A new anthology of African science fiction and fantasy stories is in the works. The collection is titled Africa Risen: A New Era of Speculative Fiction and will be published by Tordotcom in November 2022. The collection is edited by the power-house trio Sheree Renée Thomas, Oghenechovwe Donald Ekpeki, and Zelda Knight. Africa Risen is reminiscent of Sheree Renée Thomas’s Dark Matter anthology published back in 2014 and, which celebrates Black speculative fiction in the African Diaspora over the timespan of one hundred years.

The audience for African and African Diaspora fantasy and science fiction books, TV shows, and films has expanded in the past few years. The anthology contributes to this rapidly expanding scene. It features 32 original speculative fiction stories that “celebrate the vibrancy, diversity, and reach of African and Afro-Diasporic SFF and reaffirms that Africa is not rising―it’s already here.” Some of the included authors include Dilman Dila, Wole Talabi, and Tlotlo Tsamaase, whose works are also featured on Brittle Paper’s Locus award nominated collection Africanfuturism: An Anthology.

Sheree Renée Thomas is an award-winning fiction writer, poet, and editor. She has curated and edited a variety of collections and magazines including Waters: Tales of the Deep Blue, Nine Bar Blues: Stories from an Ancient Future, and The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction.

Oghenechovwe Donald Ekpeki is a Nigerian fiction writer and editor. He won the Nommo Award for best short story by an African in 2019, and has been a finalist for a variety major awards, including this year’s BSFA. You might remember him as the editor of The Year’s Best Speculative African Fiction (2021), which was featured in our 50 Notable Books of 2021. His writing has appeared or is forthcoming in Tor.com, NBC, Strange Horizons, Cosmic Roots and Eldritch Shores, Galaxy’s Edge and more.

Zelda Knight is an author, bookseller, publisher, and editor-in-chief of Aurelia Leo, an independent Nebula Award-nominated press. Zelda co-edited Dominion: An Anthology of Speculative Fiction from Africa and the African Diaspora, which won the 2021 British Fantasy Award for the same anthology.

Congrats to the editors! We can’t wait for november!

Pre-Order African Risen: Amazon