268 – Writing Black Panther & How It Changed Sci-fi: Afrofuturism, Supporting African Authors & The Intergalactic Empire of Wakanda With Suyi Davies Okungbowa

Suyi Davies Okungbowa is this week’s guest, to talk about his latest book, Black Panther: The Intergalactic Empire Of Wakanda, African authors, science fiction and more!

In more detail; Mike & Suyi first talk about Suyi incorporates “twoness” in his writing and his implementation of it in the Black Panther novel and how it’s similar, and different, to the comic run by Ta-Nehisi Coates. The duo also talk about Suyi’s relationship with Black Panther, how the Black Panther movie changed the landscape of science fiction, especially for African authors, favourite characters to write, how BP influenced Suyi’s other writing (& vice versa), the biggest challenges in writing the novel, and so much more, including music’s impact on Suyi’s writing process, Suyi’s quote of “Imagining Futures By Reimagining Histories”! This is the perfect conversation for fans of writing, diverse perspectives, music, and of course; Black Panther!

Video version here: https://youtu.be/Bjf-H9CSHpk 

Find Suyi’s Black Panther novel here: www.penguin.co.uk/books/458095/marvel-black-panther-the-intergalactic-empire-of-wakanda-by-okungbowa-suyi-davies/9781529914276

Keep up to date with Suyi @SuyiDavies on Instagram or at his website: https://suyidavies.com

Suyi’s foundation: The Literary Laddership For Emerging African Authors: https://suyidavies.com/fellowship

Suyi’s recent novella is Lost Ark Dreaming and his trilogy; The Nameless Republic will conclude with Season of The Serpent in 2026. His debut novel is David Mogo Godhunter and he’s also written for Stranger Things, Minecraft and more!

Suyi mentioned the Broken Earth series by N. K. Jemisin and Charles Saunders, author of Imaro, plus towards the end Mike mentioned Kwame Mbalia and the Black Boy Joy short story collection that Suyi also contributed towards.

You can find the playlists to Suyi’s Nameless Republic books on his website, the Uptown Funk cover he mentioned is by The Vitamin String Quartet. 

Thanks to Tony Holt Jr for his essay comparing Invisible Man to The Intergalactic Empire Of Wakanda and for AR Farina & Tonya Todd for publishing it in Comics Lit Volume 1: https://accomplishinginnovationpress.com/product/comics-lit-vol-1

Check out Mike’s in-depth reviews, breakdowns & things you missed episodes of Season 2 of Andor, on any podcast app or on YouTube: https://podfollow.com/starwarschitchat & https://youtube.com/@starwarschitchat

All Patreons have been receiving bonus episodes, including a Thunderbolts, Superman III and Superman IV review, as well as early access and more! Support at www.patreon.com/GenuineChitChat or https://ko-fi.com/GenuineChitChat

The last episode of GCC was a preview of the Forbidden Worlds Film Festival and the week before that was Mike’s review of the 1985 movie Young Sherlock Holmes, directed by Barry Levinson and written by Chris Columbus! It’s the 40th Anniversary of the movie and as Mike is attending the Forbidden Worlds Film Festival, where a special showing (& cast Q&A) is happening, he wanted to give the movie a go beforehand!

From 28th May to 1st June, Mike & Spider-Dan will be at the Forbidden Worlds Film Festival to cover all 5 days of the event and hopefully interview some attendees