We are so sorry - this event has been cancelled.
Santa Clara County and San Mateo County health officials are recommending that all non-essential gatherings be cancelled. The well-being or our community is our top priority so we are following those recommendations and cancelling this event.
Meet Patrice Caldwell, editor of A Phoenix First Must Burn, an anthology featuring 16 stories that explore the Black and gender nonconforming experience through fantasy, science fiction, and magic.
“My parents raised me on stories of real-life legends like Queen Nzinga of Angola, Harriet Tubman, Phillis Wheatley, and Angela Davis “ said Patrice Caldwell (Bustle) … “But whenever I went to the children’s section of the library to discover more tales, the novels featuring characters who looked like me were rooted in pain set amid slavery, sharecropping, or segregation. Those narratives are important, yes. But because they were the only ones offered, I started to wonder, Where is my fantasy, my future? Why don’t Black people exist in speculative worlds?”
Evoking Beyoncé's Lemonade, these authors who are truly Octavia Butler's heirs, have woven worlds that center Black women and gender nonconforming individuals, taking us on a journey from folktales retold to futuristic societies and everything in between. Filled with stories of love and betrayal, strength and resistance, this collection contains an array of characters in which you cannot help but see yourself reflected. Witches and scientists, sisters and lovers, priestesses and rebels: the heroines of A Phoenix First Must Burn shine brightly. You will never forget them.
Patrice Caldwell is the founder and fundraising chair of People of Color in Publishing--a grassroots organization dedicated to supporting, empowering, and uplifting racially and ethnically marginalized members of the book publishing industry. Patrice was a children's book editor before shifting to writing full-time. In 2018, she was named a Publishers Weekly Star Watch honoree and featured on The Writer's Digest podcast, PBS's MetroFocus, and Bustle's inaugural "Lit List" as one of ten women changing the book world.
Don’t miss this one of a kind discussion about diversity in fantasy and speculative fiction. Patrice will be chatting with Adrienne Young, Katy Rose Pool, and Anna-Marie McLemore. Akshaya Raman will be moderating.