Sunny Nwazue
Sunny, the protagonist of the novel, is a 12-year-old Nigerian girl. However, Sunny doesn’t feel secure in her identity as a Black Nigerian, as she was born in New York and is albino. In…
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Orlu
Orlu is one of Sunny’s classmates and eventually becomes one of her best friends and a romantic interest. He’s about a year older, and Sunny knows him as a quiet kid who likes to…
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Chichi
Chichi is first Orlu’s friend and neighbor, but she soon becomes Sunny and Sasha’s friends as well. She’s brash, quick, and confident, and she’s never clear about her age—she could be older or…
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Sasha
Sasha is a Black boy from Chicago who’s been sent to Nigeria. Sunny identifies him as American from the moment she sets eyes on him based on his clothes and mannerisms. In Chicago, Sasha got…
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Black Hat Otokoto
The antagonist of the novel, Black Hat Otokoto is a magical Leopard Person and a ritual killer. His victims are all children, and he mutilates them and draws a line drawing of a hat on…
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Get the entire Akata Witch LitChart as a printable PDF.
Ekwensu
Ekwensu is a dangerous, powerful, evil masquerade. Black Hat Otokoto plans to bring her from the wilderness to the physical world, where she’ll bring about the end of the world. He succeeds—so Sunny and…
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Sugar Cream
Sugar Cream is one of the most respected figures in Leopard Knocks. She’s a fourth-level scholar and is the Head Librarian of the Obi Library, a great honor. Sugar Cream is an elderly woman…
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Anatov
Anatov is a Leopard scholar who lives just outside Leopard Knocks, and he’s Sunny, Sasha, Orlu, and Chichi’s primary Leopard teacher. His full title is Anatov, Defender of Frogs and…
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Sunny’s Mother
Sunny’s mother is a doctor who also takes on most of the housework to care for her husband, Sunny’s father, and her three children (Sunny, Ugonna, and Chukwu). Sunny thinks of…
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Sunny’s Father
Sunny’s father is a stern, traditional Nigerian man. Though he loves his wife, Sunny’s mother, and his two sons Ugonna and Chukwu, Sunny believes her father hates her: he never wanted a…
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Sunny’s Grandmother/Ozoemena
Sunny’s maternal grandmother, Ozoemena, was an esteemed Leopard scholar; she’s deceased in the novel’s present. Sunny grows up knowing little about her grandmother except that she was “strange,” and may have been mentally ill…
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Chichi’s Mother
Chichi lives with her mother in a mud hut next door to Orlu’s house. Many people in the neighborhood think Chichi’s mother is a witch, but Chichi’s mother is actually a magical Leopard Person…
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Udide
Udide, who never appears in person in the novel, is a giant spider and the “ultimate artist.” Depending on her mood, she switches between masculine and feminine pronouns (though Akata Witch almost exclusively uses feminine…
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Miknikstic/The Man
Miknikstic is one of the wrestlers who competes in the Zuma Wrestling Finals. He’s an extremely tall man, standing over seven feet tall, and his ability allows him to see a few seconds into the…
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Kehinde
Kehinde is Taiwo’s twin and is one of the scholars who lives in the Leopard Knocks area. He’s considered a recluse, as he lives deep in the Night Runner Forest and seldom leaves his…
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Taiwo
Taiwo is Kehinde’s twin and is one of the scholars in Leopard Knocks. She lives high in a tree, which she and visitors access with help of a Miri Bird named Nancy…
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Madame Koto
Madame Koto is one of the fourth level scholars who lives in Zuma Ajasco. As Anatov explains, she’s extremely knowledgeable—but she is, perhaps, corrupt. She’s wealthy in the Lamb and Leopard worlds, and it’s possible…
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Ibrahim Ahmed
Ibrahim Ahmed is one of the fourth level scholars who lives in Zuma Ajasco. Though Anatov notes that he’s extremely knowledgeable, he also suggests that Ibrahim might be corrupt—Ibrahim is wealthy in both the Lamb…
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Isong Abong Effiong Isong
The author of Fast Facts for Free Agents, Isong never appears in person in the novel. According to Anatov, she’s extremely intelligent and highly educated (she passed the fourth level). But she’s also…
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Godwin
Godwin is the captain of the green soccer team that plays at the Zuma festival. Sunny thinks he’s cute from the moment she sets eyes on him on the funky train to the festival. Though…
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Ibou
Ibou is the captain of the Zuma festival soccer match’s white team. He prioritizes brawn and skill over teamwork and having a good time, so although his team wins, he and his teammates aren’t happy…
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Miss Tate
Miss Tate is Sunny and Orlu’s English teacher. She’s a white woman and, until the novel begins, she’s Sunny’s favorite teacher. This changes, though, when Miss Tate becomes so enraged with her class’s poor…
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Minor Characters
Chukwu Nwazue
Chukwu is Sunny’s oldest brother. He’s a ladies’ man who tries to flirt with Chichi the one time Chichi visits Sunny’s house.
Ugonna Nwazue
Ugonna is Sunny’s older brother. He’s the middle child between Sunny and Chukwu.
Jibaku
Jibaku is a bully in Sunny and Orlu’s class. She leads several other kids in beating Sunny up on several occasions, though she leaves Sunny alone after Sunny calls forth her spirit face and terrifies Jibaku.
Periwinkle
Periwinkle is one of Sunny and Orlu’s classmates. He’s a bully who follows Jibaku in tormenting Sunny.
Nyanga Tolotolo
Tolotolo is Chichi’s father, and he’s Sunny’s father’s favorite musician. He never appears in the novel—indeed, Chichi barely knows him.
Mohammed
Mohammed owns the bookstore in Leopard Knocks.
The Miri Bird/Nancy
Taiwo’s Miri Bird, Nancy, is a giant bird that ferries people to and from Taiwo’s hut, which is hundreds of feet in the air in a palm tree. Nancy will only help people who treat her like a person, not just a dirty animal.
Junk Man
Junk Man runs a stall in the Zuma Lamb market, but he sells Leopard items. His stall is the go-to place to buy juju knives in Nigeria.
Jesus’s General
Jesus’s General drives the funky train to and from the Zuma Festival.
Yao
Yao is a boy Sunny meets at the Zuma Festival. He and Chichi have been feuding for a year, and though they profess to hate each other, Yao also seems to have a crush on Chichi. He encourages her to call a masquerade at the student social.
Mballa
Mballa is the commentator for the Zuma Wrestling Finals.
Sayé
Sayé is the winner of the Zuma Wrestling Finals. He lost his arm when he was younger, and this allowed him to discover his ability: his missing arm is now a ghostly arm that can transform into a variety of different shapes.
Kadiatou
Kadiatou is Miknikstic’s wife. A tall, dignified woman, she blesses Sunny when Sunny shares her experience with Miknikstic’s kindness and generosity.
Agaja
Agaja is one of the biggest, oldest, and most experienced players on the green team at the Zuma festival soccer match.
Ousman
Ousman plays on the green team at the Zuma festival soccer match.
Auntie Chinwe
Auntie Chinwe is Sunny’s mother’s sister; she lives in Atlanta with her husband and children. A free spirit, she studied dance. Sunny asks Chinwe to tell her about her grandmother, but Chinwe refuses to say much.
Della
Della is Sunny’s wasp artist. Sunny uses the pronoun “it” to refer to Della, rather than masculine or feminine pronouns.
Abok
Abok is an elderly blind scholar who sends Sunny, Sasha, Chichi, and Orlu to fight Black Hat Otokoto and Ekwensu. She knew Ozoemena.
Samya
Samya is a student studying at the Obi Library.
