Stephen Embleton

I am extremely grateful to say I have been awarded a grant by the Royal Literary Fund .  It’s not something I would have thought I would need, or even thought existed, if it weren’t for a Brittle Paper article in June . I am always grateful to Brittle Paper for everything they do for our literary community. The criteria for applying, the process and the care and sensitivity from the people involved is rather humbling as well as encouraging, given that the  literary merit of my body of work is thoroughly considered along with my financial circumstances. Financial circumstances being the main reason for the existence of the RLF since the 1700s.  Apart from having to be a British citizen, they had to read physical copies of two works published in the UK ( Soul Searching and Bones & Runes ). And it is encouraging to know that genre fiction is viewed as having literary merit. Also considered are any broader activities related to writing, from lecturing, public speaking, awards — engag

Included in a broader review by Amirah Muhammad for BSFA's Vector magazine of the Bloomsbury  ‘Afro-Centered Futurisms in Our Speculative Fiction’ anthology, my essay –  “Cosmologies and Languages Building Africanfuturism” was mentioned. I am grateful to the reviewer, Amirah Muhammad, for including Pule kaJanolintji in their review excerpt on our work together. There has been much positive feedback on my essay in this anthology and I am glad it is getting read and noticed out there, highlighting Pule's own projects , skills and valued creative endeavours. Excerpt: In particular, Embleton’s chapter emphasises the creative opportunity that language presents in speculative writing. His research in linguistics and writing systems, including Ge’ez, Nsibidi, Tifinagh, and isiBheqe soHlamvu or Ditema tsa Dinoko , led to the creation of the word Huriǁhaoǃnakhoena for his novel, Soul Searching (2020). Embleton writes that “Huriǁhaoǃnakhoena is both a word and a phrase – literally t

  Thanks to Dr Ainehi Edoro and Brittle Paper for an excellent feature of African Science Fiction and Fantasy short stories, including my Sauúti novella "Undulation" ! 🙏🏼 ❤️ 43 Short Stories to Get You Caught Up on New African Sci-fi/Fantasy. “The list features established voices like Dilman Dila, NK Jemisin, Nnedi Okorafor, Deji Bryce Olukotun, Tade Thompson, Stephen Embleton, and many who are relatively new on the scene like Tobi Ogundiran and Adam Oyebanjo.” Featuring 6 The Sauúti Collective stories, 5 in the Mothersound Anthology .  Adelehin Ijasan – “Xhova” Somto Ihezue and Oghenechovwe Donald Ekpeki – “A City, A Desert and all their Dirges” Stephen Embleton – ‘Undulation” Tobias S Buckell – “The Groves Lament” J Umeh – “Kalabashing” Eugen Bacon – “Sina, The Child With No Echo” Find out more about the Sauútiverse and the Mothersound Anthology .

2024 Nommo Award winner for Best Novella by an African , presented at Glasgow WorldCon, for his Sauúti novella, “Undualtion” , published by Android Press in “Mothersound: the Sauútiverse Anthology ”  (2023). The Nommo Awards was special! An awesome feeling being nominated but special winning, for Sauúti . Such a great event for us all in person! Meeting friends and colleagues 🙏🏼👏🏼❤️ It was amazing to receive the Nommo Novella Award from Nnedi Okorafor, one of the best novella writers out there, and writing African stories her way. The awesome Nnedi Okorafor Reading from "Undulation" With Wole Talabi and Tendai Huchu Love these guys! More featured on File 770 , Brittle Paper , and at Glasgow 2024 . And Brittle Paper's Glasgow Roundup .

It was a real pleasure to be able to create something unique for a friend and Sauúti Collective colleague – Cheryl Ntumy – for her new novella coming out with Atthis Arts press: a custom display typeface and title design. Design & Typography: Stephen Embleton, Illustration: Akintoba Kalejaye Find Atthis Arts here. A latinised version of the Adinkra alphabet from Ghana (because Cheryl is Ghanaian!), it has some fantastic characteristics and a very modular form which made it a fun, yet simple, design to work on. I first focused on the letters needed for Cheryl's book cover, and then fleshed out the other characters, as well as creating a "light" version. One happy accident for the cover design was incorporating the "working" components of each letter in the design itself. i.e. when I work on fonts, I find the common weights (stroke thicknesses) and common shapes, and move these around to exact positions. And by making them separate bright colours enables m

  I’m grateful to have both “Bones & Runes” (YA urban fantasy novel) and “Undulation” (my Sauúti novella) as finalists in the African Speculative Fiction (ASFS) 2024 Illube Nommo Awards . And to share the list with Sauúti Collective fam, Cheryl Ntumy, Eugen Bacon, Wole Talabi, Ihezue Somto Rodney and Oghenechovwe Donald Ekpeki “Bones and Runes” was first acknowledged by the James Currey Prize in 2021, and believed in enough by Abibiman Publishing to publish in the UK in 2022. 🙏🏼📖👀💫 #nommoawards Read the full category lists below, and the full Nommo Awards list here . Novel Bones and Runes by Stephen Embleton, (Abibiman Publishing, 2022) Dazzling by Chikodili Emelumadu (Hachette; Wildifre, Headline Publishing Group, 2023) Don’t answer when they call your name by Ukamaka Olisakwe (Masobe Books, 2023) Shigidi and the Brass Head of Olabufon  by Wole Talabi (Gollancz and DAW Books, 2023) Vagabonds! by Eloghosa Osunde, (Harper Collins; 4th Estate and Riverhead Books, 2022) Warrior o

Thanks to Mame Bougouma Diene for moderating an excellent panel at Nice Fictions on “The Building Blocks of Worldbuilding”. Mame invited me to join Michèle Laframboise, Stéphane Arnier and Benjamin Lupu to discuss our experience in creating fictional worlds – in cluding RPG worlds and characters – and  I got to speak about The Sauúti Collective and the world we’ve created. 🪐🚀💫 Gratefully, the panel was in English! Michèle was in Canada, Stéphane Arnier in Finland, Benjamin Lupu in-person at the Nice Fictions event (Nice, France), and Mame in Kinshasa (DRC) and myself in Mézos (France). Watch the panel here.

  In January 2024, the BSFA (British Science Fiction Association), and producer Zoe Mantas, asked if I would record a reading of fellow African SFF writer  Nick Wood's  short story “A Pall of Moondust” – originally published in Fission #1 . Needless to say it was an absolute honour to read our dear departed friend's story! And pleased it was the first episode of the BSFA Pod launching in May 2024. Nick worked tirelessly to bring African SFF voices to the fore and to give us the recognition and access to the world's platforms that we need to be seen outside of the Continent. I hope I did it justice, bru. 🙏🏼 ❤️ Now available to listen.