Strange Horizons. No. 100. Lagos. p. 13. Retrieved 1 October 2021.
^ Walton, Jo Lindsay (29 April 2020). ""The big idea": An interview with Wole Talabi". Vector. No. 289. Retrieved 1 October 2021.
^ Moreno-Garcia, Silvia; Tidhar, Lavie (21 May 2021). "A magical selection of African speculative fiction". Borneo Bulletin Online. Retrieved 1 October 2021.
^ Umezurike, Chukwuebuka (23 January 2022). "New Nigerian Literature Unsung Heroes". ThisDay Newspaper. Retrieved 23 January 2022.
^ Brady, Amy (1 July 2021). "Exploring Black Sci-Fi, Learning through Color, the Cost of Cooling, and Other New Books". Scientific American. Retrieved 1 October 2021.
^ Ghosh, Kuhelika (25 August 2023). "Nigerian Speculative Fiction Author Wole Talabi Ties the Knot in Beautiful Summer Wedding". Brittle Paper. Retrieved 13 April 2024.
^ Brierley, Mark (2018). "WOLE TALABI WINS ROSL READERS' AWARD IN CAINE PRIZE FOR AFRICAN WRITING". Royal Over-Seas League. Retrieved 1 October 2021.
^ Report, Agency (16 May 2018). "Three Nigerians shortlisted for 2018 Caine Prize". Premium Times. Retrieved 10 October 2021.
^ Templeton, Molly (26 June 2021). "Announcing the 2021 Locus Awards Winners". Tor.com. Retrieved 1 October 2021.
^ Alumona, Kingsley (24 November 2018). "Talabi and Onyebuchi bag 2018 Nommo Awards". Nigerian Tribune. Retrieved 1 October 2021.
^ Korsgaard, Sean CW (8 March 2022). "2022 Jim Baen Memorial Short Story Award Finalists Announced". Baen. Retrieved 9 March 2022.
^ "2022 Sidewise Award Winners". Locus. 27 October 2023.