India, Aug. 29 -- Nigerian writer Chiagozie Fred Nwonwu was born in a quiet village in the south eastern state of Enugu. He writes under the pen name Mazi Nwonwu and curates and edits the country's foremost literary publication, Omenana magazine, which publishes African speculative fiction by writers from Africa and the African diaspora.

Ever since the magazine was launched in 2014, the state of African speculative fiction, particularly in Nigeria, has been transformed. The initial years, however, were difficult. Publishers in Nigeria rejected Nwonwu's works outright. The resultant frustration led to the formation of Omenana. As a result, writers from Nigeria and beyond now have a space to showcase their work. The genre too is no longer ...