In this Book
- Infinite Constellations: An Anthology of Identity, Culture, and Speculative Conjunctions
- Book
- 2023
- Published by: The University of Alabama Press
summary
A gathering of innovative, speculative fictions by writers of color, both established and emerging
The innovative fictions in Infinite Constellations showcase the voices and visions of 30 remarkable writers, both new and established, from the global majority: Native American/First Nation writers, South Asian writers, East Asian writers, Black American writers, Latinx writers, and Caribbean and Middle Eastern writers. These are visions both familiar and strange, but always rooted in the mystery of human relationships, the deep honoring of memory, and the rootedness to place and the centering of culture.
The writers in this anthology mirror, instruct, bind and unbind, myth-make and myth-invert, transform and transmute, make us belly-laugh or hum our understanding, gasp or whisper gently, and remember that sometimes we need to holler and fight as we grieve. Any dangers herein, imagined or observed in poem and story, transport us: moving from latent to extant, then unleashed.
This work does not presume; it presents and blossoms, creating a constellation of appearances, a symphony of belonging.
“In collecting this work,” note editors Khadijah Queen and K. Ibura, “we felt humbled by the love threaded throughout the voices speaking to us in stories and poems that vault beyond expectation and settle in our consciousness as an expansion of what’s possible when we tend to one another with intention. We felt lifted, held aloft in these arrangements of language. We hope that as you read each story and poem, you will find the same sense of empowerment and celebration that we know has sustained us over countless generations, and in their beauty and humor and intelligence and complexity, continue to enrich us still.”
CONTRIBUTORS
George Abraham / Kenzie Allen / Shreya lla Anasuya / Thea Anderson / Wendy Chin-Tanner / Alton Melvar M. Depanas / Yohanca Delgado / Jennifer Elise Foerster / Aerik Francis / André O. Hoilette / Brian K. Hudson / K. Ibura / Pedro Iniguez / Ruth Ellen Kocher / Ra’Niqua Lee / Tonya Liburd / Kenji C. Liu / Shalewa Mackall / Lucien Darjeun Meadows / Melanie Merle / Juan J. Morales / Thirii Myo Kyaw Myint / Cindy Juyound Ok / Daniel José Older / Soham Patel / Lynn C. Pitts/ Khadijah Queen / Sheree Renée Thomas / Sarah Sophia Yanni / dg nanouk okpik / shakirah peterson
The innovative fictions in Infinite Constellations showcase the voices and visions of 30 remarkable writers, both new and established, from the global majority: Native American/First Nation writers, South Asian writers, East Asian writers, Black American writers, Latinx writers, and Caribbean and Middle Eastern writers. These are visions both familiar and strange, but always rooted in the mystery of human relationships, the deep honoring of memory, and the rootedness to place and the centering of culture.
The writers in this anthology mirror, instruct, bind and unbind, myth-make and myth-invert, transform and transmute, make us belly-laugh or hum our understanding, gasp or whisper gently, and remember that sometimes we need to holler and fight as we grieve. Any dangers herein, imagined or observed in poem and story, transport us: moving from latent to extant, then unleashed.
This work does not presume; it presents and blossoms, creating a constellation of appearances, a symphony of belonging.
“In collecting this work,” note editors Khadijah Queen and K. Ibura, “we felt humbled by the love threaded throughout the voices speaking to us in stories and poems that vault beyond expectation and settle in our consciousness as an expansion of what’s possible when we tend to one another with intention. We felt lifted, held aloft in these arrangements of language. We hope that as you read each story and poem, you will find the same sense of empowerment and celebration that we know has sustained us over countless generations, and in their beauty and humor and intelligence and complexity, continue to enrich us still.”
CONTRIBUTORS
George Abraham / Kenzie Allen / Shreya lla Anasuya / Thea Anderson / Wendy Chin-Tanner / Alton Melvar M. Depanas / Yohanca Delgado / Jennifer Elise Foerster / Aerik Francis / André O. Hoilette / Brian K. Hudson / K. Ibura / Pedro Iniguez / Ruth Ellen Kocher / Ra’Niqua Lee / Tonya Liburd / Kenji C. Liu / Shalewa Mackall / Lucien Darjeun Meadows / Melanie Merle / Juan J. Morales / Thirii Myo Kyaw Myint / Cindy Juyound Ok / Daniel José Older / Soham Patel / Lynn C. Pitts/ Khadijah Queen / Sheree Renée Thomas / Sarah Sophia Yanni / dg nanouk okpik / shakirah peterson
Table of Contents
Download Full Book
- Title Page, Copyright
- pp. i-iv
- Introduction: Speculating Us
- pp. ix-xiv, 1-2
- Anti-Confessional, Again
- pp. 33-34
- Carville National Leprosarium, 1954
- pp. 39-40
- Hello, Ghost
- pp. 41-42
- The Sacred Interrupted
- pp. 43-48
- Digital Medicine
- pp. 49-69
- reflection on spices
- p. 70
- how to battle
- p. 72
- My Mother Told Me I Am Under Shango
- pp. 73-74
- From Senegal to Senatobia
- pp. 75-105
- Above Ground
- p. 107
- Red Green Blue
- pp. 108-119
- After,word
- pp. 121-126
- Dream of the Sun Spirit
- p. 130
- Mermaid Names
- pp. 132-145
- The Last Kingdom
- pp. 146-148
- Ways to Use Silhig Lánot
- pp. 159-161
- Dream of a Wolf
- p. 162
- Antelope Canyon Hotel
- pp. 163-174
- A Final Song for the Ages
- pp. 180-190
- on bended knee
- pp. 191-196
- sealing the room
- pp. 215-219
- Sufficiency
- pp. 220-221
- The Longest Stretch
- pp. 228-229
- Date: Post Glacial
- pp. 232-233
- The Passing
- pp. 234-250
- Contributor Bios
- pp. 251-258
- Notes & Acknowledgements
- pp. 259-261
- Reading & Teaching Guide
- pp. 262-268
- About the Editors
- pp. 269-272
Additional Information
ISBN
9781573669009
Related ISBN(s)
9781573661980
MARC Record
OCLC
1352481556
Launched on MUSE
2023-10-29
Language
English
Open Access
No
Copyright
2023