3 Minutes with Nisi, Author of Filter House

While the Afrofuturism storybundle is going on (until June 7th), I’ll be sharing a little about some of the other authors in the bundle. We begin with Nisi Shawl. Her collection, Filter House, winner of the Tiptree Award is included.

What are 3 questions/answers on the FAQ page of Filter House?

1. Why do you write science fiction? 
   Because it easily deprivileges hegemony, that is, it has a way of challenging the status quo.

2. What’s a common theme in your work?
   That’s for you to figure out.  Themes are what readers experience, not what writers intend.

3. Who are your literary influences? 
   Colette, Samuel R. Delany, Raymond Chandler (token het male), George Eliot, Connie Willis, Dorothy Dunnett, Joanna Russ, Suzy McKee Charnas, C.J. Cherryh, E. Nesbit, and Nalo Hopkinson.

Describe this work in 3 words.

Voices harmonizing with strangeness.  Sorry.  That’s four.  Trying again: strangely harmonizing voices.

Why these stories?

Filter House is a collection of stories Timmi chose.  I think she put them together to show how the journey to selfhood can work for women of African descent. That’s my guess.

What’s your approach to creating a collection? For instance, some may compile their works letting each work speak for itself, perhaps even letting their editors decide on the order, while others may attempt to focus more on the work as a whole and work towards that effect.

I have never actually created a collection of my own work.  So far there have been two; both were assembled by L. Timmel Duchamp.

You just received the Solstice Award (Well deserved and congratulations!) and Filter House I believe was your first award winner. So you have a unique perspective in gaining recognition but also recognizing what work may remain or has already been accomplished. What’s your read on this moment in SF as it pertains to Afrofuturism? If it’s helpful to unpack that a bit: What direction would you like to see Afrofuturism go in? What would you like to see come of this Afrofuturism moment?

Thank you for the congratulations!  Yes, I have seen immense changes in the reception for Afrofuturist fiction over the course of my working life.  The audience has grown, and has proven itself a financial force to be reckoned with; the pool of creators has grown and has gotten more widely recognized than in my youth; the gatekeepers are more receptive now.  What I’d like to see going forward is further expansion: Afrofuturist cuisine, Afrofuturist architecture, Afrofuturist politics!  More of this stuff, and more different kinds of it!