Ayize Jama-Everett is an American

science fiction Science fiction (sometimes shortened to Sci-Fi or SF) is a genre of speculative fiction which typically deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts such as advanced science and technology, space exploration, time travel, parallel unive ...

and

speculative fiction Speculative fiction is a term that has been used with a variety of (sometimes contradictory) meanings. The broadest interpretation is as a category of fiction encompassing genres with elements that do not exist in reality, recorded history, na ...

writer. He is the author of the trilogy ''The Liminal People'' (self-published, 2009;

Small Beer Press Small Beer Press is a publisher of fantasy and literary fiction, based in Northampton, Massachusetts. It was founded by Gavin Grant and Kelly Link in 2000 and publishes novels, collections, and anthologies. It also publishes the zine ''Lady Churc ...

, 2012), ''The Liminal War'' (Small Beer Press, 2015) and ''The Entropy of Bones'' (Small Beer Press, 2015). In his review of ''The Entropy of Bones'', the writer

Charles Yu Charles Chowkai Yu (born January 3, 1976) is an American writer. He is the author of the novels ''How to Live Safely in a Science Fictional Universe'' and '' Interior Chinatown'', as well as the short-story collections ''Third Class Superhero'' ...

describes Jama-Everett's work as "resist ngeasy categorization. he protagonist'smixed racial background offers a potentially nuanced look from a perspective that seems underserved." He goes on to say: "If the book veers among different approaches — now a philosophical kung fu master story, now a seduction into a rarefied subculture, now an esoteric universe made from liner notes and the journal entries of a brilliantly imaginative teenager — there’s nevertheless a vitality to the voice and a weirdness that, while not always controlled or intentional, is highly appealing for just that reason." Jama-Everett himself sees his writing as a way to heal people who have long been ignored in mainstream popular culture. He asserts: “There’s a big wound in not being seen, in having your reality not being represented in any way.” In 2021, Jama-Everett, collaborating with writer/illustrator John Jennings, published ''Box of Bones'', an ethno-gothic horror comic. "A genre narrative rooted in collective trauma, with rotating artists. ..This spirited project is part of the trend of ethno-gothic fiction in the comics market, and offers a landscape ripe to contemplate such spooky and strange fruit."

Biography

Born in

Harlem Harlem is a neighborhood in Upper Manhattan, New York City. It is bounded roughly by the Hudson River on the west; the Harlem River and 155th Street (Manhattan), 155th Street on the north; Fifth Avenue on the east; and 110th Street (Manhattan), ...

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

, Jama-Everett is now based in

Oakland Oakland is the largest city and the county seat of Alameda County, California, United States. A major West Coast port, Oakland is the largest city in the East Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area, the third largest city overall in the Bay A ...

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

. He has also lived in

New Hampshire New Hampshire is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the northeastern United States. It is bordered by Massachusetts to the south, Vermont to the west, Maine and the Gulf of Maine to the east, and the Canadian province of Quebec t ...

and

Morocco Morocco (),, ) officially the Kingdom of Morocco, is the westernmost country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It overlooks the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Atlantic Ocean to the west, and has land borders with Algeria to ...

, and traveled extensively across

north Africa North Africa, or Northern Africa is a region encompassing the northern portion of the African continent. There is no singularly accepted scope for the region, and it is sometimes defined as stretching from the Atlantic shores of Mauritania in ...

Asia Asia (, ) is one of the world's most notable geographical regions, which is either considered a continent in its own right or a subcontinent of Eurasia, which shares the continental landmass of Afro-Eurasia with Africa. Asia covers an area ...

and

Mexico Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...

. He holds master's degrees in

clinical psychology Clinical psychology is an integration of social science, theory, and clinical knowledge for the purpose of understanding, preventing, and relieving psychologically based distress or dysfunction and to promote subjective well-being and persona ...

and

divinity Divinity or the divine are things that are either related to, devoted to, or proceeding from a deity.divine

, and has been a teacher at high school and college levels. He is currently a practicing therapist. According to Jama-Everett, he was named 'Ayize' by his mother, a word that means 'let it come', in an

African African or Africans may refer to: * Anything from or pertaining to the continent of Africa: ** People who are native to Africa, descendants of natives of Africa, or individuals who trace their ancestry to indigenous inhabitants of Africa *** Ethn ...

root language. Jama-Everett also interviews artists and writers. Some interviews include: * John Jennings in The Believer Magazine * Victor LaValle in The Los Angeles Review of Books * Jody Armour in Racebaitr

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Jama-Everett, Ayize 1974 births Living people African-American writers American science fiction writers American speculative fiction writers People from Harlem Writers from Manhattan Writers from Oakland, California 21st-century African-American people 20th-century African-American people