Time for another instalment of It’s Lit. This month they discuss Afrofuturism.
I have to admit that my exposure to Afrofuturism outside of the MCU and music (see below) is limited to one aborted attempt at one of NK Jemisin’s novels. I do own Octavia Butler’s Wild Seed and Samuel Delany’s Babel-17… and haven’t read them yet. That should still get me cool points, right?
Which got me thinking about a point made in the video. Obviously, this genre is not new, yet my personal exposure is somewhat limited. So, just out of interest, I checked my library. No Du Bois, no Butler, no Womack. Jemisin and Tomi Adeyemi do feature. I guess you just need to be a very recent award-winning author to be picked up by libraries.
The point being, black storytelling does seem to face extra hurdles in reaching an audience. Aboriginal authors appear to face similar hurdles unless you’re a professor of writing at a major university and multi-award-winning author.
At least the video has some titles and authors we can all go out and buy.
With the success of Black Panther, the term Afro-Futurism got pushed into the mainstream. But what is Afro-Futurism and what is its place in Black storytelling? In this episode, we give you the starter pack on answering that question.
Hosted by Lindsay Ellis and Princess Weekes, It’s Lit! is a show about our favourite books, genres and why we love to read. It’s Lit has been made possible in part by the National Endowment for the Humanities: Exploring the human endeavour.
The greatest mashup you’ll ever hear:
Tyson Adams 