02 - An afrofuturist book

[Lynn]

The first thing that comes to mind is Nnedi Okorafor's Binti series.

What others?

Listopia: https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/1...

[Johanne]

Something like Shuri, Vol. 1: The Search For Black Panther and Who Fears Death?
Basically anything Nnedi Okorafor?

[Milena]

Those are really good, Lynn, and also very short. I still have the last one to read.

I loved The Fifth Season, the whole trilogy.

[Krissy]

I just bought The Broken Earth Trilogy: The Fifth Season / The Obelisk Gate / The Stone Sky boxset yesterday so it with defs be The Fifth Season for me

[Sharmon]

Kindred is the book my daughter just read for her Diverse Lit class and her professor described it using Afrofuturist. She was already begging me to read it.

[Milena]

Sharmon wrote: "Kindred is the book my daughter just read for her Diverse Lit class and her professor described it using Afrofuturist. She was already begging me to read it."

Kindred was really good, but I don't know that it satisfies the futurist part of Afrofuturist.

[Taylor]

The Deep

[Sharmon]

Milena wrote: "Sharmon wrote: "Kindred is the book my daughter just read for her Diverse Lit class and her professor described it using Afrofuturist. She was already begging me to read it."

Kindred ..."
Okay good to know!

[Milena]

Sharmon wrote: "Milena wrote: "Sharmon wrote: "Kindred is the book my daughter just read for her Diverse Lit class and her professor described it using Afrofuturist. She was already begging me to read..."

I think there are other Octavia Butler books that might work.

[Drakeryn]

Some picks from my TBR:
- The Prey of Gods by Nicky Drayden - sci-fi set in South Africa. I was thinking of reading it this year because it involves "an emerging AI uprising," but it works for this too.
- The Black God's Drums (steampunk New Orleans) and The Haunting of Tram Car 015 (alt-history Cairo) by P. Djeli Clark

There's also War Girls if you're into grimdark YA.

[Sandra]

I'll probably read Shuri: A Black Panther Novel

[Darth Vix]

The Broken Earth Trilogy by N.K. Jemisin is sooo good.

Rosewater by Tade Thompson

The Prey of Gods and Escaping Exodus by Nicky Drayden

The Record Keeper by Agnes Gomillion

Do You Dream of Terra Two by Temi Oh I think is going to be my pick for this one.

[Melissa]

I've got War Girls already from the library, so that's going in the next year pile. The sequel just came out too, if you've already read the first. Rebel Sisters

[Ellie]

Do we have a good definition of afrofuturism? From the suggestions it seems to be a lot wider than I what I thought it was. I've read a lot of the books mentioned, so if I'm confused I can imagine a lot of non genre readers will be too!

[Shawna]

[Johanne]

@Ellie, maybe these definitions?
https://www.oxfordbibliographies.com/...
https://www.barnesandnoble.com/blog/s...

[Serendipity]

The Reading Women challenge had this as a category this year. There is a group for it on Goodreads so anyone looking for ideas could check that out, The Reading Women podcast also had an Afrofuturism episode - possibly two - this year.

[Caitlin]

Would The City We Became work? It's been on my TBR. If not I'll go with the Broken Earth books (same author)

[Ellie]

Caitlin wrote: "Would The City We Became work? It's been on my TBR. If not I'll go with the Broken Earth books (same author)"

I think from the articles Johanne shared, yes. I wasn't sure if fantasy counted but seems so!

[Jessica]

Would "The Children of Blood and Bone" work for this prompt?

[VanesGirl]

The Underground Railroad by Colson Whitehead

Colson Whitehead is one of the newer voices in Afrofuturism. In this book, he imagines the Underground Railroad as an actual railroad that moves through an alternative history in the antebellum South.

https://arapahoelibraries.bibliocommo...

[Catie]

This was actually a prompt for Seattle library's book bingo this past summer, so they have this list: https://www.spl.org/programs-and-serv...

[Milena]

The curators of that list disagree with me about Kindred. It's a really good book, either way.

[Victoria]

Milena wrote: "Sharmon wrote: "Milena wrote: "Sharmon wrote: "Kindred is the book my daughter just read for her Diverse Lit class and her professor described it using Afrofuturist. She was already be..."

Wild Seed is definitely Afrofuturist, it's weird and reinterprets the American settlers in relation to African slaves. Interesting read.

I'm going to read the Binti trilogy by Nnedi Okorafor; several of her books look like they fit the bill.

[Johanne]

@Jessica, I'm unsure about Children of Blood and Bone, but my immediate reaction is probably not. It seems a crucial point in defining this genre that it has to somehow touch upon African diaspora or being black as minority / suppressed. C of B and B is set in a sort of alternate Nigeria fantasy world, and there issues and struggles but not between races and being black is just the norm.

[Ellie]

But Rosewater and War Girls are set in Nigeria about Nigerians (and Biafrans)... The articles said something about being black as "normative" and imagining a different world for black people, whether past or future. So I don't think it has to be about racism?

[Johanne]

I stand corrected. Several people, including (I think) Adeyemi herself, Children of Blood and Bone 'writes itself in the afrofuturist tradition'.
Tor wrote something: https://www.tor.com/2019/02/11/introd...

