The realms of science fiction and fantasy have always been a place to explore real world issues. Issues of gender and sexuality, classisim, xenophobia, and the horrors of war have long been prevalent in the genre. And there are many genre books that deal with racism, both in fictional societies and the ‘real world.’ However, we cannot ignore the fact that science fiction and fantasy have long been dominated by white authors (white men in particular). To that end, we’ve put together a list of black fantasy authors who deliver beautiful stories from a too-often ignored perspective.

Reading genre fiction should expand your horizons, open your mind to new ideas. But if you’re only reading books by white authors, then you are limiting your scope. As recent events show, white people everywhere must work to better understand the black experience. And one of the ways to do that is to read their stories and pass them on to your friends who love great fantasy fiction, too. It’s about doing the work to confront bias internally and externally. We need to read their words, to better know how to stand against injustice. We covered some of these authors before in our lists for Black History Month. However, reading black authors, fantasy or any genre, should happen all year round.

The Black Fantasy Authors You Should Read

These are the black authors working in the realms of magic and fantasy. We categorize the fantasy writers by their work in creating magical worlds, or creating magic in our own world. Many of these fantasies are influenced by mythology and folklore, as is traditional in fantasy novels. Except they are not drawing from the white mythologies that are considered to be the ‘standard’ (Celtic, Norse, Greek, etc.) Instead, they are drawing from African mythology, Yoruba, Caribbean traditions, and others rarely explored in the genre. Challenge your perception of what fantasy looks like, and read some of the authors below.

Emily O'Donnell is a writer and photographer with roots in some of the earliest online fandoms. She cut her genre teeth on the Wizard of Oz books at the tender age of 6 years old, and was reading epic adult fantasy novels by the age of 10. Decades later, she still consumes genre fiction like there is no tomorrow. She is delighted to be living through the golden age of sci-fi and fantasy popularity. She is unashamed of the amount of fanfiction that still lingers online under her name.