![\"International](\"https:\/\/lamesacourier.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/books-1-copy.jpg\")
<\/a>People who fell in love with the recent \u201cBlack Panther\u201d movie might have come across a recurring term in reading up on the film: Afrofuturism. It’s a decades-old genre of speculative fiction, aimed at exploring the identity, past and potential futures of people from Africa or the African diaspora. Black Panther\u2019s fictional nation of Wakanda gave such an example: an African nation which never suffered the ravages of slavery, and developed extremely advanced technology shaped by many cultural practices found in African countries.<\/p>\nA good place to start reading more on this theme is the short story collection \u201cDark Matter,\u201d edited by Sheree Ren\u00e9e Thomas. It runs a wide range, including a story from 1887, and a disaster story by NAACP co-founder W.E.B. Du Bois.<\/p>\n
One of Poland’s biggest pop culture exports in recent years is a fantasy series called \u201cThe Witcher\u201d by Andrzej Sapkowski. The stories are set in a dark version of medieval Poland, filled with knights, kingdoms and mythological monsters. When villages are threatened by these beasts, they must hire a witcher, a monster hunter who uses their own supernatural powers and weapons to destroy the creatures \u2014 for a fee.<\/p>\n Being the world\u2019s most populated country, one would expect a wealth of books from all genres to come from China. But no Chinese science fiction novels were translated into English until 2014. Liu Cixin\u2019s \u201cThe Three Body Problem\u201d was the first. It is highly influential in China, won awards worldwide, and marked the beginning of this thought-provoking trilogy.<\/p>\n The Middle East does not have a strong tradition of science fiction, but increasingly works of this kind are reaching audiences. \u201cIraq + 100\u201d is a great example \u2014 a short story compilation edited by Hasam Blasim, in which 10 different authors envision what the nation looks like 100 years after the American invasion of 2003. While certainly not a rose-colored anthology, the stories carry a core of hope and human resiliency.<\/p>\n Library events<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/a>For a more full-length Afrofuturist tale, you can try the \u201cBinti\u201d trilogy, by Nnedi Okorafor, about a teenage girl from a small desert village, who leaves her traditional life for study at an intergalactic university, possibly losing all her family connections, and braving alien predators in space.<\/p>\n<\/a>The books follow a grim witcher named Geralt, who must earn his violent living while negotiating his way through war, political upheaval and prejudice of his land. The books spawned a popular and acclaimed video game series of the same name, and a \u201cWitcher\u201d TV series is planned to air on Netflix.<\/p>\n<\/a>The series is a generations-long story about characters who learn of a pending invasion by an advanced alien race \u2026 that will not reach Earth for 450 years. While tracking the major consequences this terrible revelation has for science, politics and society, it also tells the tales of many individuals responding to the crisis, and the impact that their lives and decisions have on others.<\/p>\n<\/a>Saturday, June 9 at 1 p.m., the library will be celebrating its 10th anniversary in our current building. Come join us for a musical performance by children\u2019s favorite Hullabaloo, refreshments and crafts for kids. La Mesa Recreation will be there to answer questions about summer day camps and classes. Also, don\u2019t forget to sign up for the library\u2019s Summer Reading program, where you can get prizes for reading books and attending library activities. Info at sdcl.org\/summer<\/a>.<\/p>\n