Sheree Renée Thomas is an award-winning fiction writer, poet, and editor. Her work is inspired by myth and folklore, natural science, and Mississippi Delta conjure. Nine Bar Blues: Stories from an Ancient Future (Third Man Books, May 2020) is her first all-prose collection. She is the author of the Marvel novel adaptation of the legendary comics, Black Panther: Panther’s Rage(Titan Books, October 2022). She is the Associate Editor of the historic Black arts literary journal, Obsidian: Literature & the Arts in the African Diaspora, founded in 1975, and is the Editor of The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, founded in 1949. She also writes book reviews for Asimov’s. She was recently honored as a 2020 World Fantasy Award Finalist in the Special Award – Professional category. You can learn more about her and her work on her website.
DaVaun Sanders is an author and editor residing in Phoenix, Arizona. He currently serves as publisher and executive editor for the award-winning FIYAH Literary Magazine of Black Speculative Fiction. His middle-grade fantasy “Keynan Masters & The Peerless Magic Crew” debuted in 2023, with the sequel out in 2025. His novel “Minecraft: The Tournament” was released in 2024. His short fiction has appeared in Fireside, Uncanny, Podcastle, the New York Times bestselling anthology “Black Boy Joy,” and elsewhere. He continues to expand his work in children’s SFF for kids everywhere who deserve to enjoy inclusive stories. When deadlines are scarce he enjoys exploring the world with his wife and twins, cheering himself hoarse for the 49ers, collecting new injuries in Muay Thai, and any DIY project that requires outrageous new power tools.\
Eden Royce is a writer from Charleston, South Carolina now living in Southeast England. She’s a Shirley Jackson Award winner for her adult fiction, which has appeared in a variety of print and online publications. Her books for young readers have won the Bram Stoker and the Ignyte Awards; been a finalist for the Andre Norton Nebula Award; been a Walter Dean Myers Honoree as well as been named a School Library Journal Best Book of the Year. She has also written for Writer’s Digest, The Horn Book Magazine, Western Colorado University, and We Need Diverse Books. Find her online at edenroyce.com.
Brent Lambert is an author, editor, podcaster and lifetime nerd based out of San Diego. His work is focused on the Black and queer experience through a speculative lens. As a founding member of FIYAH Literary Magazine, he helped show the world the breadth of talent amongst Black SFF authors and turned that dedication alongside an amazing team into a Hugo Award. Currently, he has a novella A NECESSARY CHAOS out from Neon Hemlock and is part of the queer pulp SFF anthology I WANT THAT TWINK OBLITERATED and Black horror anthology ALL THESE SUNKEN SOULS.