The Suyiverse Report #5

News and Announcements
Written By Suyi

Welcome to my 2025 outlook! My official author report for the past year & outlook for the next (see previous such reports) will do the usual: take stock of what I've spent the past 365 creating and publishing, what I've enjoyed, and what the next 365 may bring forth. This is a humongous post, so I’ve placed handy links here for you to jump to the section of your choice.

Awards | What I enjoyed | Highlights | Works-In-Process | What’s Next?

Award-eligible works

As usual, I’ll quickly re-highlight that Lost Ark Dreaming is eligible for all Best Novella and other Best… awards for book-length works in the SFF genre and beyond. If you’re nominating for any of the mainstream SFF awards (see a full directory of them), it would be an honour if you could consider this book. Off the top of my head, a few of the awards include (but are not limited to):

  • Nommo Awards (for best speculative fiction by an African)

  • Ignyte, Locus, & Ursula LeGuin Awards (jury-decided, but visibility and other nomination methods help!)

  • Nebulas & Hugos (the biggest SFF awards.) The Nebula Reading list already contains LAD; if you’re an SFWA member, please suggest them/give it a thumbs up! Reading List, Free copies for SFWA members

  • Prix Aurora Awards (Canada’s SFF awards)

  • British Science Fiction Association (all it takes one nomination to get on the longlist, so if you’re a member, please consider all works!)

  • Arthur C. Clarke Awards (LAD is science fiction, so is eligible!)

  • Etc. (again, see full directory).

Now, for a quick look back at 2024!

2024: What I enjoyed

In my last post if the year, I rounded up all the stuff I found notable. It featured 6 novels, 2 novellas, 1 story collection, 1 nonfiction book, 1 short essay, 4 podcasts, 5 TV shows and 3 films (plus a few late additions listed) and 1 Instagram account. Here’s the full thing below!

Featured
My 2024 Wrapped
Year-End Wrap-Up
My 2024 Wrapped
Year-End Wrap-Up

Author Suyi Davies Okungbowa shares some of the notable things he’s read, watched, listened to and found in the past year.

Read More →
Year-End Wrap-Up

2024: Highlights postcard

This past year was A Lot. I took more international trips than I’d anticipated and launched a book mid-year. I took a day trip to New York to meet with my agent and editors in person for the first time. I made a bunch of event appearances and signed lots of books. I met with my UK publisher while on vacation. I facilitated two, three, public workshops. And because I love mess, I also taught my biggest course load ever at the university this fall.

I ended up having to say no to a bunch of invitations, social and professional, and outsourced quite a bit of author stuff. Anything to squeeze out some more of that precious, precious commodity--time--for myself. So this year, I plan to do much, much better with protecting my time (he says, while already booking himself full through the year, lol). For now, here are a few highlights from 2024:

  • Row 1: @ the Tucson Festival of Books | w/ P Djeli Clark & Moses Ose Utomi | w/ Nalo Hopkinson

  • Row 2: Book launch for Lost Ark Dreaming in Ottawa

  • Row 3: Shenanigans @ Worldcon in Glasgow, including presenting at the Nommo Awards

  • Row 4: New Suns worldbuilding lab @ Artengine

  • Row : Propser with Dragons playtest @ Can*Con | @ the Dubai Museum of the Future

2024/25: Works-In-Process

Black Panther: The Intergalactic Empire of Wakanda, out April 2025

This one is all done and dusted. I just completed first pass pages before this post went up. I found myself surprisingly endeared by the story, the characters, the world, as I read; I hope it will endear itself to you in the same way. I expect to be promoting this sometime during the year, so watch out for any related appearances! (See my already scheduled appearances for the year in the list below.)

Season of the Serpent (The Nameless Republic #3) now scheduled for early 2026 (waaaah!)

I know, I know! I said this was going to be out in 2025, and I meant it! But then, you know what they say about making plans and the gods laughing. So, yeah. Things happened (much of which I can’t get into here, but suffice it to say that it’s a combination of personal/family stuff and publishing/industry matters). Season of the Serpent is now scheduled to hit your shelves in the first half of 2026.

But not to worry! I will make this worth your while by releasing early reads and excerpts for newsletter subscribers, as well as working toward producing new character art (the cover designers are working overtime on this one, by the way; it’s going to be fire!). As for the story, expect everything you’ve always loved about this series: more locations, more threats, new antagonists, and yet, the same old people we love (or love to hate), and the same old reasons to root for/against them.

Other stuff I’m working on

  • Prosper with Dragons: The card game Nicky Drayden & I have put together will begin crowdfunding on February 1, 2025. You can sign up to be reminded when the Kickstarter goes live. You may also follow us on Instagram for updates before then.

  • “Thunk!” I wrote this essay for Sarah Gailey’s Love Letters, which releases sometime in 2025 (and features a powerhouse list of writers). “Thunk!” is an ode to the sound a football makes when you strike it. I consider it my love letter to playing football since I was a child, and how doing so has kept me whole and alive.

  • “Boundless” is a short story I’ve submitted to an anthology (tentatively titled Forged In Fiyah) forthcoming from Tordotcom and helmed by some of the good folks at Fiyah Magazine. It follows a vagrant house sitter who encounters a strange child in the neighbourhood of a house they’re taking care of. Hijinks ensue, of course, but more than anything, it’s a story about the impressions we have about others we don’t really know, and the impressions they can leave on us when we open ourselves enough to receive them on their terms.

  • “Scenes from Breaking a Palm Kernel” is an unsold/unpublished short story I’ve been working on for a while now and that is almost complete. It’s inspired by the Aba Women’s War of 1929 and features a speculative, fictional reimagining of related events. Perhaps you’ll see this somewhere soon!

2025: What's Next?

In my last newsletter of 2024, I’ve outlined all the ways I’ll be slowing down in this new year. Aside hyping Black Panther when it launches and working to shepherd Season of the Serpent into your hands, I’m really trying everything I can to cool it (for the next 3 days, at least). I’m making a bunch of life adjustments, so this means a little less on the productivity front (I’m due a break anyway; I haven’t not published a book every year since 2019!). Overall, my biggest resolution is to scale back on much this year (I say this every year, but I mean it for sure this time!).

Regardless, I have a bunch of appearances I’ve already committed to this year. See a list below. Give me a shout out if I’m going to be in your city! I’ll be happy to connect.

Scheduled appearances so far (see events page for further details)

If you’re ever unsure about where to find me, I’m most active at my newsletter, on Instagram, and at Bluesky.

Have a jolly, grand, fulfilling new year!

— Suyi.

Suyi http://suyidavies.com
Next

My 2024 Wrapped