Tananarive Due

Author, Professor

TANANARIVE DUE (tah-nah-nah-REEVE doo) is an award-winning author who teaches Black Horror and Afrofuturism at UCLA. She is an executive producer on Shudder's groundbreaking documentary Horror Noire: A History of Black Horror. She and her husband/collaborator, Steven Barnes, wrote "A Small Town" for Season 2 of Jordan Peele’s "The Twilight Zone" on Paramount Plus, and two segments of Shudder’s anthology film Horror Noire. They also co-wrote their upcoming Black Horror graphic novel The Keeper, illustrated by Marco Finnegan. Due and Barnes co-host a podcast, "Lifewriting: Write for Your Life!" A leading voice in Black speculative fiction for more than 20 years, Due has won an American Book Award, an NAACP Image Award, and a British Fantasy Award, and her writing has been included in best-of-the-year anthologies. Her books include Ghost Summer: Stories, My Soul to Keep, and The Good House. She and her late mother, civil rights activist Patricia Stephens Due, co-authored Freedom in the Family: A Mother-Daughter Memoir of the Fight for Civil Rights. She and her husband live with their son, Jason.

Steven Barnes

Author, Educator, Producer

STEVEN BARNES is the NY Times bestselling author of over thirty novels of science fiction, horror, and suspense. The Image, Endeavor and Cable-Ace Award winning author also writes for television, including The Twilight Zone, Stargate SG-1, Andromeda and an Emmy Award winning episode of The Outer Limits. He also has taught at UCLA, Seattle University, and lectured at the Smithsonian Institute in Washington D.C. With his wife, British Fantasy Award winning author Tananarive Due, he has created online courses in Afrofuturism, Black Horror, and Screenwriting. Steven was born in Los Angeles, California, and except for a decade in the Northwest, and three years in Atlanta Georgia, has lived in that area all his life. Steve and Tananarive live with their son Jason.

Rita Woods

Speaker and Author

Author

Theresa Hilliard

Speaker and Writer

Writer

Jessica Mack

Speaker and Author

Author of Guardians of Mask Memory

Stephanie Phillips

Owner, SBR Media Literary Agency

Avid reader, wife, mom of 2. Owner of SBR Media Literary Agency which is based in Horry County, SC.

Qiana Whitted

Speaking Author

Author

Chuck Brown

Speaking Author

Author

Bill Campbell

Author and Publisher

Rosarium Publishing

Lindsey Hall

Tor Publishing Group

Forge Publishing

Shauna Turnmire

Associate Agent

Arthouse Literary Agency

Isis Asare

Blerd Creating the 1st National Omnichannel Black-owned Bookstore focused on scifi and fantasy

Sistah Scifi

Mahogany Skillings

RCPL Library

Panelist

JOHN JENNINGS

Scholar and Author

Panelist

VALINDA MILLER

Moderator

Turning Page Bookshop

Yvette Murray

Panelist

Poet and Essayist

Dr. Tamara Butler

Geechee Girl. Learner. Educator. Creative.

Dr. Tamara T. Butler is the Executive Director of the Avery Research Center for African American History and Culture and Associate Dean of Libraries at the College of Charleston. She is also Associate Professor of African American Studies. As a first-generation college graduate who earned degrees from THE Ohio State University and Xavier University of Louisiana, she is committed to initiatives and organizations that center equity and responsibility in education and community engagement.

Jocqueline Protho

Producer and Publisher of Written Words

It's me and I'm here!

Kinitra Brooks

Scholar and Moderator

Moderating discussion about Afrofuturism.

Herb Frazier

Writer

Panelist

Latria Graham

Writer

Panelist

Djuanna Brockington

Black Ink Planning Committee Chair

Author fascinated with story in all forms.

Savannah Frierson

2023 Black Ink Book Festival Committee Member

2023 Black Ink Book Festival Committee Member, author

Leah Pierre

Literary Agent

Literary Agent at Laddery Literary Agency focusing on representing diverse and marginalized voices across YA and Adult commercial genres

La Sheera Lee

Agent

Ladderbird Literary Agency

Kelly Sonnack

Agent

Andrea Brown Literary

Kim Tatum

Agent

SBR Media

Tina Charisma

Moderator

Writer and Producer

Joel Christian Gill

Cartoonist and Historian

Panelist

Sanford Greene

Illustrator

Panelist