Akata Witch

2011 novel by Nnedi Okorafor

Akata Witch (published 2011) retitiled What Sunny Saw in the Flames in the Nigeria and United Kingdom is a fantasy novel by Nigerian - American writer Nnedi Okorafor It was nominated for the Andre Norton Award and it is the first novel in the Nsibidi Scripts Series, where it is followed by two sequels Akata Warrior and Akata Woman published in 2017 and 2022 respectively.

Quotes

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  • I’ve always been fascinated by candles. Looking into the flame calms me down.”
    • Prologue, Page 1.
  • Their eyes met, and Sunny quickly looked away. When she turned back, Orlu was still watching her. She forced herself to keep her eyes on him, to really see him. He had slanted, almost catlike eyes and high cheekbones. He was kind of pretty, even if he didn’t talk much.”
    • Chapter 1, Page 13
  • Nothing was changing—but everything was. The room was as it was, the books, Orlu and Chichi, her schoolbag beside her. Outside she could hear a car passing by. But everything was… different. It was like reality was blossoming, opening and then opening some more. More of everything, but all was the same.”
    • Chapter 2, Page 33.
  • and because she has albinism, she tends to “confuse people.”
    • Prologue.


  • I’m Nigerian by blood, American by birth, and Nigerian again because I live here. I have West African features, like my mother, but while the rest of my family is dark brown, I’ve got light yellow hair… and hazel eyes that look like God ran out of the right color. I’m albino.
    • Sunny (Prologue)
  • Sunny is “improper.”
    • Chapter 3.
  • But I can tell there’s more to you. I just know it.”
    • Chapter 2


  • “People say stuff about people like you. That you’re all ghost, or a half and half, one foot in this world and one foot in another.” She paused. “That you can…see things.”
    • Chapter 2
  • Everyone thinks the old lady, the hunchback, the crazy man, and the albino have magical evil powers.
    • Chapter 2
  • Those are silly stereotypes about albinos. But in your case, I think there’s something to it.”
  • But I’ve always known of my Leopard inheritance and I’ve always been able to do small things like make mosquitoes stay away, warm my bathwater, things like that. Initiation meant something different to me than to you. It’s more a mark of beginning my life’s journey. Yours was, too—but it was also the actual beginning of your Self.”
    • Chapter 4
  • It’s as I taught you: the world is bigger and more important than you.”
    • Chapter 3.
  • Money and material things make you king or queen of the Lamb world. You can do no wrong, you can do anything.
    • Chapter 4

“Leopard People are different. The only way you can earn chittim is by learning. The more you learn, the more chittim you earn. Knowledge is the center of all things. The Head Librarian of the Obi Library of Leopard Knocks is the keeper of the greatest stock of knowledge in West Africa.”

    • Chapter 4.


  • Knowledge does not always evolve into wisdom.”
    • Chapter 6.
  • Her father believed that all one needed to succeed in life was an education. He had gone to school for many years to become a barrister, and then gone on to be the most successful child in his family.
  • (Chapter 2)
  • Things have a way of working themselves out,” Anatov said. “It’s as I taught you: the world is bigger and more important than you.”
  • (Chapter 3 )
  • Money and material things make you king or queen of the Lamb world. You can do no wrong, you can do anything.
  • (Chapter 4 )
  • Yes. Certain attributes tend to yield certain talents. […] Abilities are things people are able to do without the use of a juju knife, powders, or other ingredients like the head of an ebett. They just come naturally.”
  • (Chapter 6)
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