Ytasha L. Womack

Ytasha L. Womack (born January 22, Chicago, Illinois) is an award-winning author, filmmaker, independent scholar, and dance therapist recognized as one of the foremost voices in Afrofuturism. Her book Afrofuturism: The World of Black Sci-Fi and Fantasy Culture (Chicago Review Press, 2013) is the leading primer on the subject, a 2014 Locus Award Nonfiction Finalist, and is taught in colleges and universities worldwide. Her follow-up The Afrofuturist Evolution: Creative Paths to Self-Discovery was published in 2025.

In comics and graphic novels, Womack is an inaugural author with Megascope, the Abrams ComicArts imprint dedicated to speculative fiction in comics. Her graphic novel Black Moon Ritual (AWA Studios, written, illustrated by Alitha Martinez) and Spider-Man: Miles Morales — Marvel Age of Comics (an exploration of the Marvel universe through an Afrofuturist lens) demonstrate her work across the spectrum of comics publishing. She also wrote BLAK KUBE (illustrated by Tanna Tucker, 2022) as part of the Megascope imprint, and has contributed to the Smithsonian’s Afrofuturism: A History of Black Futures and LACMA’s Imagining Black Diasporas exhibition catalogues.

As a filmmaker, Womack directed the Afrofuturist dance film A Love Letter to the Ancestors From Chicago, which won Best Experimental Film at the Collected Voices Film Fest and screened internationally. She has curated Carnegie Hall’s Afrofuturism Festival, created immersive experiences for the Adler Planetarium, and lectures at universities including DePaul and Rutgers. Womack was featured in the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History & Culture’s Afrofuturism exhibit.