Nudibranch: the collection from MBE for Literature recipient Irenosen Okojie

Weird and wild . . . An extraordinary collection of surreal tales
Irenosen Okojie is one of our finest short story writers. Nudibranch is her second collection and in it her imagination runs riot. Linguistically inventive and always unpredictable, there is an emotional intensity and weirdness to her story telling that haunts and lingers
There are few writers who possess quite the boundless daring of Irenosen Okojie, whose second collection of short stories, Nudibranch, is dazzling, a feast for the senses, as well as a lesson in both
creative and existential bravery

Okojie writes immersive prose you can get lost in, lulling you into a false sense of security only to turn everything upside down within the space of a sentence . . . Disjointed, disorientating and unpredictable but in all the best ways, Nudibranch will leave you eager for more at every turn
A theme drifts through these strange stories like a ghost; the search, often thwarted, for a home, an identity, a place of safety . . . [Irenosen Okojie's] imagination and her lyrical writing come together [and] her fantastical, disjointed tales speak for our damaged, out-of-kilter times. They are, to borrow her phrase, full of warped, rhapsodic song
Okojie's imagination is frequently funny, and defiantly weird. Her slippery stories are not bound by logic, time or place; both within and between tales she dives between the genres of fable, dystopia, allegory, lyrically conceived realism, and horror
Okojie's latest collection is perfect for those of us who love a weird, moody story that settles in the body and doesn't move on quickly. Reminiscent of Helen Oyeyemi's What is Not Yours is Not Yours, with characters ranging from sea goddesses and a time-traveling homeless man to monks that skip between dimensions and appropriately creepy children of the future, these stories are as tightly woven as that blanket you find yourself under while reading. You'll need a flashlight with long battery life, because the prose is so fierce and melodic that you'll be up all night
Dark and lyrical
Surprising, seductive and often heartfelt, this is an entertaining selection that establishes Okojie as one of the country's most impressive writers
There's an irresistible lure to these disparate, experimental works reminiscent of Carmen Maria Machado, Kristen Roupenian or the gothic magic of Isabel Allende. This is writing at its most vital: poignant, performative and disturbing
An extraordinary and unforgettable collection from one of the finest literary imaginations working today
Nudibranch, is dazzling, a feast for the senses, as well as a lesson in both creative and existential bravery
Okojie's voice is singular and admirably uncompromising
Okojie's boldly captivating collection of stories Nudibranch is a thrilling mix of social surrealism and technical verve.
She does extraordinary things with language and image. The writing creates its own imaginative vocabulary. It is a masterclass in inventiveness, playfulness and creative courage.
A mesmerising, time-bending tour de force, full of intoxicating magic and intrigue. I was hooked from the first page.

Irenosen Okojie is a Nigerian British author whose work pushes the boundaries of form, language and ideas. Her novels, Butterfly Fish and Curandera, and short story collections, Speak Gigantular and Nudibranch, have won and been nominated for multiple awards. She won the 2020 AKO Caine Prize for her short story 'Grace Jones'. Her journalism has been featured in the New York Times, the Observer, the Guardian and the Huffington Post. She was a contributing editor for And Other Stories. She co-presented the BBC's Turn Up for The Books podcast alongside Bastille frontman Dan Smith and Simon Savidge. Her work has been optioned for the screen. She has also judged various literary prizes including being chair of judges for the Dylan Thomas Prize and the RSL Fellowship election panel. She was a judge for the 2023 Women's Prize for Fiction. Formerly the vice chair of the Royal Society of Literature, she was named a visionary artist in Red magazine's 'The next 25 visionaries to watch' and awarded an MBE for services to Literature. She is the founder and director of Black to the Future Festival.