[Lauren]

I read the Raybearer book earlier this year. So good. Really reminded me of Children of Blood and Bone. Would it fit this prompt? There is a sequel suppose to come out next year.

[Johanne]

Yes Ellie you're right. I forgot the part with black as normative. That really broadens the genre. God I love exploring unknown to me genres (or in this case I didn't know there was a genre name).

[Lisa]

Crosshairs by Catherine Hernandez?

[Teri]

I love new genres I've never heard of. These are the ones I want to choose from so far.

Binti by Nnedi Okorafor
Dawn by Octavia E. Butler
The Intuitionist by Colson Whitehead
Zone One by Colson Whitehead
Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison

[Becky]

When I googled Kindred, it definitely said it qualifies as afrofuturist.

[Richelle]

I think I will read
Children of Virtue and Vengeance

[Rachel]

Johanne wrote: "I stand corrected. Several people, including (I think) Adeyemi herself, Children of Blood and Bone 'writes itself in the afrofuturist tradition'.
Tor wrote something: https://www.tor.com/2019/02/1..."

Good to know! I was planning to read this series next year anyway, so this is the perfect place to slot it in.

[Lauren]

[Sara]

Does Black Leopard, Red Wolf work? I'm a little confused on the the definition of afrofuturist.

[Nadine]

Sara wrote: "Does Black Leopard, Red Wolf work? I'm a little confused on the the definition of afrofuturist."


It's confusing because there are multiple definitions! dictionary dot com's definition is pretty good: a cultural movement that uses the frame of science fiction and fantasy to reimagine the history of the African diaspora and to invoke a vision of a technically advanced and generally hopeful future in which Black people thrive: this movement is expressed through art, cinema, literature, music, fashion, etc.

Black Leopard, Red Wolf is a fantasy novel, BUT there's nothing really to say that it's not some far future version of our world, in which people have evolved to become wolf-people and spider-people and all the rest. So I think you could stretch the definition to include BLRW

[Dixie]

I loved Binti, so I'm going with Home and The Night Masquerade.

[Jen K]

I'm excited to read Who Fears Death for this one.

[Sara]

Nadine wrote: "Sara wrote: "Does Black Leopard, Red Wolf work? I'm a little confused on the the definition of afrofuturist."


It's confusing because there are multiple definitions! dictionary dot com's definitio..."

Thanks Nadine!

[Theresa]

Sara wrote: "Nadine wrote: "Sara wrote: "Does Black Leopard, Red Wolf work? I'm a little confused on the the definition of afrofuturist."


It's confusing because there are multiple definitions! dictionary dot ..."

I too was wondering ... figured it might stretch.

Also The Water Dancer by Ta-Nehisi Coates
N.K. Jemisin story collection How Long 'til Black Future Month?

[Stacey_johnhotmail.com]

The dark fantastic- ebony Thomas
Akata Witch by Nnedi Okorafor.
Remembrance by Rita Woods.
The Power by Naomi Alderman

[Johanne]

It seems I'm currently reading two afrofuturistic books: Children of Virtue and Vengeance by Tomi Adeyemi and The Rage of Dragons by Evan Winter so I expect this won't be hard for me.

[Lilith]

Drakeryn wrote: "Some picks from my TBR:
- The Prey of Gods by Nicky Drayden - sci-fi set in South Africa. I was thinking of reading it this year because it involves "an emerging AI uprising," but i..."



The Black God's Drums looks great!

You had me at Oya.

[Nadine]

I just stumbled across this Listopia that might be helpful as well:

African American Science Fiction

As with all Listopias, you have to check for yourself if the book fits, but at a glance, this looks like a good list of "afrofuturist" books.

[Chinook]

There’s almost nothing on that list that doesn’t interest me!

[Linda]

Milena wrote: "Sharmon wrote: "Kindred is the book my daughter just read for her Diverse Lit class and her professor described it using Afrofuturist.]"

Kindred is on lists of Afrofuturist books like this goodreads list: afrofuturism

When I google "Afrofuturist book" it's the third one I get.

[Nadine]

Chinook wrote: "There’s almost nothing on that list that doesn’t interest me!"



Right? It's like getting a plate of homemade cookies: It alll looks so good!!!! How do I choose just one???

(My daughters both made cookies this week, so ... that's what sprang to mind.)

[McKenzie]

Nadine wrote: "Sara wrote: "Does Black Leopard, Red Wolf work? I'm a little confused on the the definition of afrofuturist."


It's confusing because there are multiple definitions! dictionary dot com's definitio..."

"Hopeful" is the part of the definition that makes me think BLRW may not be a perfect candidate. There's a lot of unhappy people and questionable-to-corrupt leadership. Leans into "gritty realism" on occasion.

[SadieReadsAgain]

I'm going to give Kindred a shot for this.

Reading Women had a similar prompt for the 2020 challenge, and I really struggled as I'm not a big sci-fi/fantasy reader. I read Noughts & Crosses for it, and that's a good book. There's also an incredible BBC adaptation of it.