February is African American History Month here in the United States. In 2013, when this series began, it was also Women in Horror Month (WiHM). In 2013, as an Ambassador for Women in Horror Month, the original book 60 Black Women in Horror was born during the intersection of the two. . Over the next five years, the world women writing horror from the African Diaspora nearly doubled. and 100+ Black Women in Horror, a 2018 update, containing 109 biographies, was born. Now, in 2023, five years after 100+ Black Women in Horror, the list is once again being updated, to include over 40 new names compiled in a new book, 150 Black Women in Horror.
Here is the third list consisting of 10 biographies of women who will be listed in the new book.
Nikki Woolfolk
Proud Blerd, Nikki Woolfolk sculpts decadent desserts and fantastical fiction with equal skill and flair. When they’re not playing a never-ending game of “what if” in a writing space that’s part DieselPunk, part Willy Wonka, they are drawing on their former STEM career and collection of quirky experiences to work up new recipes in the kitchen (tasting encouraged), designing a Goth-inspired garden (tasting decidedly DISCOURAGED), and mashing up real and fictional worlds on social media (virtual kitchen table is always open). Join their cogged-and-geared world at NikkiWoolfolk.com
Tawanna Sullivan
Tawanna Sullivan is one of the founders of Kuma2.net, a website that encouraged black lesbians to write erotica. She was raised in Baltimore with a solid foundation in the Baptist church and 80s horror movies. Her short stories have been featured in various anthologies, including Forever Vacancy, Iridescence: Sensuous Shades of Lesbian Erotica, Swing! Adventures in Swinging by Today’s Top Erotica Writers, and Life, Love & Lust. Currently living in New Jersey, Tawanna is working on her first novel and finding new ways to make her wife laugh. https://tawannasullivan.com/
Nicole D Sconiers
Nicole D. Sconiers once jumped out of plane at 40,000 feet in Sydney, Australia, so she’s no stranger to taking risks. She is an author and screenwriter who blends horror, sci-fi and humor in stories centering complex Black heroines. She is the author of Escape from Beckyville: Tales of Race, Hair and Rage, a speculative fiction short-story collection that has been taught at colleges and universities around the country. Her work has appeared in Nightmare magazine, Lightspeed magazine, Speculative City, NIGHTLIGHT: A Horror Fiction Podcast, PodCastle, Spelman College’s literary journal Aunt Chloe and other publications. Her short stories were published in the anthologies Black from the Future: A Collection of Black Speculative Writing, December Tales and Sycorax’s Daughters, which was a Bram Stoker Award finalist. Ms. Sconiers resides in Pennsylvania and is currently at work on a horror feature film. Catch her online at http://www.nicolesconiers.com
Photo Attribution: Christopher Descano Photography
Natasha MorningStarr
Natasha MorningStarr is a beloved horror writer and an esteemed member of the Horror Writers Association. She has a deep affinity for all things supernatural and uncanny, which she frequently puts to use in her writing. Her love of horror began with an early fascination for horror movies that blossomed into a passion for creating her own tales of terror. Natasha’s stories have been featured in two anthologies, Wasatch Witches: A Collection of Utah Horror and 𝙊𝙪𝙩 𝙤𝙛 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝘿𝙖𝙧𝙠𝙣𝙚𝙨𝙨 by WolfSinger Publications 2023 both AVAILABLE NOW on Amazon. In 2021, Natasha started a series of Twisted Tales on her website, seasonal short horror stories released during spooky season (October – December). As of 2023, she is working with her husband on their first horror novel together. When not writing, Natasha enjoys sipping glasses of white wine and rituals with her husband during the new moon. She is part of an extensive network of family members known as Wanderers who are able to speak to the dead. With an understanding of the supernatural world and a knack for weaving dark tales that unsettle readers, Natasha MorningStar stands out as one of the foremost authors in modern horror literature. Follow her on Twitter :MorningstarrLit, Instagram:morningstarrlit, check out her Twisted Tales Series, and her website: https://www.natashawrites.i
C. Y. Marshall
