TN Writers TN Stories: Africa Risen by author Sheree Renée Thomas

Part of our Juneteenth celebration, we explore an anthology of thirty-two original stories from the award-winning editorial team of Sheree Renée Thomas, Oghenechovwe Donald Ekpeki, and Zelda Knight that showcases the breadth of fantasy and science fiction from Africa and the African Diaspora. In Africa Risen (Tordotcom), a group of cabinet ministers query a supercomputer containing the minds of the country’s ancestors. A child robot on a dying planet uncovers signs of fragile new life. A descendent of a rain goddess inherits her grandmother’s ability to change her appearance—and perhaps the world. Created in the legacy of the seminal, award-winning anthology series Dark Matter, Africa Risen celebrates the vibrancy, diversity, and reach of African and Afro-Diasporic SFF and reaffirms that Africa is not rising—it’s already here.

Sheree Renée Thomas is an award-winning fiction writer, poet, and editor. Her work is inspired by myth and folklore, natural science and the genius of the Mississippi Delta. She is a co-editor of Africa Risen: A New Era of Speculative Fiction (Tordotcom) and Trouble the Waters: Tales of the Deep Blue (Third Man Books). Her fiction collection, Nine Bar Blues: Stories from an Ancient Future was a finalist for the 2021 Ignyte, Locus, and World Fantasy Awards. She is the editor of The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, associate editor of Obsidian, and also edited the two-time World Fantasy Award-winning groundbreaking anthologies, Dark Matter: A Century of Speculative Fiction from the African Diaspora and Dark Matter: Reading the Bones (Grand Central). She lives in Memphis, Tennessee near a river and a pyramid.

This event is part of our TN Writers | TN Stories series. Readings and discussions take place in the Digital Learning Center at the Tennessee State Museum. All events include an opportunity to purchase books through the Museum store and get them signed by the author. If you show your Eventbrite ticket you will recieve a 10% discount on your book purchase in the Museum store.

Host or Publisher Tennessee State Museum