Rewriting Fantasy Tropes on Race and Economy
Jordan Ifueko was only 13 when she wrote her debut novel, Raybearer, an Afrofantasy for young readers. When the book was finally published, it ended up on The New York Times best sellers list and is now being developed as a Netflix show.
Born to Nigerian immigrant parents, Ifueko wanted to see characters like herself in fiction and literature. Her third novel, out this month, is called The Maid and the Crocodile, and is set in the same universe as Raybearer and her second book, Redemptor.
Ifueko spoke with YES! Senior Editor Sonali Kolhatkar on YES! Presents: Rising Up With Sonali about how her new book upends racial stereotypes and subverts tropes about essential and domestic workers.
Sonali Kolhatkar
joined YES! in summer 2021, building on a long and decorated career in broadcast and print journalism. She is an award-winning multimedia journalist, and host and creator of YES! Presents: Rising Up with Sonali, a nationally syndicated television and radio program airing on Free Speech TV and dozens of independent and community radio stations. She is also Senior Correspondent with the Independent Media Institute’s Economy for All project where she writes a weekly column. She is the author of Rising Up: The Power of Narrative in Pursuing Racial Justice (2023) and Bleeding Afghanistan: Washington, Warlords, and the Propaganda of Silence (2005). Her forthcoming book is called Talking About Abolition (Seven Stories Press, 2025). Sonali is co-director of the nonprofit group, Afghan Women’s Mission which she helped to co-found in 2000. She has a Master’s in Astronomy from the University of Hawai’i, and two undergraduate degrees in Physics and Astronomy from the University of Texas at Austin. Sonali reflects on “My Journey From Astrophysicist to Radio Host” in her 2014 TEDx talk of the same name.
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