Can Black People Write Fantasy Novels — Tomi Adeyemi Says “Yes, Yes We Can”

June 25th was the release day for Tomi Adeyemi’s third novel in ‘The Legacy of Orïsha Series!

I’ve been waiting for this day since — well since I finished reading the second novel 5 years ago.

Yes, the wait has been that long!!!

The series began with the release of her debut novel, ‘Children of the Blood in Bone’ in 2018. My sister, who has a love for fantasy novels recommended this book to me. At first I ignored her suggestions because mystery is my main genre of reading. The closest I get to fantasy is Harry Potter, Lord of the Rings, & Twilight.

“I want a little black girl to pick up my book one day and see herself as the star. I want her to know that she’s beautiful, and she matters, and she can have a crazy, magical adventure even if an ignorant part of the world tells her she can never be Hermione Granger.”

So on her last attempt, she says to me, “Girl, it has to do with West African mythology and tradition”. She says this with the upmost confidence like that statement alone was going to suck me in. So, I cut my eye at her, partly annoyed and partly of interest. Then she proceeds to say, the author is Nigerian-American.

That was it. That’s all I needed to hear.

“Children of color need a mirror to see themselves in. And then people who don’t have that experience, they need a window. They need a really personalized way to see what people who are different from them are going through”

So I borrowed her copy and spent all my free time, which was in short supply since I had a three year old and a newborn. Nevertheless, I got it done by sneaking in a few pages at work and during lunch breaks. The next year, Adeyemi had released the second novel. So you see why this third book has been a stretch on my nerves.

Adeyemi is a busy woman. Writing isn’t her only gig; she is also a lover of fashion and modeling. She has a creative writing course: “The Writer’s Roadmap” that I would gladly recommend to all my writer friends on here to check out, even if you don’t sign up. She has free worksheets to get started on your way to map out a story you want to write.

Enough of my ramblings —

I added two of her interviews below for you to check out. I hope you decide to read or recommend to a fellow fan of fantasy to join me in reading this trilogy.

Now let’s see what Zélie, Tzain, Amari, Inan & the rest of the maji are up to this go ‘round!