diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index b377a33..20549b6 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -10,6 +10,8 @@ and this project adheres to [Semantic Versioning](https://semver.org/spec/v2.0.0
 ### Fixed
 
 - Calling `ovni_thread_isready()` after `ovni_thread_free()` now returns 0.
+- Emitting events in a non-ready thread now aborts the program with a
+  message rather than causing a segfault.
 
 ## [1.5.0] - 2023-12-15
 
diff --git a/src/rt/ovni.c b/src/rt/ovni.c
index 3c7bcdf..537a8fb 100644
--- a/src/rt/ovni.c
+++ b/src/rt/ovni.c
@@ -767,6 +767,9 @@ add_flush_events(uint64_t t0, uint64_t t1)
 static void
 ovni_ev_add_jumbo(struct ovni_ev *ev, const uint8_t *buf, uint32_t bufsize)
 {
+	if (!rthread.ready)
+		die("thread is not initialized");
+
 	int flushed = 0;
 	uint64_t t0, t1;
 
@@ -808,6 +811,9 @@ ovni_ev_add_jumbo(struct ovni_ev *ev, const uint8_t *buf, uint32_t bufsize)
 static void
 ovni_ev_add(struct ovni_ev *ev)
 {
+	if (!rthread.ready)
+		die("thread is not initialized");
+
 	int flushed = 0;
 	uint64_t t0, t1;