We spoke with Isis Asare (she/they), founder of Sistah Scifi, the first black-owned bookstore to specialize in the genres of Science Fiction and Fantasy, and one with a special focus on women writers from black and indigenous backgrounds. More than just a shop, Sistah Scifi strives to promote community between like-minded individuals and the authors that inspire them with social media, book clubs, events, and the sale of carefully curated titles - many of which are discovered through the recommendations of readers and customers themselves. Please note: the following is a transcription of the spoken interview.
How and when did Sistah Scifi come to be? Yeah, so Sistah Scifi - the official start date was February 2nd, 2019. We had a book club discussion of Jewelle Gomez’, The Gilda Stories…and it started because I read Lilith's Brood by Octavia Butler. I posted about it on Facebook, and then I was like, I just want to discuss this book, who has read it? And my friend said, "I read it, we can discuss it," and then she was like, "yeah, so I'm sure you're reading, like…Tomi Adeyemi and Nnedi Okorafor, and all this stuff." And I was like…"No." Right? I hadn't heard of these authors, which made me feel some kind of way, because they're black women writing in the speculative fiction realm, and both those names are West African, and my parents are from Ghana, and so I was just like…I felt like I missed a couple memos. And so Sistah Scifireally started as a book club and then grew into an online bookstore - the first black-owned bookstore focused on science fiction and fantasy.
Your website describes your store as “a cauldron of all things Afrofuturism”, can you tell me more about your mission, and what does Afrofuturism means to you?
The Afrofuturism, to me, it allows black people to really infuse our culture into our visions of the future. So, it's not simply black people in the future, but also be[ing] very intentional about taking our tenants…of our culture that are relevant to us, and making us mentally, psychologically, and spiritually whole. Infusing that with technology, and then creating visions of ourselves into the future, and to creating a future where our liberation is manifested. And it's multi-dimensional. So yeah, that's what Afrofuturism means to me. And…and also, that definition varies day to day, but today, that's what it means to me,
And then for our mission - so what Sistah Scifi does is that we focus on science fiction and fantasy written by black and Native American, indigenous, authors. Indigenous being like, native people globally - as opposed to Native American, which tends to be native people in North America. And with a focus on highlighting women, or just like gender non-conforming, like people who don't have a gender (I hate defining people as like stuff that they're not but basically anybody, like any writers, who are not cis-gender men). And our mission, or our vision, is to really double the number of black and indigenous writers on the New York Times bestseller lists. And it has to be clear about that too - New York Times has a lot of sub-lists, right? For example, the indie list, the professional business books. So when I say the New York Times, I mean like the main print and e-book fiction - that New York Times bestseller list. I did a manual count of the last 50 years, because what do you do when you're a nerd? I counted less than 10. So, to double that would be like, at least 20 In the next 10 years. That will require a lot of work and coordination, but that's our vision.
Science-fiction and fantasy are genres that have historically been dominated by white male writers. Your store emphasizes the promotion of books in these genres, along with other areas of speculative fiction, that are written by black women. Why do you think that the worlds of SFF have been dominated by white male writers for so long? Do you think that is changing enough?
I'll answer the question in parts. So, one - that demographic of speculative fiction or science-fiction being the realm of like, the 18 to 24-year-old white boy…I remember in business school, I think it was maybe the Chief Marketing Officer, so somebody from the Syfy network asked the class, "Who do you think watches the SyFy network?" And we gave that very stereotypical answer, the white guy, 18 to 25 years old. And she said, "Yeah, so when I stepped into the role, I had to reimagine that and make it a psychographic, right?" So, people who like and gravitate to science-fiction and fantasy are people who want to push the boundaries, have felt othered in their life, or are looking for new ways to feel empowered, and new definitions of community. Right? And when you think about it like that, then it makes sense for that to be the realm of marginalized communities: of queer people, of women, of black people, of indigenous people, of first-generation people, right? I feel, organically, it should be our space. So, to me, I think it's because we're navigating science-fiction and fantasy in the US, where most of the population is white and most of the voices are male, right? But if you were to step away from that…it makes sense that science-fiction [is a space for marginalized peoples]. And I think that was a great thing for me. I've always been really passionate about science fiction. And I've always been very passionate about marginalized cultures in the US. And then when I started looking at authors in this space,it was always very naturally very queer. So that was really exciting for me.
In terms of that demographic, I just kind of question that assumption. It feels very white and male in the US, but I don't know if globally it is? And I think very authentically, science fiction and fantasy tend to create room for the other, versus other genres.
Then for the emergence of diverse voices. You know, black people and Native American people, like, indigenous people have always written science-fiction and fantasy. W.E.B DuBois was writing science fiction and fantasy, right? So, it's not new, right? It may be new to us. But it's not new. And we've always had a voice in this space. Especially for people who felt so limited in their present, it makes sense for them to focus on imagining a very different future and how to create that, and what structures we could use to create that.
But I think what you have is two genres that tend to be overlooked. You have science fiction, which is like the literary ghetto. And then you have minority writers [who] are already struggling in and of themselves. So, to sit in the space of both of those would have been really hard to do until recently - until science-fiction has gotten into more of the mainstream. And then there's a push for diverse voices, like women, black voices, Native American, and indigenous voices. So we have that confluence happening now. And then people are just consuming more media across the board. There's more streaming television, which means more books get options, and so that means there's more value on the books and then the chain continues. So, I would say it's not new for the writers, it's not new for the content creation. I just think the stage is getting better, bigger, so you can have room?
Is it happening fast enough? Nothing can ever happen fast enough [laughs] But I think it's...not simply that having African voices or gender voices being different. It's really like, what are we doing to then take what's being imagined and change the social structure? Like if we imagined different family units, or different ways of leadership, or different ways of forming community or different ways of sharing resources? Or these books, people really gravitate to Parable of the Talents, Parable of the Sower, like being prescient and warning alarms of whatour future can be like, if we don't pay attention to our resources and the earth and each other. Then how do we change what we do today to create a better future? I think that's the key point, right?
And I think what I love about people in the sci-fi community is that they're not reading the books for entertainment, for escape. It's like, what do these themes mean in terms of how I live my life every day? What does this mean in terms of how I interact with technology? I think those questions are super important, and exciting for me in the space.
We’re so grateful to have had the opportunity to speak with Isis. They recommend readers interested in science fiction from diverse perspectives start with An Unkindness of Ghosts by Rivers Solomon. Those looking for classics of the genre might enjoy works by Octavia Butler, or Dark Matter, an anthology collection of 100 years of black speculative fiction. All of these, and more, can be purchased from www.sistahscifi.com. You can also join them on Instagram (@sistahscifi) for Wine Down Wednesdays, book clubs, and other exciting events.
By Zoë Hicks
@literarymage
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