Sheree Renée Thomas, a New York Times best-selling writer and two-time World Fantasy Award-winning author, will be the featured speaker at 7 p.m. on Thursday, Feb. 23, as Montgomery County Public Libraries (MCPL) continues its Contemporary Conversations series with a presentation recognizing February as Black History Month. Ms. Thomas will speak at the free event at the Rockville Memorial Library on “Afrofuturism and Diversity in Sci-Fi.”
Ms. Thomas wrote Marvel’s Black Panther: Panther’s Rage novel (October 2022), adapted from the legendary comics, collaborated with Janelle Monáe on The Memory Librarian. She is the editor of The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, founded in 1949, and Obsidian, founded in 1975. In 2022, she co-curated Carnegie Hall's historic, citywide Afrofuturism Festival.
The Rockville Memorial Library is located at 21 Maryland Ave. in Rockville.
The event also will be offered via live streaming. Registration is required to attend either the in-person event or to view it via live streaming. To register, go to https://mcpl.libnet.info/event/7886631.
“The Contemporary Conversations series is a community forum to discuss cultural and current issues with experienced authors and journalists and to engage in enriching conversations,” said MCPL Director Anita Vassallo. “MCPL is delighted to bring a bestselling author of the category of Sheree Renée Thomas to the series. This is a wonderful opportunity for MCPL and the community.”
At the event, Ms. Thomas also will address “African Diaspora Creators and Speculative Fiction” moving forward. In addition, at 10 a.m. on Thursday, Feb. 23, Ms. Thomas will visit Northwood High School in Silver Spring and talk to students and teachers about the writing process.
Ms. Thomas was a 2022 Hugo Award finalist, and her collection, Nine Bar Blues, is a Locus, Ignyte and World Fantasy finalist. She edited the groundbreaking Dark Matter anthologies that introduced a century of Black speculative fiction, including W.E.B. Du Bois's science fiction stories.
As a preamble for the program, MCPL will host an Afrofuturism Film Series during February at several branches. For more information, visit the MCPL website at https://www.montgomerycountymd.gov/library/.
The program is co-sponsored by Friends of the Library, Montgomery County (FOLMC) and the Literacy Council of Montgomery County (LCMC).
Previous speakers in the Contemporary Conversations series have included Kojo Nnamdi, David Ignatius, Charles Lane, Hena Khan, Michelle Singletary, Dinaw Mengestu, Joshua Johnson, Haben Girma, Jarret Krosoczka and Michael W. Twitty. For more information about previous speakers, visit
https://www.montgomerycountymd.gov/library/programs/contemporary-conversations.html