An Earnest Blackness

In this debut collection of personal essays, Eugen Bacon offers critical perspectives on blackness, Afrofuturism, colonialism, historicity, and (mis)recognition as she explores the untapped possibilities of speculative fiction. Using a variety of analytic, narrative, and anecdotal techniques, Bacon shares her experiences as an African Australian woman, mother, and writer who occupies a liminal space that is "betwixt" worlds and genres. She also considers work by "other" writers-ranging from Roland Barthes and Jorge Luis Borges to Suyi Davies Okungbowa, Ngugi wa Thiong'o, Toni Morrison, Octavia Butler, and Sheree Renée Thomas-in an effort to chart a path towards greater social and cultural truth. Literary, adventurous, and insightful, Bacon excavates the world(s) that not only construct contemporary authorship but the fluid nature of identity itself.



An Earnest Blackness received the British Fantasy Award for best work of nonfiction. It was also a finalist for the Locus and Ditmar Awards.