“Nature is the greatest artist and scientist,” writes Nnedi Okorafor, an award-winning author of African-based science fiction, fantasy, and magical realism for both children and adults. “If we human beings, with our rather brilliant, often flawed, sometimes evil creativity, joined forces with our creator (nature), as opposed to trying to control it and treat it like our slave, imagine the wonders we could create. If we worked with nature, we’d also avoid being the target of nature’s epic wrath. This is why when I write about technology, I naturally (pun intended) go in the direction things are already going, i.e. organic.”

Technology and its potentials have long fascinated Okorafor, who began writing science fiction thanks to the glimpses of the future she would see in Nigeria, which were far different from those she’d been exposed to in the West. For this presentation, Okorafor joins in conversation with Donna V. Jones, associate professor of English at UC Berkeley.

For more information, visit artsdesign.berkeley.edu.

Cosponsored with the UC Berkeley Department of Architecture’s Studio One, Department of African American Studies, and Department of English.