Between Dystopias: The Road to Afropantheology

Oghenechovwe Donald Ekpeki is a highly acclaimed, award-winning African speculative fiction writer, editor, and publisher in Nigeria.He has won the Nommo award twice, and an Otherwise and British Fantasy award. Hisnovelette “02 Arena” won the Nebula award, and is a Hugo award finalist, making him the first African to be a Nebula best novelette winner and Hugo best novelette finalist. The thought-provoking piece was also a finalist for BritishScience Fiction, British Fantasy and Nommo awards.He edits The Year's Best African Speculative Fiction anthology series, of which he's the first African Hugo award best editor finalist for Volume One. He’s the firstBIPOC to be a Hugo award finalist in fiction and editing categories in the same year, and The Year's Best African Speculative Fiction Volume One anthology he edited and published is also a Locus, British Fantasy and World Fantasy award finalist.He co-edited the Dominion anthology, Africa Risen anthology, and was a guest of honor at the 2022 Cancon and 2023 International Conference on the Fantastic in the Arts (ICFA).Hecurrently resides in Lagos, Nigeria.Joshua Uchenna Omenga is a Nigerian editor and writer of African speculative and literary fiction. His story, ‘The Deification of Igodo’ appeared in Tor.com (Africa Risen anthology) and in The Year’s Best Fantasy, Vol. 2 (edited by Paula Guran). His ‘Pet of Olodumare’ (co-written with Oghenechovwe Ekpeki) appeared in F & SF magazine. He has also appeared in Obsidian with his story, ‘The Phial of Olodumare’. He copy-edited Dominion: an Anthology of Speculative Fiction from African and the African Diaspora (Ekpeki & Knight eds.). He was a participant in the 2nd edition of the Mawazo African Writing Workshop (2018-2019). He resides in Nigeria where he combines literary writing with legal practice.