Kabu Kabu
{{Short description|Short story collection by Nnedi Okorafor}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=March 2025}}
{{Infobox book
| italic title =
| name = Kabu Kabu
| image = File:Kabu Kabu.jpg
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| caption = First edition
| author = Nnedi Okorafor
| audio_read_by = Yetide Badaki
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| country = United States/ Nigeria
| language = English
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| genre = Speculative fiction, Africanfuturism, Africanjujuism
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| publisher = Prime Books
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| pub_date = September 29, 2013
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| pages = 264
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Kabu Kabu is a speculative fiction short story collection written by Nigerian American writer Nnedi Okorafor with stories in both Africanfuturism and Africanjujuism styles and themes. The collection was first published in 2013 by Prime Books.
Background
The collection includes the titular piece, co-authored by Alan Dean Foster, six other previously unpublished short stories, and 14 stories that had been previously published in other venues since 2001; with a foreword by Whoopi Goldberg.{{Cite web |last=Mandelo |first=Lee |date=2013-11-08 |title=We All Tell Stories About Her: Kabu Kabu by Nnedi Okorafor |url=https://www.tor.com/2013/11/08/book-review-kabu-kabu-nnedi-okorafor/ |access-date=2022-10-07 |website=Tor.com |language=en-US}} The title "Kabu Kabu" is gotten from name of the non-registered illegal cab that operates in some part of Nigeria.
Contents
- "The Magical Negro"
- "Kabu Kabu"
- "The House of Deformities"
- "The Black Stain"
- "How Inyang Got Her Wings"
- "On the Road"
- "Spider the Artist"
- "The Ghastly Bird"
- "The Winds of Harmattan"
- "Long Juju Man"
- "The Carpet"
- "Icon"
- "The Popular Mechanic"
- "Windseekers"
- "Bakasi Man"
- "The Baboon War"
- "Asunder"
- "Tumaki"
- "Biafra"
- "Moom!"
- "The Palm Tree Bandit"
Reception
Publishers Weekly gave Kabu Kabu a starred review and said the stories were "worth reading again and again",{{Cite magazine |date=October 21, 2013 |title=Kabu Kabu by Nnedi Okorafor |url=https://www.publishersweekly.com/9781607014058 |access-date=2022-09-29 |magazine=Publishers Weekly}} later including it in its 2013 "Top 10: Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror" books.{{Cite web |url=https://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/new-titles/adult-announcements/article/57938-fall-2013-announcements-science-fiction-fantasy-horror-growth-spurts.html |title=Fall 2013 Announcements: Science Fiction, Fantasy, & Horror - Growth Spurts |first=Rose |last=Fox |website=Publishers Weekly}}
For Tor.com, Lee Mandelo praised Okorafor's storytelling, but called the collection more of a sampler of her writing that draws readers to her other related works rather than a stand-alone story.{{Cite web |url=https://www.tor.com/2013/11/08/book-review-kabu-kabu-nnedi-okorafor/ |title=We All Tell Stories About Her: Kabu Kabu by Nnedi Okorafor |first=Lee |last=Mandelo |date=November 8, 2013 |website=Tor.com}}
Wole Talabi reviewed the book in Brittle Paper lamenting that it did not include more diverse tribal mythology of Nigeria, but overall commending the collection for making it clear that writers in the speculative fiction genre include Nigerians, Africans, and women—not just white men.{{Cite web |first=Ainehi |last=Edoro |url=https://brittlepaper.com/2014/11/review-nnedi-okorafors-kabu-kabu-wole-talabi/ |title=A Magical Journey! | A Review of Nnedi Okorafor's Kabu Kabu | by Wole Talabi |website=Brittle Paper |date=November 11, 2014}}
The audio performance read by Yetide Badaki was praised by Kat Hooper for the website Fantasy Literature, who also highlighted the African "settings, mythologies, folklore, food, flora, fauna, and other plot elements that are rarely seen in speculative fiction."{{Cite web |last=Hooper |first=Kat |date=April 26, 2019 |title=Kabu Kabu: Are you ready for a change of scenery? {{!}} Fantasy Literature: Fantasy and Science Fiction Book and Audiobook Reviews |url=https://fantasyliterature.com/reviews/kabu-kabu/ |website=Fantasy Literature |language=en-US}}
In a Strange Horizons review, however, Matthew Cheney felt that readers would better appreciate it instead as a sketchbook showing Okorafor working through her material, and that the book as a whole is much more interesting than any of its parts.{{Cite magazine |url=http://strangehorizons.com/non-fiction/reviews/kabu-kabu-by-nnedi-okorafor/ |title=Kabu Kabu by Nnedi Okorafor |first=Matthew |last=Cheney |issue=13 |date=January 13, 2014 |magazine=Strange Horizons}}
= Accolades =
In the 2014 Locus Award voting, the collection placed fourth in the Best Collection category.{{Cite magazine |url=https://locusmag.com/2014/06/2014-locus-awards-winners-2/ |title=2014 Locus Awards Winners |magazine=Locus Online |date=June 28, 2014}}{{Cite web |url=https://www.sfadb.com/Locus_Awards_2014 |title=sfadb: Locus Awards 2014 |website=sfadb.com |access-date=September 29, 2022}}
The audiobook release was also a finalist for the 2014 Audie Award in the Short Stories/Collections category.{{cite web |title=Audies Award Finalists and Winners 2020 |url=https://www.audiopub.org/winners/2020-audies |access-date=September 29, 2022 |website=www.audiopub.org |publisher=Audio Publishers Association |archive-date=October 28, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201028050205/https://www.audiopub.org/winners/2020-audies |url-status=dead }}{{Cite web |url=https://www.sfadb.com/Nnedi_Okorafor |title=sfadb : Nnedi Okorafor Awards |website=www.sfadb.com}}