Iridescence: Speculative Fiction and Poetry Featuring Black, Indigenous, and People of Color

by Monique Franz, E. Doyle-Gillespie, Christina Tang-Bernas

Iridescence is a stunning anthology born from the Kinsman Quarterly’s inaugural Iridescence Award , a global contest that received 757 submissions from 75 nations. This collection features 38 remarkable voices, celebrating the rich myths and traditions of Black, Indigenous, and people of color. The title, Iridescence, perfectly captures the vibrant diversity and supernatural essence of the speculative fiction and poetry within.

Readers are invited to delve into tales of the fantastical, the supernatural, the paranormal, and the celestial, each piece shimmering with unique cultural perspectives. Highlights include the award-winning stories and poems by the top E. Doyle-Gillespie, Christina Tang-Bernas, and Nicholas Samuel Stember.

Top finalists include Odette Cortés, Shantell Powell, Victoria Sosa, Solape Adeyemi, and Adrian Hayes. Longlisted authors Akupue Chukwuemeka, Anna Kristo, Ann Yuan, D W, D'Marcus Beatty, D. M. Cross, Dee Mainali, Douglas Perenara Johnston, Gaazal Dhungana, G. R. Betancourt, Grace Aliyu, Ihsan Sim, Jack Wolflink, Jasmine Harrell, Klarissa Conner, Lindsey Woodward, Liz Johnston, Micah Stanton, Marcelo Moreira, Michelle Ivy Alwedo, Olugbenga Ayodeji Ayo-Daniel, Rohit Das, Sandhya Barlaas, Shenali Wijesinghe, Shilpa Kamat, Stephanie Chiedo, Stingray Hopper, and Victoria Sosa.

362 pages, Paperback

Published January 23, 2025

About the author

Monique Franz is a published playwright, novelist, and teaching artist whose work highlights the challenges of marginalized communities. For over twenty years, she created arts enrichment programs for youth and wrote onstage works to bring awareness to social issues, such as domestic abuse, trauma, and displacement. Franz earned her MFA in Creative Writing from Wilkes University, where she won the Beverly Hiscox and Norris Church Mailer scholarship awards.

Reviews

[Nicholas Stember · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of my stories is in the anthology, but I wanted to talk about the others. There is a great diversity of style in these pages, and I found myself eating up the other entries. The anthology was based off the Iridescence Award and is fantastically laid out, dividing the stories and poems into categories of different kinds of fantasy and science fiction. I especially enjoyed E. Doyle-Gillespie's grand prize-winning poem, "The Price of her Bangles", and Christina Tang-Bernas' runner up urban fantasy story, "For Love of Death". Honestly, I enjoyed every story and poem I found in this volume. If you enjoy tales and poems of speculative and fantastical things, I think you'll find something in these pages that appeals to you. Plus, for those that get the hard cover, it’s a very handsome volume and a fine addition to your bookshelf.