Sunday, February 14, 2021 | 2:00 – 4:00 PM
Writing While Black: The Afrofuturistic Writer
Presenters:
Nisi Shawl, Author
Reynaldo Anderson, Author
Sheree Renée Thomas, Author (TBC)
Moderator: Dennis Britton, Department of English, University of New Hampshire, NH
In recent years, there has been an uptick, if not an actual surge, of works by science fiction writers of color, a literary genre where Black voices and characters have been historically absent. For writers of color the distinction between science fiction and fantasy, two imaginative genres is often blurred. Why? Because access to the scientific knowledge from which science fiction often is derived has been denied to people of the African diaspora for much of history. And the classification of what is and is not scientific is frequently a matter of dispute and Eurocentric. This panel will explore Black writers and characters in a genre where they have not been expected to excel.
