In Conversation with the Black Feminist Bookshop
Peaks of Colour is thrilled to announce our upcoming walkshop series in collaboration with the Black Feminist Bookshop! ‘Sowing the Speculative’, invites our communities to engage in political education and nature connection as tools of racial justice. The walkshops will centre around Octavia E. Butler’s ‘Parable of the Sower’ - a work of speculative fiction that follows the main protagonist through a future plagued by rising fascism, deprivation and climate collapse.
Written in 1994, ‘Parable of the Sower’ begins in the Summer of 2024 and bears an eerily similar resemblance to our present day experiences. Our walkshops will explore central themes within Parable of the Sower, notably land justice, revolutionary emotions and worldbuilding. We will also explore how speculative fiction can be a tool for imagination and how our Green City can be a site of revolution.
Earlier this year, Peaks of Colour founder, Evie and Black Feminist Bookshop founder, Dee, paused the plotting and planning that goes into creating a walkshop, to talk about all things Black feminism, Octavia E. Butler and Sowing the Speculative. We’re thrilled to share with you the full interview below:
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Evie: Okay, first question. Could you talk a little about what drew you to this collaboration and this walkshop series?
Dee: I’m always up for doing things with mates. I basically just want to enjoy the work that I do, and I think a big part of that starts with relationships. I know so many badass, radical Black, queer, feminists doing amazing work, that I admire. My work is inspired by so many people that I know, that I haven’t yet met, that I’ve read, so my way of developing this work is to create a space and platform for their work, and to inspire others. But also I'm a creative at heart. So any opportunity to be in community and consider creative, fun and enjoyable ways to engage with Black feminist literature, with the works and legacies of Black feminist writers, and to meet the people where they are - that’s really important for me. Because that's the point of Black feminist theory - it speaks to and addresses every part of us and the lives we live.
Evie: That gave me the warm and fuzzies. Could you explain the importance of grounding practice in theory, and a Black Feminist pedagogy in particular?
Dee: That's such a huge question, the pressure! Maybe what I say now would have been different a few years ago or could even be different tomorrow, so my answer at this precise moment in time is that it's a way of developing yourself and growing. Somebody said somewhere that education is teaching you what you already know - I see Black feminist writing and Black feminist literature in the same way. It helps you to connect those dots. I also believe that a book can meet you at the right time. There’s a healing potential to literature, especially literature which speaks to your experiences on a political, cultural, historical, societal level. Another thing I love about Black feminist theory is that at the core of it is practice - it’s cyclical, it comes from practice, speaks to our experiences and then urges us to continue practising. It recognises that liberation and freedom must be sustainable, it must be inclusive, it must have longevity, and this requires practice.
The basis of my practice is considering: how do we get to a place where everybody lives good, you know? So, for me, the importance of grounding practice in theory is in recognition that this work is a continual journey. And the spaces that I create are spaces for people to learn together, to be on this journey together.
Evie: What a mic drop. And you’re right, we can’t do this work in isolation. It brought to mind the image of Black feminism being the arms that hold us and keep us close. So with that in mind, I’d love to know What makes Parable the Sower, Octavia E. Butler’s work more broadly or Black speculative fiction as a genre that is so compelling for you?
Dee: Butler is a truth teller. And Black feminist literature is truth telling. Black women are great at telling the truth. Unfortunately, we live in a world where people don't want to hear us. Which means our voices often get stifled, which lives in us in different ways. But regardless, Black women will tell you the truth, and find ways of speaking our truth. Black feminist literature, Black speculative fiction is one such way. A writer like Octavia Butler shows you the darkness of our world, but also the possibilities of our world. She’s someone who’s not afraid to emote the truth of an apocalyptic future, but also show you humanity, and the answers that exist if only we listen to Black feminist writers.
Evie: I just got tingles when you said that. Black women are truth tellers. Black feminism tells the truth. [Exhales]. Wow.
The fourth question is: Could you talk about your current relationship with nature, how this may have evolved over the years or what you’re currently exploring in relation to this?
“Butler is a truth teller. And Black feminist speculative fiction is truth telling. Black women are great at telling the truth. Unfortunately, we live in a world where people don’t want to hear us.”
Dee: I love this question because my answer would have been so different a month ago. I recently came back from Jamaica. It was my first time there and it was a homegoing for me. But oh my god. I just spent the first few days in the hills, outside of Kingston, and I remember thinking Evie would love this, Evie would be so proud of me [chuckles]. I was so at peace, and at ease. There was always music playing somewhere and it was like the hills were the soundtrack to my life.
I’ve never experienced connection to nature like this, and I think for me it really speaks to how disconnected we are from the hills and valleys in this country. Don’t get me wrong, there’s some stunning places here, but I’m unable to feel myself in the same way as I did when stepping on Jamaican soil, seeing the vegetation and just falling in love with the little tiny birds, the flora and fauna.
