The Color of Sci-Fi Panel Discussion

The Detroit Public Library is excited to present The Color of Sci-Fi, a panel discussion honoring the works of Black science fiction authors. This event is part of a larger series coordinated by DMJStudio, the creative studio of Donna Jackson. Located in Detroit, this series includes art exhibitions, author talks, and panel discussions on science, Afrofuturism, space exploration, and the power of creativity through science fiction.
Denise Crittendon is an Afrofuturist. A Dreamer. A Creator of new and enchanting Black worlds. In her debut novel, Where It Rains In Color (Angry Robot Books, December 2022), she unveils Swazembi, a glitzy resort planet of floating colors and bizarre tourist attractions. Before conjuring up this paradise, she was a journalist for at least three decades, covering crime, politics, social issues and human-interest stories as a staff writer for The Detroit News and The Kansas City Star.
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.
Danian Darrell Jerry is a writer, teacher, and emcee. He holds a Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing from the University of Memphis. He is a 2020 VONA Fellow and a Fiction Editor of Obsidian: Literature and Arts in the African Diaspora. As a child, he read fantasy and comics. As an adult, he writes his own adventures. Danian's writing appears and is forthcoming in Africa Risen: A New Era of Speculative Fiction, Marvel: Black Panther Tales of Wakanda, The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, Fireside Fiction, Trouble the Waters: Tales from the Deep Blue, and other publications.
Zig Zag Claybourne (also known as Clarence Young) wishes he’d grown up with the powers of either Gary Mitchell or Charlie X but without the Kirk confrontations. (And anybody not getting that Star Trek reference gets their sci fi cred docked 3 points.) The author of The Brothers Jetstream: Leviathan, The Brothers Jetstream: Afro Puffs Are the Antennae of the Universe, Neon Lights, Historical Inaccuracies, By All Our Violent Guides, and In the Quiet Spaces (the last two under C.E. Young), he believes a writer can be like an actor, inhabiting a delightful variety of roles and genres, but his heart belongs to science fiction. His fiction and essays have appeared in Vex Mosaic, Alt History 101, The Wayne Review, Flashshot, Reverie Journal and Stupefying Stories - to name a few.
This is a recording of an event that took place on Saturday, October 7, 2023. The Detroit Public Library (DPL) is the largest public library system in the state of Michigan. The Main Library and its 21 neighborhood branches make it one of the most valuable and accessible public institutions in the state. Stay up-to-date on information and events by visiting www.detroitpubl... and following the library on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.