Modern Griots Interviews: : Louis Chude-Sokei Part 2

Welcome back! Here is part 2 of my interview with Louis Chude-Sokei! You can read part 1 here. “…What will matter in the long term is the impact we have on the (Sci-fi) genre itself, not on its packaging or clichés…” 4) Science fiction and fantasy have in the past been centered around European/Western stories […]

Modern Griots Interviews: Louis Chude-Sokei Part 1

Happy New Year!!!!! Welcome back to Futuristically Ancient! Last year, I introduced to you all to the upcoming release of Louis Chude-Sokei’s The Sound of Culture. Well, the book is finally here and I had the privilege to interview Louis about his book and his research. Louis is a truth-speaker and an illusion-breaker who is […]

Modern Griots Recap: Poetic Fragments from the Afrofuturism Conference at The New School Part 2

Several months ago I attended the Afrofuturism Conference at The New School. While due to my other work I didn’t get a chance to do a recap of the event right after, it had a profound effect on me. I took all the notes I had from it and wrote a series of poems inspired […]

Modern Griots Recap: Poetic Fragments from the Afrofuturism Conference at The New School

Modern Griots Reviews: Nichol Bradford’s The Sisterhood

“Emancipate yourself from mental slavery, none but ourselves can free our minds…” – Marcus Garvey/Bob Marley Everyone wants to be free, but most people don’t know how to be free. Either we are physically enslaved and imprisoned, or we are mentally, spiritually, emotionally, and financially in bondage. The latter are mostly invisible chains; it is harder to be conscious of their […]

Modern Griots Interviews: Nichol Bradford and The Sisterhood Part 2

Welcome back to part 2 of my interview with Nichol Bradford, author of the novel, The Sisterhood! For a bit of a refresher, please read Part 1! In the second half of the interview, Nichol tells us more about her career and her vision for implementing aspects of video gaming into her work at the Willow Group, where […]

Modern Griots Interviews: Nichol Bradford and The Sisterhood Part 1

Syncing up with my work as the literary director of the Queens Book Festival, my first official return post is my long overdue interview with Nichol Bradford, author of the novel, The Sisterhood! Nichol Bradford has had an accomplished career, first as an executive in the gaming industry, and now as founder and CEO of […]

Modern Griots Reviews: Renegade Performance Group’s “The Inscription Project”

Graffiti and The Dance of Power Relations From its beginning almost 40 years ago, Hip-Hop culture has had afrofuturist tendencies, from costumes and sounds of artists like Afrika Bambaataa and Ramellzee to later Missy Elliot and her videos with Hype Williams; to the hacking of street lamps to power sounds systems and other innovative rewiring […]

Modern Griots Interviews: Aisha Cousins and Brer Rabbit The Opera

On Thursday and Friday, Brooklyn-based artist Aisha Cousins will present her work-in-progress, Brer Rabbit The Opera: A Funky Meditation On Gentrification, at BRIC House Ballroom as part of their Fireworks residency program. Directed by Letitia Guillory, and in collaboration with Greg Tate and Burnt Sugar the Arkestra Chamber, the production follows “…a black middle aged cool […]

Modern Griot Interviews: Janluk Stanislas and ‘Trafik d’Info’

I met Janluk Stanislas at a recent Caribbeing event and found out about his 2005 Caribbean futuristic short film, Trafik d’Info. As someone of Afro-Caribbean descent, I am always looking for speculative works from the Caribbean and so this excited me. Trafik d’Info, known as the first science fiction film from the Caribbean, centers on […]