February is Black History Month, and that means it's a great time to take stock of some of the Black creators who have helped mold the art forms we so love. In the realm of fantasy and science fiction books, there are a number of Black authors who have had a large impact on the genres. And while you shouldn't just be relegating your reading of them to February, this month is still an ideal moment to pause and appreciate all that Black artists have contributed. (And to add some new books to your TBR while you're at it.)
We're going to run through 16 authors who have helped shape the genres of fantasy and science fiction as they stand today. Some will be long-standing pillars of the speculative fiction space; others, rising stars who are charting its future. All have created works which have resonated deeply with readers, and are well worth checking out.
1. Octavia E. Butler
When it comes to Black sci-fi writers, Octavia E. Butler is a name that pretty much any fan of the genre should know. Butler published her first book in 1976 and remained a mainstay of the speculative fiction space until her death in 2006. She wrote a number of books which went on to have a massive impact on the genre and on future writers, including Kindred, Parable of the Sower, and Pattern Master. Time has only further solidfied Butler as one of the most influential Black sci-fi authors of all time; her works are shockingly prescient and just as relevant today as when she first wrote them. If you're looking to explore the history of Black authors in sci-fi and fantasy, there's no excuse not to check out Butler's work.
2. Charles Saunders
Another author who emerged in the 1970s is Charles Saunders, the pioneer of the "sword and soul" genre — essentially sword and sorcery, but with African cultural influences. Saunders' most famous work is Imaro, about a warrior who travels across the Africa-inspired land of Nyumbani in search of a home. It has drawn comparisons to Robert E. Howard's Conan the Barbarian, but Saunders brings his own vision to the warrior fantasy genre in a way that has made his works stand up to the other greats of the era.
3. Nisi Shawl
Nisi Shawl is an African American author, editor and journalist who has been publishing stories since the early 1990s. She is primarily know for her short fiction; saying Shawl is prolific feels like an understatement. She's written a lot, and many of her works are powerful, thoughtful meditations on how speculative fiction reflects the issues we face in the real world. Shawl has also been influencing other writers in the genre for years now, both through her written works as well as her teaching and convention appearances. And if you prefer longer works, Shawl has plenty of those as well, including the acclaimed neo-Victorian alternative history book Everfair.
If you're looking to add to your reading for Black History Month, I'd also highly recommend checking out this great rundown Shawl published in 2018, which charts some of the most important works from Black authors in sci-fi all the way back to the late 1800s.
4. N.K. Jemisin
N.K. Jemisin is probably the most famous Black speculative fiction author of modern times, and for good reason. Across numerous series, including The Inheritance Trilogy, The Broken Earth, Dreamblood, and The Great Cities, Jemisin has proven time and again that she's one of our most gifted authors, both in terms of the imagination and skill on display in her work, and having something to say about the times we live in. She is the only author to have won the Hugo Award for best novel three years in a row. Jemisin should be a standard on pretty much any fantasy and sci-fi fan's bookshelf.
5. Nnedi Okorafor
Another master of modern speculative fiction, Nnedi Okorafor has earned her place in the modern pantheon of greats with a number of powerful and award-winning works. Okorafor is a Nigerian American author who is best known for writing Africanfuturism and Africanjujuism — sci-fi and fantasy respectively which center Africa, its cultures, and myths. If you're wondering where to start with Okorafor's works, I'd recommend either the Binti novellas or Who Fears Death, a novel which is currently being turned into a television series at HBO. Okorafor's latest, Death of the Author, is also an absolute masterwork of modern speculative fiction that I cannot recommend highly enough.
6. Tomi Adeyemi
Tomi Adeyemi is the author of the Legacy of Orïsha YA fantasy series, which began with 2018's Children of Blood and Bone. This West African-inspired fantasy series tells the story of a young woman who discovers she has an ancestral gift for magic that the ruling empire has tried ruthlessly to stamp out, and aligns with the emperor's children to carve out a new future for her people. Adeyemi has only written this one series to date, but it's impact can't be overstated. Children of Blood and Bone sold millions of copies, catching on in the cultural zeitgeist in a similar way to The Hunger Games and bringing African-inspired YA fantasy to many people who had never before been exposed to it. It's even currently being developed as a film with an all-star cast helmed by The Woman King director Gina Prince-Bythewood.
7. Nalo Hopkinson
Nalo Hopkinson broke onto the speculative fiction scene at the end of the 1990s and has carved out a strong following for her incisive works which often drawn on Carribean history, oral storytelling traditions, and language. Hopkinson has worked as both an editor and author as well as a teacher and librarian, and has been influencing other writers for years. Her best known works are Brown Girl in the Ring and The Salt Roads. All of her books and short stories stand on their own, so there's no wrong place to hop into Hopkinson's body of work.
8. Sheree Renée Thomas
Sheree Renée Thomas is a prolific author of short fiction as well as an editor whose work has appeared in far too many publications to list them all here, garnering her numerous awards. She's also written for Marvel, penning short fiction as well as novel adaptations of Black Panther stories. Thomas' extensive short fiction work has made her a very recognizable figure in the fantasy and sci-fi space; her debut short fiction collection Nine Bar Blues: Stories from an Ancient Future, came out in 2020. She's also one of the co-editors of the forthcoming anthology Africa Risen: A New Era of Speculative Fiction, and also contributed to Janelle Monae's book The Memory Librarian and Other Stories of Dirty Computer. When it comes to Thomas' work, there are no shortage of places to start reading.
