Speculative Fiction and Black Feminist Thought

Walking through the door of my own imagination

Illustration by Louisa Bertman

I didn’t realize that I was a feminist until I read a story in which a noblewoman named Éowyn plunged her sword into the the Witch-King of Angmar in J.R.R. Tolkien’s fantasy epic, The Lord of The Rings. It wasn’t the demons, ghouls, or wizards that enthralled me most in the series — though they certainly…