There has been an explosion in fantasy novels for children and teens written by Black writers, with many drawing from their heritage to create fantastic worlds and characters.

Yaba Badoe's new novel Lionheart Girl combines African myth and magic. Born into a family of West African witches, Sheba's terrified of her mother who can turn into a crow. But like mother, like daughter - magic runs through her blood and Sheba discovers powers of her own.

Descendants of the First is the sequel to Reni Amayo’s epic fantasy, Daughters of Nri. Set in ancient Nigeria. The books follows twin sisters who, unbeknownst to them, descend from the lost gods. The book explores the discovery of their burgeoning powers and their fight against the corrupt king who seeks to destroy them.

Witches Steeped in Gold is a Jamaican inspired fantasy where dangerous magic reigns supreme and betrayal lurks beneath every word. Iraya has spent her life in a cell. Jazmyne is the queen’s daughter, but unlike her sister before her, she has no intention of dying to strengthen her mother’s power. Sworn enemies, these two witches enter a precarious alliance to take down a mutual threat.

Join authors Yaba Badoe, Reni K. Amayo and Ciannon Smart as they discuss their work, inspiration and influences.

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Yaba Badoe is an award-winning Ghanaian-British documentary filmmaker and writer. A graduate of King's College Cambridge, she has taught in Spain, Jamaica and Ghana. Her short stories for adults have been published in Critical Quarterly and in African Love Stories: An Anthology, edited by Ama Ata Aidoo. In 2014 Yaba was nominated for the Distinguished Woman of African Cinema award. Her debut novel, A Jigsaw of Fire and Stars, published by Zephyr, was shortlisted for the Branford Boase Award 2018 and has been nominated for the 2019 Carnegie Medal. Yaba is based in London.

Reni K was born and raised in London to two Nigerian immigrant parents. After university, much to the disappointment of her seven year old self, Reni did not become an astronaut, instead she entered the world of finance. Craving an outlet from the pressures of her job, Reni K did what she always did during stressful periods: she wrote. She wrote poems (that will never see the light of day), she wrote short stories, she wrote the beginnings of many novels. She wrote on the train, she wrote during her lunch breaks, she wrote after work, she wrote on the weekends. Until one day Reni K wrote a story that she fell in love with. A story that she couldn’t wait to read.

Of Jamaican heritage, Ciannon Smart grew up in a small town in the south-east of England. As the only daughter in a house full of boisterous sons, she developed a voracious appetite for reading from an early age, preferring anarchy in stories rather than real life. Her debut YA fantasy duology, beginning with WITCHES STEEPED IN GOLD, releases April 20th 2021 (HarperTeen US, Hot Key Books UK). In YA she loves her heroines exactly as she loves her villains: wilful, wily, and unpredictable. When not writing, Ciannon can be found reading, painting, or taking the long way home to listen to a good song more than once

Culture and Myth in YA Fantasy

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