Acclaimed author Akwaeke Emezi used to smuggle romance novels into school

SINGAPORE - Acclaimed Nigeria-born author Akwaeke Emezi, 35, has had a whirlwind four years.

Since 2018, when Emezi's debut novel Freshwater was released - the writer has published seven books and written 10, with forays into genres such as memoir, fiction, poetry and now, romance.

You Made A Fool Of Death With Your Beauty tells the story of Feyi, a young Nigerian-American artist who is stepping back into the dating scene after her partner died in an accident.

She winds up with Nasir - a wealthy, good-looking man who whisks her away to a Caribbean island. In a twist, she finds herself drawn to his father, who happens to be a celebrity chef by the name of Alim Blake.

"I wanted to write something fun," says Emezi via Zoom from New Orleans. "All my other books are kind of heavy, and they weren't the easiest books to write."

Freshwater, a semi-autobiographical novel, features a protagonist by the name of Ada, an ogbanje (Igbo evil spirit).

The Death Of Vivek Oji (2020) is set in Nigeria in the 1990s and centred on a young man who suffers from unexplainable blackouts.

The memoir Dear Senthuran (2021) explores issues such as gender identity - Emezi identifies as non-binary transgender - and dysphoria.

Emezi, who has long been a fan of the romance genre, grew up reading mass-market Harlequin and Mills & Boon novels.

"In my secondary school, they were contraband - we weren't allowed to read them - but we smuggled them in anyway."

The title You Made A Fool Of Death With Your Beauty is a nod to the lyrics of Hunger by indie rock band Florence + The Machine: "Oh, and you in all your vibrant youth/How could anything bad ever happen to you?/You make a fool of death with your beauty."

"The way Florence writes is so poetic, and speaks to being alive and being in awe and in wonder of how vibrant someone else's life is. (Feyi and Alim) were so stunned by each other and in wonder of each other. It felt like the perfect title."

Emezi, who moved to the United States at 16, was born in Nigeria to a Nigerian father and a Malaysian mother of Sri Lankan heritage.

Emezi has had a busy year, which also saw the release of two other books - Bitter, the prequel to 2019 young adult novel Pet, and a poetry debut, Content Warning: Everything.

Last year, Amazon Studios won an auction for the screen rights of You Made A Fool Of Death With Your Beauty.

The prolific author has a list of 20 books to write - and is already halfway through, having just finished the manuscript for a "paranormal romance".

A fantasy novel - the first in a six-book series - has also been in the works since the author was 14.

Some of Emezi's favourite fantasy authors are Terry Pratchett, and Malaysian and Singapore writers such as Zen Cho and Neon Yang.

"The most helpful piece of advice I have received is to make sure I don't hand over my work until I'm happy with it. Not even to my agent, not even to my publisher.

"Even if someone says, hey, I think this book is ready and you don't think it's ready, disagree - and hold on to your work. The only person protecting the integrity of the work is the writer."

Emezi's works often explore lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender issues.

"My job is to tell stories about queer people, trans people, and to continue speaking up for us even when the consequences of this kind of advocacy are violent and personal, because people don't like the fact that I just won't shut up.

"I don't make my characters queer or trans because I'm queer or trans. I make them queer and trans because queer and trans people exist. We are part of this world, we are part of this reality."