The Afrofuturist Summer Book Series: M'Shai Dash and Lawrence Brown

Dr. Lawrence Brown will join us to explore independent Black speculative fiction projects in our new summer series! He will talk with three authors about their novels, screenplays, and comic books that imaginatively explore Black futures and alter destinies. Their quirky and creative visions are situated in Baltimore and the DMV. Their works leap beyond our collective calamity to forge future flourishing.

The first fun and inspiring conversation will feature author M'Shai Dash, whose short story collections Quirky Black Sci-Fi Tales, Vols. I and II, weave Black Feminist Futurism with the fantasticism of the universe. In spellbinding tales, we are introduced to Black heroines on the verge of upending the world they know, while using courage they never knew they had. As the women confront monsters of both the human and inhuman kind, each woman is catapulted into quests of self-discovery that illuminates their force within the universe.

Come on over to the Ivy patio for a summer night of whimsical visioning!

Books will be available for sale at the event.

M'Shai S. Dash is an author, writer, and speaker from Washington, D.C. In her work, Dash focuses on the ways creatives can transform adversity into purpose and art. Her recent releases are a volume of poetry titled Woman In Sujud, and Quirky Black Sci-Fi Tales: Volume II. She is an SFWA associate, Fountain Magazine award winner, and her climate change-themed sci-fi story 'Fumes' was recently adapted into a limited comic book series. Fumes #1 was nominated for a Zelda Award and Glyph Award this year. She’s currently working on a novel about growing up in D.C.'s early go-go era, and The Water Domes, a one-shot comic book.

Lawrence T. Brown is a game designer, curator, scholar, and urban Afrofuturist. Dr. Brown is the author of The Black Butterfly: The Harmful Politics of Race and Space in America. He works as a research scientist in the Center for Urban Health Equity at Morgan State University. Additionally, he is the founder and director of the Black Butterfly Academy LLC, an educational consulting firm which creates hands-on learning tools and hosts Dream Lab workshops. The Academy partners with K-12 schools in Baltimore to install and display history exhibits. Dr. Brown created the board game Urban Cipher and the Black Butterfly Dream Lab Kit. Both help unpack how governments created urban apartheid by design. Overall, this body of work reveals how we can build an equitable cities and make Black neighborhoods matter.

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