C. Y. Marshall is the author of eight books. They are Broken, Same Ol Song, Broken II Secrets Revealed, When the Heart Turns Cold 1, 2, 3, and 4, all a part of the Lady Ice Series and Blood Rites : Rise of the Beast. Charlotte has published with Nayberry Publications and Imperial Publishing, both headed by Shani Greene Dowdell. She is also a contributing writer in the anthologies, Savor: The Longest Night with her short story titled “Soul Deep”, Rebuilding Your Life Going Forward with her short story titled “Pink is The New Life”, As We Lay Without a Care with her short titled “The Other Side of Karma,” and a Mother’s Nightmare with her short story titled “Ominous Deception”. In conjunction to her books and short stories she is a former contributing writer for The Urban Release Magazine. Her column titled “Journey of a 1,000 highlighted the stories of African Americans, both past and present. Find her on Facebook at her author’s group or on Instagram at C. Y. Marshall
Michele Tracy Berger
Michele Tracy Berger is a professor, an award-winning writer, a creativity coach and a pug-lover. She specializes in helping writers remove blocks around perfectionism, procrastination and inner critics. Her main love is writing speculative fiction, though she also is known to write poetry and creative nonfiction, too. A few places her short fiction, poetry and creative nonfiction has appeared, or is forthcoming include: 100 Word Story, Glint Literary Journal, The Wild Word, Apex Magazine, Blood and Bourbon, FIYAH: Magazine of Black Speculative Fiction, Ms Magazine, various zines and anthologies. In 2020, her science fiction novella, “Reenu-You” about a mysterious virus transmitted through a hair care product was published by Falstaff Books. Much of her work explores psychological horror, especially through issues of race and gender. Find her at her website at https://micheleberger.wordpress.com/
Cerece Rennie Murphy
Cerece Rennie Murphy writes sci-fi/fantasy that sometimes takes a stroll on the darker side with demons, and murderous fairies, with a bit of gory killing on the side. In 2011, Cerece experienced her own supernatural event – a vision of her first science fiction story. Shortly after, she began developing and writing what would become the bestselling Order of the Seers trilogy. Order of the Seers was selected as one of The Best Kindle Books of 2014 by Digital Book Today. To date, Cerece has published ten speculative fiction novels, short stories, and children’s books. In addition to working on the 3rd book in the award-winning Ellis and The Magic Mirror children’s book series with her son and releasing her first short story collection, Cerece launched Virtuous Con, an online sci-fi convention in February 2021. Her current writing projects include a new steampunk fantasy series. Cerece lives and writes in her hometown of Washington, DC. Find her on her website at https://www.cerecerenniemurphy.com/
Rasheeda Prioleau
Rasheeda Prioleau is a southern African American author of an author of Gullah Horror and Gullah Futurism. with a range of writing and ghostwriting credits which include the books Everlasting: Da Eb’Bulastin, Evenous: An Afrofuturist Space Opera, American Specter: The Seven Sisters, American Specter: The Winter Solstice, American Specter: Restless Spirits, Caressa Moon, The Memoirs of Amullette Rose and Amullette Aflame,
https://www.rasheedahprioleau.com/
Tonya Liburd
Tonya Liburd shares a birthday with Ray Bradbury and Simeon Daniel, which may tell you a little something about her. She is an Apex Magazine Reader’s Choice 2022 Fiction Winner, and is a 2017 and 2018 Rhysling Award nominee. Her fiction is used in Nisi Shawl’s Writing the Other course and Tananarive Due’s Black Horror course at UCLA (which has featured Jordan Peele as guest lecturer), as an example of “code switching”. She is also the recipient of a 2020 Ontario Arts Council writer’s grant in 2020, a 2021 Horror Writers Association Diversity Grant, and a 2023 Recommender’s Grant for writing. She is an Editor over at The Expanse Magazine. You can find her blogging at https://www.Tonya.ca, on Twitter at @somesillywowzer, or at Patreon at http://www.Patreon.com/TonyaLiburd
Ellen McBarnette
Born in Brooklyn, raised in Queens, second generation Caribbean, she has traveled widely in the US. In her long career in public policy in Washington, DC, in which she wrote policy statements, speeches, public correspondence and opinion pieces. Ellen is a life-long storyteller whose earliest tales were transcribed by her mother on scrap paper. Ellen’s career has taken her from the halls of the US Congress to boozey poetry slams. She has performed nonfiction memoir storytelling on the DC stage, occasionally making enough for cab fare home! Yes, she has performed at The Moth. Today, she is active in the San Francisco literary community. Founder of the Beta Readers and Writers Group, organizer of the Afrosurreal Writers Workshop and board member of the Women’s National Book Association-San Francisco Chapter Her short story Negrita is available now in the Midnight and Indigo 2 annual speculative fiction anthology.
Black Women in Horror 
Leave a Reply