As far as the NoveList office is concerned, February 16, 2018 should be a national holiday. We are all so excited to see what acclaimed director Ryan Coogler and a thrilling cast of luminaries do with Marvel’s Afrofuturist super-genius superhero king of Wakanda, T’Challa. AKA, Black Panther.
In celebration of what is sure to be the can't-miss superhero movie of the year, we went ahead and made a decision: Afrofuturism and Afrofantasy is now a searchable genre in NoveList!
That's right, thanks to the hard work of metadata librarians Lauren Kage and Christine Wells, your patrons can now easily discover speculative works that will remind them of Black Panther, Janelle Monae, and let's not forget the Jonzun Crew.
Afrofuturism, as defined in NoveList, is a distinct artistic and philosophical movement that critically reinterprets black identity, the history of Africa, and the African diaspora through a science fictional/hypertechnological lens.
We use Afrofantasy to describe genre fantasy featuring mainly black characters and set in a fantasy version of Africa, a fantasy setting inspired by Africa, or among African diasporic populations encountering magic anywhere.
So, why not print and post our flyers, do a few searches, and encourage your patrons to make that mothership connection at your library this month?
Autumn Winters is a Readers' Advisory Librarian at NoveList.