It’s a different relationship entirely. Here I’m forever struggling to keep my houseplants alive and out there those same plants are growing wild and thriving. Simply seeking sustenance feels impossible here because our route to nourishment is through unaffordable food systems, like supermarkets, and what we get is such poor quality.. In Jamaica the nature and the vegetation is just wild and fresh and thriving, so as a human I also felt wild and fresh and thriving.
Evie: Abundance, right? A mutually reciprocal abundance.
Dee: Right! Whereas in this country it’s just normalised scarcity. And I really understood the impact that has on my relationship with nature. Scarcity equals disconnect. But in Jamaica I remember thinking ‘this must be how Evie feels every time she swims!’
Evie: I’m so happy for you that you were able to experience that! It’s so interesting, because there are so many ways this nature-based scarcity touches us. From our lack of fresh, healthy food, but also in the lack of access to land and the systemic forgetting of growing practices for example. All these things have over generations chipped away at an ability to feel that we are nature.
I’m just looking at the next question and cringing. I know what the intention was behind it saying it out loud makes me so uncomfortable! What is it about Peaks of Colour’s practice that inspires you?
Dee: Ha! It’s a good question! I really admire your commitment to community, the way you love nature and how you wanted to share what you love with other people. To be creating this space on a regular basis, for years, yeah your commitment to your local community and your local landscape, is beautiful to witness. The local is really important to you. Everything’s so London-centric but you’re so proudly Northern, and you’ve really grounded this work in a Sheffield, and Peak District context. Like, can you imagine what Peaks of Colour would look like in London?
Evie: Bleurgh! [Laughs]
“That’s exactly what Black feminism is for me: it’s practicing freedom! Which is what I hope people take from our walkshops - the feeling that they’re practicing freedom. ”
Dee: It really would be so different, it’s fascinating really because it’s a reminder of how personal and place-based this work is. Don't get me wrong, I love London but it doesn’t have all of the answers. Your work encourages us to explore other forms of healing and freedom that we’re unable to have access to here.
Evie: Oh my goodness, thank you! I’m a bit speechless, but that really does mean a lot. There is something about being immersed in nature that allows you to feel closer to freedom, to feel like you’re closer to understanding what freedom feels like.
Dee: That’s exactly what Black feminism is for me: it’s practising freedom! Which is what I hope people take from our walkshops - the feeling that they’re practising freedom.
Evie: Mmmm. Yes! So, I’m wondering, what book are you currently reading?
Dee: I’m currently reading Lola Olufemi’s Experiments in Imagining Otherwise and it is a mood! Oh my days, I love Lola. I think Lola is amazing. It’s interesting because this book is so different to her first, in that it kind of bounces between short stories, poems, prose, which for me forces my brain to work! But that’s what’s lovely about it, because it’s activating both my brain and my body. There is a feeling in me that is moved and inspired while I'm reading it. For me, I read it in small parts, and then I’ll process what I've read and then come back to another section.
Evie: I also read it in the same way! I come back to it time and time again. And there’s a quote which I come back to when I need to ground Peaks of Colour’s practice back into our purpose. It’s:
“I feel embarrassed when I say feminism and people do not think revolution in service of every living thing. I think I will spend my life trying to rectify this.”
Every living thing - the human and the more than human. In a climate where so-called ‘feminisms’ are espousing a rhetoric that’s entirely preoccupied with the “equality” of one particular type of woman at the direct expense, subjugation, oppression, harm and exploitation of other groups, this is one of the Black feminist truths I ground my practice in, and that I return to no matter the distraction.
Dee: Exactly, and what that quote reminds me of is the purpose behind the practice. The practice of Black feminism, is intersectional, and it’s goal is collective freedom.
Evie: Which leads me onto my last question: What are you most looking forward to about this walkshop series, and for someone who hasn’t been to a Black Feminist Bookshop space before, what can they expect?
Dee: I’m really looking forward to collaborating with you, connecting with the people of Sheffield and the surrounding areas, and experimenting with my practice in a different setting. Connecting literature with nature will be new for me, which is exciting! I’m also looking forward to deepening our imaginations, practising freedom and exploring the truths that wait for us in Octavia E. Butler’s words. I’d say what people can expect is openness - and I’d really love those who join us to have that mindset too - openness to connecting with community, to connecting with the literature, connecting with nature and to connecting with the possibilities of Black feminist futures.
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If you’d like to stay up to date with Black Feminist Bookshop’s work, you can do so by following them on Instagram and supporting their Patreon.
Our Peaks of Colour x Black Feminist Bookshop walkshops: Sowing the Speculative, will be taking place throughout July 2024. It has currently sold out, but please join the waiting list via the link below:
