This is national poetry writing month. Yay! So, here is one poet I would like to dedicate this month to: Tracie Morris! Last Friday, I went to Speaking the Blues: An Evening of Poetry at the Whitney Museum. The event featured Harryette Mullen, Cornelius Eady, Patrica Smith, Fred Moten and Tracie Morris and her band. […]
Read More Basic Instructions Before Leaving Earth: Tracie Morris“Motherpounder!” That left me speechless! And by speechless, I am talking about Kenya Wright’s sequel to Fire Baptized, The Burning Bush. In this novel, Wright takes readers deeper into the fantasy world of the Santeria Habitat and main character, Lanore Vesta, expanding on the history and relationships of the beings who live there. Opening with […]
Read More Modern Griots Reviews: The Burning Bush by Kenya Wright*Tonight at 6:30pm, live podcast for “African Women and Girl Storytellers in the Digital Age.” *This weekend at Harlem’s Apollo Theatre, Blitz the Ambassador, Nneka, Freshlyground, The Soil and Lokua Kanza will be performing at Africa Now! I will be there at Saturday’s concert. * Kickstarter campaign for animated series, Spider Stories, pilot. Here is […]
Read More Moving on the Wires: Africa Now, Spider Stories, Steamfunk!, Peoples Science…In Octavia Butler’s time-traveling fantasy Kindred, the novel begins with the main character, Dana, losing her arm. Even without the ending, that is an unusual way to begin a story. Similarly, Tiphanie Yanique‘s mythic/mystical/religious storytelling in her short story collection How to Escape from a Leper Colony, includes in the title story, a character named […]
Read More Basic Instructions Before Leaving Earth: Phantom Limb, Octavia Butler’s “Kindred,” and Tiphanie Yanique’s “How to Escape from a Leper Colony”*Tonight illustrator and animator Tim Fielder will be sharing his work Matty’s Rocket— an episodic-animated series & web comic. The event will have guest appearances and readings from writers Liza Jessie Peterson and Melanie Maria Goodreaux. They will read Afrofuturistic pieces aloud while Fielder will illustrate their work on the spot! *Accra Dot Alt will […]
Read More Moving on the Wires: Tim Fielder, Oya: Rise of the Orisha, Live Unchained…After reading Kurt Vonnegut’s famous and controversial novel, Slaughterhouse Five, one of the other works that came to mind was Dead Presidents, starring Larenz Tate. Besides both works detailing veterans with PTSD, previously related to shell shock at that time, after witnessing the terror of war, they both tie together the psychotrauma of witnessing that […]
Read More The My-Stery: Slaughterhouse Five, Dead Presidents, War and PTSD, Pyschotrauma of Carnage, and The Escapist Fantasy*The Liberator Magazine released their latest issue, “The Last Generation of Black People.” My essay, “The Percussive Approach,” is one of the writings featured. Buy a copy here. *Accra dot Alt announced El Anatsui’s exhibition “Gravity and Grace: Monumental Works by El Anatsui” will be at Brooklyn Museum Also, go to Accra dot Alt for […]
Read More Moving on the Wires: The Liberator Magazine, El Anatsui, Anti-Robot Radio, Mother Tongue MonologuesTowns named after on Santeria gods and goddesses in Miami. Supernaturals forced to live in caged cities and branded with symbols. A city of fairies, vampires, trolls, shapeshifters, witches, mermaids, and pixies as pets. A love triangle and a romance between college revolutionaries who are fighting against social system hierarchy. A serial killer detective story. […]
Read More Modern Griots Review: Kenya Wright’s “Fire Baptized”After reading Ebony’s “7 Black Writers You Should Know,” I wanted to highlight a couple of them in a post. Besides technology reporter Jenna Wortham and her Girl Crush Zine, and Uzoamaka Maduka attempt to revilitalize the American literary magazine with The American Reader. the two writers that stood out to me were Kyla Marshell and […]
Read More Basic Instructions Before Leaving Earth: Kyla Marshell and Jason ParhamWhat 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 […]
Read More Modern Griots Review: Black Futurists Speak
Sherese Francis 