What does it mean to be a “Black Futurist?” Writer and media and technology strategist Kwan Booth gives a glimpse into it as part of the Black Futurist Collective, editing Black Futurists Speak, an anthology including a doctrine, essay, short stories and excerpts, and poetry. The collection was put together after multimedia literary performance took place at the Omiiroo Gallery in Oakland, California last year, which was curated by afrosurrealist D. Scott Miller.
Not only does the anthology center on a variety of futuristic black thought from afrosurrealism to black nationalism to black nerdom, the stories and poetry focus on themes like Octavia Butler’s novels, the mystical and gritty underworld, the interaction between lovemaking and technology, the potential of children and the loss of them, metamorphosis, guardian elders, the pursuit of knowledge in the body and mind, the ritual of music-making and the entering of a new space that is both familiar and not. There are also some pictures of the event at the end. Some excerpts from the book (which costs $1.99 on Amazon) and more photographs related to the book can be read at Booth’s tumblr.
Here is an interview with Booth on THE DIGITAL DRUMMER: Jim Neusom Urban Tech Talk on the Radio, where he discusses the book, and the latest media technology and avenues that people can use to produce, distribute and sell their own e-books.
Sherese Francis: Futuristically Ancient 