Speculating Futures: Black Imagination & the Arts

Fiction. Poetry. Literary Nonfiction. Drama. African & African American Studies. Afrofuturism. "When you chose to alter the history and ideology that has and continues to oppress you, you choose the path of a creator," writes special issue guest editor Sheree Renée Thomas in her introduction to OBSIDIAN'S SPECULATING FUTURES: BLACK IMAGINATION AND THE ARTS. "Under the powerful lens of Afrofuturism, the impossible is possible. It is creative alchemy. The spirit and rhythm of a culture is preserved and transformed; the past is not only contested but sacred space." Winner of the Council of Editors of Learned Journals (CELJ) 2018 Parnassus Award, which recognizes significant realization of editorial mission, SPECULATING FUTURES includes fiction, poetry, criticism, essays, scripts, visual art & more from African writers & artists around the world, including Sofia Samatar, Tochi Onyebuchi, Alexis Pauline Gumbs, Walidah Imarisha, Nisi Shawl, Isiah Lavender III, Krista Franklin, and Sheree Renée Thomas, among many others.