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Octavia Butler is a name I’ve heard more and more of since 2020. As we sink further and further into the hole made by our ignoring things like climate change and rising fascism, it makes sense. So, in this week’s BIPOC lit news roundup, we’re starting by looking at what author Veronica Chambers has to say about what Octavia Butler tried to tell us.
What Octavia Tried to Tell Us
Here, Chambers discusses the trending phrase “Octavia tried to tell us,” which involves some eerily close-to-life predictions, like the huge fire that ravishes a town on February 1, 2025.
Explore the Black History of Altadena.
Nicole Cardoza at Reimagined (formerly Anti-Racism Daily) gives a history of the historically Black town in California that has been devastated by the LA fires. She also shares ways we can help those who have been displaced.
R.O. Kwon Lists 48 Books by Women of Color Coming Out in 2025
R.O. Kwon has decided to feed us with this meaty list of nearly 50 BIPOC women writers who have books coming out this year. I’m still adding all of them to my TBR, but a few of them I’m super excited for are Black in Blues by Imani Perry, We Do Not Part by Han Kang, translated by e. yaewon and Paige Aniyah Morris, and Carnaval Fever by Yuliana Ortiz Ruano, translated by Madeleine Arnivar.
Indie Asian and Pacific Islander-Owned Bookstores
This list of indie bookstores owned by Asian and Pacific Islanders spans from Long Beach, California, to New York City to Jacksonville, Florida. This is a dope list to have in hand if you have any traveling in your future.
Boston Poet Laureate Porsha Olayiwola Opens a Bookstore
Speaking of indie bookstores, Porsha Olayiwola, the Boston Poet Laureate, has opened a bookstore called Just Bookish, which focuses on highlighting marginalized authors and building community.
Interview With Latine Book Influencer Carmen Alvarez
Book influencer and Latine lit advocate Carmen Alvarez discusses having a creative career in this interview. If you want to follow her for fire Latine lit recommendations, here’s her Instagram.
Bookish Writer Chelsea Uzomah About the Charlatan Freydis Moon’s New Book (It’s a Mess)
Freydis Moon was raggedy months ago when it first broke that she was cosplaying as Latine and non-binary, but she’s back with more mess and racism for some reason. Ugh.
Adaptations
Sing Sing Will Become the First Movie Shown in Theaters and Prisons Simultaneously
Sing Sing is about the real Rehabilitation Through the Arts program at Sing Sing Maximum Security Prison, and most of the cast is made of men who have graduated from the program. With its re-release, it is the first movie to be shown in prisons and theaters simyltaneously. It stars the ultra fab Colman Domingo.
Season 2 of XO, Kitty
I still haven’t gotten into XO, Kitty, but the homies at Book Riot say it’s super sweet. It’s the spinoff of To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before, which itself is adapted from Jenny Han’s series. Now, the second season is out.
Scam Goddess
After a successful podcast and book (Scam Goddess: Lessons from a Life of Cons, Grifts, and Schemes), Laci Mosley is taking her scam talk to streaming with a new show. The first episode, which covers a lady who stole $53 million from her town (!), is already up on Disney+.
What I’m Reading:
Continuing the discussion of adaptations just a minute longer, the new season of The Apothecary Diaries is out, and it has me both rereading older manga volumes and buying the latest ones (volumes 11 and 12). It follows Maomao, the young daughter of an apothecary in Tang Dynasty China, who gets snatched up and sold to the palace one day as a maid. Her knowledge of poisons and various forensic things soon has her becoming a lady-in-waiting for one of the emperor’s concubines.
I love, love the show and little Maomao, who makes up the slightly grumpy portion of what looks to be a (very) slow-burning, grumpy-hopeful romance with Jinshi, a beautiful and high-ranking eunuch. She spends her days collecting and experimenting with various poisons, plants, and herbs and solving different palace mysteries. The show balances comforting, slice-of-life elements with sciencey factoids, Chinese history, and a very realistic view of the plight of women at the time.
**Subscribers, continue below for new BIPOC books out this week**
