Death of the Author

Published in 2025, Death of the Author is a metafiction novel by Nigerian American author Nnedi Okorafor. Okorafor is best known for her successful career as a science fiction writer, which began in 2001. Death of the Author draws from Okorafor’s experience as a Black writer with a disability while leveraging her experience with speculative elements to incorporate future technologies like artificial intelligence, robotic prosthetics, and commercial space travel. 

The novel centers around the character of Zelunjo “Zelu” Onyenezi-Onyedele, a Nigerian American author who writes a science fiction novel called Rusted Robots, which suddenly thrusts her into literary stardom. This sets off a sequence of events that dramatically upend the course of Zelu’s life and bring her directly into conflict with her parents and siblings. Okorafor’s story explores The Perils of Fame, Navigating Challenging Family Dynamics, and Asserting the Agency of People With Disabilities.

This guide refers to the hardcover deluxe limited edition, published by William Morrow in 2025.

Content Warning: The source material and guide feature depictions of death, ableism, racism, illness, mental illness, substance use, and cursing.

Plot Summary

The novel intersperses the narrative of Zelunjo “Zelu” Onyenezi-Onyedele with excerpts from her novel, Rusted Robots, and interviews with her family members, conducted by a journalist named Seth Daniels.

Zelu is a Nigerian American writer who has paraplegia, caused by a fall out of a tree when she was a child. Zelu belongs to the large family of Secret Wednesday Onyenezi, an Igbo man, and Omoshalewa Onyedele, a member of the royal Yoruba family of Ondo State, Nigeria. She has four sisters and one brother, all of whom are in the sciences. Zelu is the only member of her family with artistic inclinations, furthering her distance from them. Her extended family members from Nigeria are ableist and look down on her for having a disability.

While traveling to the wedding of her younger sister Amarachi, Zelu gets a call and is fired from her job as an adjunct creative writing instructor for criticizing a student’s work. At the wedding reception, she meets Msizi, an attractive South African start-up owner. When she experiences a panic attack after the wedding, Zelu impulsively begins writing a science fiction novel called Rusted Robots that externalizes years of annoyance with the human experience of embodiment.

Rusted Robots is set in a posthuman world populated almost exclusively by robots. The robots are separated into factions, depending on their perspective on humanity. Ankara, a Hume Scholar, is the main character of Rusted Robots and is a robot who reveres the human capacity for storytelling and roams the world in search of undiscovered stories. 

Ankara encounters an old robot named Udide the Spider, who warns her of a looming threat: A faction of robots known as Chargers have been destabilized by their exposure to the sun. The Chargers are now heading toward Earth, intent on destroying the planet. Udide renames the Chargers “Trippers” and urges Ankara to share news of the Trippers’ mission with the Hume leaders in Cross River City.

On the way to Cross River City, Ankara is attacked and incapacitated by a hostile faction of robots known as Ghosts, who are trying to rid the world of Humes. A woman named Ngozi, the last surviving human on Earth, saves Ankara by merging her consciousness with that of a stray Ghost named Ijele. 

Although their factions are sworn enemies, Ankara and Ijele form an uneasy alliance once they realize that they can no longer survive without each other. When Ngozi dies, Ankara travels to Cross River City, where she is recruited to serve in the Hume army and retaliate against the Ghosts. She is nearly executed after Ijele is discovered in her system. Ankara is anxious about the looming Tripper threat but is told that the Humes will give the threat their full attention once the Ghost conflict has ended. Ten days before the Trippers are due to arrive, Udide emerges from their tunnel to warn the Humes again. 

Ankara writes the first-ever story created by a robot, drawing on her experiences with Ngozi and Ijele for inspiration. The Trippers are cured of their need to destroy Earth. Affected by her experiences, Ijele decides to take on a physical form and search for herself. Ankara resolves to write a novel based on the life of Ngozi’s ancestor Zelunjo Onyenezi-Onyedele.

Zelu moves back into her parents’ house to finish writing Rusted Robots. Msizi encourages her to submit it to a major publisher, and she is immediately offered a three-book deal. The novel is also optioned for a film adaptation, and Zelu becomes a literary sensation overnight. At first, her family doesn’t take the news of her success seriously, but they come to realize that her news is real. Zelu’s novel is received positively by readers and critics alike, and the film adaptation is quickly developed.

A white inventor named Hugo Wagner reaches out to Zelu, offering to create a robotic exoskeleton, or exos, that will allow her to walk again. When Zelu shares this news with her family, they are upset, believing that Hugo wants to exploit Zelu and that her “transformation” into a robot will be unnatural. Zelu breaks contact with her family to undergo exos training with Hugo and his assistants, Marcy and Uchenna. After her training ends, Zelu decides to use her exos, and videos of her walking again go viral, renewing her family’s anger toward her. With her relationship with her family under strain, Zelu decides to move out of her parents’ house and into a private condominium she shares with Msizi.

The film adaptation of Rusted Robots premieres, and Zelu is angry that the entire story has been rewritten to cater to American audiences, losing its Nigerian influence and identity. Zelu has an outburst on a talk show when the host, Amanda Parker, interprets her exos as a sign that Zelu is ableist. She forsakes social media and, with the help of Msizi’s friend Wind, learns to step back and gain a better perspective on her life.

One year after the premiere of the Rusted Robots film, Zelu is contacted by Jack Preston, one of the richest men on Earth and the owner of #Adventure, a commercial space company. Jack invites Zelu to join him on their next space mission, but when her father dies, Zelu declines the opportunity. 

Zelu is prevented from honoring her father when his remains are buried in his ancestral village in Nigeria. Against her family’s wishes, she visits Nigeria with Hugo, Marcy, and Uchenna to reconnect with her roots. Zelu’s trip is marked by her renewed resolve to preserve her heritage and restore her ancestral home. However, her resolutions are disrupted by a kidnapping attempt, which she successfully escapes from with the use of her exos. She broadcasts the news of her failed kidnapping on Facebook Live.

Zelu returns home to the United States, where she learns that her live video caused her mother to have a panic attack. Zelu and Msizi decide to get married, and Zelu decides to deal with the trauma of her failed kidnapping attempt by learning how to use a gun. She reconnects with Jack and accepts his offer to go to space because it has been her dream since childhood. Although her family is initially upset, they come to accept that Zelu’s penchant for adventure is a fundamental part of her being. 

Several months before the launch, Zelu learns that she is pregnant. She worries that it will stop her from going into space and so keeps it a secret. Hours before the launch, however, she tells Jack. He offers to help her by administering an experimental treatment called “organic augmentation,” which will allow her pregnancy to survive the launch and life in space. In orbit, Zelu finally finds the inspiration she has been looking for to write the long-delayed sequel to Rusted Robots.