Wole Talabi — Biography and Bibliography

Born on February 28, 1986, in Warri (Nigeria), Oluwole Talabi is a Nigerian chemical engineer, writer, and editor specializing in science fiction and fantasy. Holding a master’s degree in chemical engineering from Obafemi Awolowo University (Nigeria) and a master’s degree in chemical engineering from Imperial College London, he worked as an engineer before dedicating himself to writing. He currently lives in Malaysia.

Talabi is considered one of the major voices of “Nigerianfuturism” — a sub-genre he helped define with his anthology Africanfuturism (2020), published by Brittle Paper and a finalist for the Locus Award 2021.

In Brief

Key Dates

From Engineer in Nigeria to the Global Stage

Wole Talabi grew up in the Niger Delta, a region rich but weakened by oil extraction. From childhood, storytelling was a passion: Yoruba tales, One Thousand and One Nights, and the stories of his surroundings. He studied chemical engineering at Obafemi Awolowo University, then earned a master’s degree from Imperial College London — a dual expertise that shaped his approach: scientific rigor in service of speculative imagination.

Between 2011 and 2014, he regularly published short stories in online magazines such as TheNakedConvos, BellaNaija, and Klorofyl. He joined the collective #TheNakedConvos, which published the anthology These Words Expose Us (2014), followed by the horror anthology Lights Out: Resurrection (2016).

His global breakthrough arrived with Wednesday’s Story, published in Lightspeed Magazine in May 2016, which won the Caine Prize in 2018. His short story The Regression Test (F&SF, January 2017) received the 2018 Nommo Award. In 2019, his first collection of short stories and novellas (Incomplete Solutions) was published by Luna Press.

In 2020, he published Africanfuturism: An Anthology with Brittle Paper — the first anthology to explicitly engage with the concept of Africanfuturism, which he helped popularize. The book, offered free for download, was a finalist for the 2021 Locus Award.

His first novel, Shigidi and the Brass Head of Obalufon (DAW Books, 2023), is an urban fantasy thriller inspired by the Yoruba pantheon. It won the Ilube Award, the 2024 Nommo Award, and was a finalist for the World Fantasy Award. His second collection, Convergence Problems (DAW Books, 2024), was a finalist for the Locus Award for Best Short Story Collection.

He is also the editor of Mothersound: The Sauútiverse Anthology (Android Press, 2023), an anthology set in the Sauútiverse — a shared fictional universe focused on African worldviews.

Major Works (Novels and Collections)

Works (Edited Anthologies)

Sources and Biography

• Wikipedia : Wole Talabi — English Wikipedia
• The SF Encyclopedia : Talabi, Wole — SF Encyclopedia
• ISFDB : Wole Talabi — Internet Speculative Fiction Database
• Open Library : Wole Talabi — Open Library
• Official Wole Talabi Site — Personal website

• Africanfuturism: An Anthology — Anthologie de science-fiction africanfuturiste
• Convergence Problems — Nouvelles et novelette de science-fiction
• Incomplete Solutions — Nouvelles et novella de science-fiction africaine
• Lights Out: Resurrection — Anthologie de fantasy d'horreur africaine
• Mothersound: The Sauútiverse Anthology — Anthologie de science-fiction africaine
• Shigidi and the Brass Head of Obalufon — Roman de fantasy urbaine et espionnage spirituel
• These Words Expose Us: An Anthology — Anthologie de nouvelles nigerianes