A powerful journey from star athlete to sudden paralysis to creative
awakening, award-winning science fiction writer Nnedi Okorafor shows
that what we think are our limitations have the potential to become our
greatest strengths.
Nnedi Okorafor was never supposed to be paralyzed. A college track star
and budding entomologist, Nnedi's lifelong battle with scoliosis was
just a bump in her plan--something a simple operation would easily
correct. But when Nnedi wakes from the surgery to find she can't move
her legs, her entire sense of self begins to waver. Confined to a
hospital bed for months, unusual things begin to happen. Psychedelic
bugs crawl her hospital walls; strange dreams visit her nightly. Nnedi
begins to put these experiences into writing, conjuring up strange,
fantastical stories. What Nnedi discovers during her confinement would
prove to be the key to her life as a successful science fiction author:
In science fiction, when something breaks, something greater often
emerges from the cracks.
In Broken Places & Outer Spaces, Nnedi takes the reader on a journey
from her hospital bed deep into her memories, from her painful first
experiences with racism as a child in Chicago to her powerful visits to
her parents' hometown in Nigeria. From Frida Kahlo to Mary Shelly, she
examines great artists and writers who have pushed through their
limitations, using hardship to fuel their work. Through these compelling
stories and her own, Nnedi reveals a universal truth: What we perceive
as limitations have the potential to become our greatest strengths--far
greater than when we were unbroken.
A guidebook for anyone eager to understand how their limitations might
actually be used as a creative springboard, Broken Places & Outer
Spaces is an inspiring look at how to open up new windows in your mind.
