L.L. McKinney featured at Afrolit Sans Frontières Season 5 from Kansas City, USA on Wednesday, July 29, 2020. She was hosted by Mohale Mashigo.
Afrolit Sans Frontières, a virtual literary festival for writers of African origin, was founded by author and publisher Zukiswa Wanner as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic international lockdowns. The festival format is two sessions a day on Instagram Live with an artist moderated by a host who also fields questions from audience members. There have been four editions; Season 1 from March 23-30; Season 2 from April 20-27; Season 3 from May 25 – June 1; and Season 4 from June 29-July 6.
Season 5 kicked off on July 27 and festival goers have so far interacted with Lerato Mogoatlhe in Johannesburg, South Africa, Joe Khamisi in Texas, USA, Frances Mensah Williams in London, UK and Conceição Evaristo in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
The third day of the festival kicked off with Kayo Chingonyi in Leeds, UK before L.L. McKinney wrapped up from Kansas City, USA. L.L. McKinney is an advocate for equality and inclusion in publishing and creator of the hashtags #PublishingPaidMe and #WhatWOCWritersHear. A gamer, Blerd, and adamant Hei Hei stan, her works include the Nightmare-Verse books, starting with the A Blade So Black trilogy, and an upcoming graphic novel for DC featuring Nubia.
The American writer was welcomed by her South African counterpart and they spoke about L.L.’s writing journey, the fantasy scene in the US with the focus on the Black women writing in it, and the several cool weapons and toys in her apartment showing her love for her chosen genre. You can watch the love-in between the two in the below video.
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