Drop by the 1st floor of the John T. Richardson Library to browse our temporary collection highlighting Black speculative fiction – science fiction, fantasy, horror, and more from Black authors and featuring Black characters. Speculative fiction is known for its imaginative concepts, immersive worldbuilding, and reality-bending plotlines.
We have a variety of works featured in or by authors featured in the Science Fiction Fantasy Hall of Fame – books from Octavia Butler, Samuel R. Delany, Nnedi Okorafor, N.K. Jemisin, among others. If you’re more interested in movies, TV, and video games, you can check out some of Keith David’s well-known roles in Mass Effect, Halo, or The Thing, or watch Nichelle Nichols shine as Lieutenant Nyota Uhura in Star Trek: The Original Series.
If you’re looking for nonfiction, you might be interested in reading Where No Black Woman Has Gone Before, a work of literary criticism by Diana Adesola Mafe, or Bodyminds Reimagined by Sami Schalk. Or perhaps The Black Imagination: Science Fiction, Futurism, and the Speculative, edited by the current and former directors of DePaul’s Center for Black Diaspora, Dr. Julie E. Moody-Freeman and Dr. Sandra Jackson.
Finally, if you’re craving something shorter, we have a number of anthologies full of short fiction and a wide range of authors available as well.
All of the aforementioned items can be found at the large display cart on the 1st floor of the John T. Richardson Library and can be checked out at the Access Services Desk. This month’s display was curated by Tori Carl, the Evening Circulation Supervisor at JTR.