9. P. Djèlí Clark
P. Djèlí Clark is another rising figure in the sci-fi and fantasy space, but the works he's already put out have netted him numerous awards and nominations. Clark's most recent and largest work is A Master of Djinn, a novel set in an alternate history steampunk version of Cairo infused it with magic and myth from the region. Clark's impact on the sci-fi and fantasy genres is just starting to be felt, but it's already obvious he's an author who readers will likely be talking about for years to come.
10. Tochi Onyebuchi
Tochi Onyebuchi writes young adult fiction, much of which draws on Nigerian culture, or his real-life experience as a former civil rights lawyer. Onyebuchi's most recent and well-known work is Riot Baby, which came out in 2020. It tells the story of a young man named Kev who possesses telekentic powers, and is wrongfully incarcerated. It's a timely, prescient novel well worth your time.
Before Riot Baby, Onyebuchi published two novels in his War Girls sci-fi series which are set in a near-future Nigeria. His works are a great example of novels written for young adults which stretch well above their age range to impact adults as well.
11. Kwame Mbalia
Kwame Mbalia is best known as an author of middle-grade fiction. His Tristan Strong series is published as part of Rick Riordan Presents, an effort by Percy Jackson author Rick Riordan to highlight mythologies from different cultures, explored by writers who identify with them. All this is to say, if you're familiar with Percy Jackson, you'll have a good idea of the tone to expect from Mbalia's work. What sets these books apart is their focus on how African myth crossed over to the Americas, resulting in folkloric figures like the Tar Baby and John Henry. Mbalia brings those ideas to life in fantastical tales which are accessible to younger readers and enjoyable for parents, too.
12. C.L. Polk
C.L. Polk is the author of The Kingston Cycle, which began with the World Fantasy Award-winning novel Witchmark, as well as several other novels and shorter works. Polk's novels often feature queer characters and dig deep into societal injustices, while simultaneously telling enchanting stories with romance and mystery set in a gaslamp fantasy setting. Polk's work has already built a passionate following, and it's only going to grow as time passes and more readers discover their books.
13. Evan Winter
Like Tomi Adeyemi, Evan Winter hasn't published a ton of novels yet, but those he has put out have had an outsized impact. Winter is in the thick of writing his debut series, The Burning, which begins with The Rage of Dragons. It's set in an Xhosa African inspired fantasy world where a young man named Tau is launched onto a bloody quest for revenge after his father is brutally murdered by the corrupt ruling class. It's a sweeping epic very much in the vein of A Song of Ice and Fire or The Wheel of Time, and I hope that it opens the door to more books with African influences in that particular subgenre in the years ahead.
14. C.L. Clark
C.L. Clark is another newer author on this list, but she's already making quite a mark. Clark's debut novel, The Unbroken, was part of a new wave of sapphic fantasy novels that came out in the past few years, and it remains one of the biggest explosions from that recent boom in the genre. The Unbroken and its sequel, The Faithless, follow a conscripted soldier drawn into a complicated relationship with the princess of the ruling empire, exploring themes of colonialism and ancestral heritage in an East African-inspired setting which draws parallels to the French Revolution. Clark is already making a name for herself, but this could be a marquee year for the author. This month she releases a tie-in novel for the animated series Arcane called Ambessa: Chosen of the Wolf, and in the fall she'll follow that up with two more books: the highly-anticipated final installment in her Magic of the Lost series as well as a standalone fantasy novel titled Fate's Bane.
15. Suyi Davies Okungbowa
Suyi Davies Okungbowa is a Nigerian author currently living and teaching in Canada, and is another one of the sci-fi and fantasy genre's rising stars. Like Evan Winter, Okungbowa is in the thick of writing a sweeping epic fantasy series that draws on African culture and myths: The Nameless Republic, which begins in Son of the Storm. But Okungbowa doesn't just write fantasy; his latest work is Lost Ark Dreaming, a thought-provoking science fiction novella set off the coast of West Africa, where the survivors of a horrible climate crisis live inside a group of towers divided into strict socioeconomic strata. Those who can't afford to live on the higher floors live on the lower, which are being slowly flooded as the towers' stability erodes. Okungbowa is doing excellent work combining the fantastical elements of the sci-fi and fantasy genres with grounded ideas meant to push readers to examine the world around them.
16. L.D. Lewis
L.D. Lewis is an interesting entry on this list, because she's not best known as an author...yet. Lewis is a writer and editor who is one of the founders of FIYAH literary magazine, a speculative fiction publication which highlights the works of Black creators. FIYAH has won a bunch of awards over the years and been extremely well-received by readers; Lewis oversees many aspects of the magazine. If you're looking to dig into the works of Black authors, especially newer authors writing short fiction, FIYAH should be on your reading list.
Lewis herself is also about to make the leap to publishing novels. Later this year she'll be releasing her debut book, The Year of the Mer, which is a queer retelling of The Little Mermaid where Ariel's granddaughter is ousted from the human kingdom she rules and makes a bargain for vengeance with a notorious sea witch. Lewis has already had a huge impact on speculative fiction through her work with FIYAH, but it feels like she's just getting started.
The contributions of Black authors to fantasy and science fiction cannot be understated. And while Black History Month is a great time to highlight those contributions, every month is the right time to be reading works from Black authors. Hopefully this list helps you find some new favorite stories. Happy Black History Month, and happy reading!
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