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) which is now celebrated by many in March during Women’s History Month. In 2013, as an Ambassador for Women in Horror Month, Sumiko Saulson put together the original book 60 Black Women in Horror at the the intersection of the two. Over the next five years, the world of 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, with the assistance of Kenya Moss-Dyme 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 combined list of 150, listed alphabetically, in batches of 10. Here are the eleventh 10 of them.
Nuzo Onoh
British-Nigerian horror writer Nuzo Onoh is the author of The Reluctant Dead, Unhallowed Graves, and The Sleepless. A pioneer in the African horror genre, she mixes traditional beliefs with unnerving supernatural terror. The daughter of Dr. C.C.Onoh, chief and governor of the Old Anambra State, she was subjected to a terrifying exorcism attempt as a child. This impacted her worldview and as a result she is an advocate fighting against the ritual abuse of children in Africa. twitter.com/NuzoOnoh
Helen Oyeyemi
British author Helen Oyeyemi won the 2010 Somerset Maugham Award and was nominated for the Shirley Jackson Award in 2009 for her work of dark fantasy and gothic horror, White is for Witching. It wasn’t the first foray into horror for this young author. Her 2006 book The Icarus Girl mixes Nigerian myths with elements of the ghost story tradition and psychological horror. helenoyeyemi.com
Suzan Palumbo
Suzan Palumbo is a Nebula finalist, active member of the HWA, Co Administrator of the Ignyte Awards and a member of the Hugo nominated FIYAHCON team. She is also a former Associate Editor of Shimmer magazine. Her debut dark fantasy/horror short story collection Skin Thief: Stories will be published by Neon Hemlock in Fall 2023. Her novella “Countess” will be published by ECW Press in spring 2024. Her writing has been published or is forthcoming in Lightspeed Magazine, Fantasy, The Deadlands, The Dark Magazine, PseudoPod, Fireside Fiction Quarterly, PodCastle, Anathema: Spec Fic from the Margins and other venues. She is officially represented by Michael Curry of the Donald Maass Literary Agency and tweets at @sillysyntax. When she isn’t writing, she can be found sketching, listening to new wave or wandering her local misty forests. suzanpalumbo.wordpress.com/
Ama Patterson
She contributed “Hussy Strutt” to the Dark Matter collection. Her short fiction is included in 80 Memories and Reflections on Ursula K. Le Guin. She is the author of Zen and the Art of Haiku: Journal and three other how-to and inspirational books, The Lost Art of I Ching; The Essential Guide to Astrology; and Finding Your Inner Goddess: A Journal of Self-Empowerment. www.clarionwest.org/node/1341/view
A.L. Peck
Psychological horror novelist A.L. Peck is not just the first black woman I interviewed on this blog – she’s the first author I interviewed of any kind. Her well-researched debut novel Abstract Murder puts the reader inside the minds of the criminals and detectives alike as we follow the terrifying lives of the monsters next door – serial killers – and the officers who track them down and capture them. www.facebook.com/groups/268295249931688
L. Penelope
African American fantasy, paranormal romance and horror author L. Penelope’s debut work was the 2015 novel Song of Blood & Stone, the first of the Earthsinger Chronicles. Since then she’s written Whispers of Shadow & Flame (Earthsinger Chronicles #2), Cry of Metal & Bone (Earthsinger Chronicles #3); Angelborn (Angelborn Cycle #1);and Angelfall (Angelborn Cycle #2). Her short story “AngelBorn” was included in the anthology Sycorax’s Daughters, and she was in the Anthology Touch the Dark. www.lpenelope.com
Annie J. Penn
Afro-Australian author Phyllis Khan wrote the horror fantasy Voodoo Knights under the pen name Annie J. Penn. The story deals with black magic, monsters and aliens and features characters such as Moh Moh Oh, a manwhoring alien hybrid who is the father of all monsters, and Miss Conceptiona, a shape-shifting transgender swamp monster. She also writes short stories. She wrote a short story for the first eBook edition of 60 Black Women in Horror. She was born in Africa and raised in Australia.
www.goodreads.com/author/show/6605026.Annie_Penn
Ann Lane Petry
The African American novelist Ann Petry was the first black woman to become a bestselling author, selling over a million copies of her 1946 novel The Street. Although her mainstream novels are urban and historical fiction surrounding issues faced by black women during and after slavery, she wrote short stories in the horror genre, including the ghost story “The Bones of Louella Brown” from the collection Miss Muriel and Other Stories. Her novels include magical realism, gothic imagery, and a Western fear of hoodoo consistent with the American horror genre. Other novels include the critically-acclaimed The Narrows and the Y.A. novel Tituba of Salem Village.
harvardmagazine.com/2014/01/ann-petry
Mina Polina
She wrote the short story “Appreciation” for the horror anthology Black Magic Women. Mina Polina has written short stories since high school, and is a newly published author. Her preferred genres are horror and fantasy with a mixture of realism. When not writing, Mina Polina also spends her time working on her various Graphic Design projects. She currently resides in Los Angeles, California.
Rasheedah Prioleau
The prolific Rasheedah Prioleau writes in several dark speculative fiction genres, including horror, supernatural thriller, dystopian space opera, and paranormal romance. The Princess X Series is a space opera about the blind orphan Amullette Rose who leaves her space colony to go into hiding because she has a dark secret. American Specter: The Seven Sisters is a supernatural thriller featuring FBI Agent Audra Wheeler. Everlasting: Da Eb’Bulastin is the first book in the Sa’Fyre Island Book Series, about Aiyana Gamelle, a woman of Gullah and Native American ancestry who learns that her transformation into the Queen of Sa’Fyre Island involves a family curse and unwanted possession.
Black Women in Horror 