#walidah imarisha

[ID: Twitter post by @/NotNikyatu: ““And for those of us from communities with historic collective trauma, we must understand that each of us is already science fiction walking around on two legs.

Our ancestors dreamed us up and then bent reality to create us.”

“LEAH LAKSHMI PIEPZNA-SAMARASINHA.— When I was a teenaged survivor of childhood sexual abuse and partner abuse within my family, some of the first places that gave me hope and visions for how violence and abuse could change were science fiction. I read Marge Piercy’s Woman on the Edge of Time, Ursula K. Le Guin’s The Dispossessed and Starhawk’s The Fifth Sacred Thing before I turned 20, and they all had these incredible ideas for how rape culture could change. In their worlds, everyone was trained in self-defense and de-escalation, and there were systems of atonement, reparations and healing when violence did occur.

What is visionary epistolary fiction?

Visionary fiction - a term developed by writer and scholar Walidah Imarisha to describe speculative fiction that helps us imagine futures and worlds that are socially just.

Epistolary fiction - fiction that emulates non-fiction documents, such as letters, emails, diary entries, interview transcripts, grocery lists, historical texts, scientific reports, blog posts, newspaper clippings, and magazine articles, to name a few.

Visionary epistolary fiction is the combination of these two forms.

Why are we offering this workshop?

When we developed the concept for Inclusive Future Magazine, we knew that not all spec fic writers were going to have pieces in their submission pile that fit the bill, and yet we see so much potential for visionary epistolary fiction to provide realistic examples of inclusion within the context of various cultures. That’s why we are proud to present a free writing workshop open to trans, non-binary, and genderqueer writers anywhere in the world who want to play with visionary epistolary fiction. This workshop will run regardless of whether our Kickstarter campaign is successful.

Read more on our website (inclusivefuturemag.com) for additional details and information on how to sign up.

When we focus on collective action, mutual aid, self determination, centering the leadership of the marginalized, we defy linear time.

We pull those futures into the present.

Let’s keep pulling liberated futures into the present over and over again, until that’s all there is.

Prayer for Assata Poem - Walidah Imarisha