Find all the latest news and reviews of Sauúti-related work from across the web in one place.
FEATURED: 8 Outstanding Science Fiction and Fantasy Short Story Collections
"...this anthology is a fun, necessary, and inspiring read."
"Released in 2023, this anthology is a first of its kind, in which all stories are set in the same fictional world and utilize various African cultural worldviews. Because of that, it all feels even more like one grand experience, but with various styles. As such, this anthology is a fun, necessary, and inspiring read."
SONGS FOR THE SHADOWS REVIEW by Doomscribe
"...a story about a woman running from her own grief and the echoes it leaves in her soul. I love the texture of the Sauútiverse, and as one of the founding writers, Ntumy has a great skill at bringing it to life."
MOTHERSOUND REVIEW: Decolonial Dreaming in the Sauútiverse by Nedine Moonsamy
"Stepping into the Sauútiverse is stepping out of monomyth, as this collection educates on the partiality, diversity and situatedness of narrated events that go on to shape each other through acts of collaboration and contestation. Mothersound also translates pluriversal thinking into method as the Sauútiverse is a shared and open world, and only exists through collaborative worldbuilding."
Writer in Residence Finds Herself in a Parallel Universe
Tanzanian-born writer Eugen Bacon is currently enjoying a three-month writer's residency in Tasmania as the 2024 Hedberg Writer-in-Residence, staying in Tasmania until November. She's using her time to explore the state and work on her latest novel, Crimson in Quietus (A Sauúti novel), a new kind of mystery where the investigator is not a detective but a sound magic scientist.
BSFA Vector Review: ‘Afro-Centered Futurisms in Our Speculative Fiction’
Amirah Muhammad reviews ‘Afro-Centered Futurisms in Our Speculative Fiction’ in the BSFA Vector magazine. The Bloomsbury Academic anthology features essays by Sauúti Collective members Eugen Bacon (ed), Stephen Embleton, Cheryl Ntumy and Xan van Rooyen covering the amazing world building work by the Sauúti Collective as a whole.
Stars and Sabers bag 'gorgeous' novella from Eugen Bacon
Stars and Sabers Publishing has signed The Nga’phandileh Whisperer, a novella from Eugen Bacon. Releasing September 2025.
AUREALIS "Mothersound" REVIEW by Michaela Teschendorff Harden
"The worldbuilding of Mothersound is the star of the show. Science fiction and fantasy blend through the coexistence of magic and advanced technology. Central to the worldbuilding are the diverse cultures of Africa and the African diaspora, constructing a unique set of voices, values and aesthetics underrepresented in mainstream speculative fiction."—Michaela Teschendorff Harden
Stars & Sabers Acquires Eugen Bacon’s Sauútiverse Novella
The Nga’phandileh Whisperer publishes September 2025.
"I sought to craft this novella to satiate my curiosity about the Nga’phandileh, creatures of unreality in the Sauútiverse. I also wanted to write a strong female protagonist into a Sauúti story, and found this in Chant’L—a young Guardian with an affinity to hive-minded beasts, unaware that she has more sound magic than she knows how to use. I am stoked and honoured to entrust The Nga’phandileh Whisperer to Jendia Gammon and Gareth Powell, the power couple behind Stars and Sabers Publishing.”
— Eugen Bacon
Stars & Sabers Publishing Sauúti Book Deal for Eugen Bacon
Stars & Sabers are thrilled to announce that they have acquired Eugen Bacon’s Sauútiverse novella, "The Nga’phandileh Whisperer"
Publishers Jendia Gammon and Gareth L. Powell of new speculative imprint Stars and Sabers Publishing acquired world English rights for The Nga’phandileh Whisperer, a science fiction and magical realism Sauúti novella by British Fantasy Award winner, Philip K. Dick and Shirley Jackson Award finalist Eugen Bacon
6 SAUÚTI STORIES FEATURED: BRITTLE PAPER
43 Short Stories to Get You Caught Up on New African Sci-fi/Fantasy featuring 6 The Sauúti Collective stories, 5 from the Mothersound anthology.
“The list features established voices like Dilman Dila, NK Jemisin, Nnedi Okorafor, Deji Bryce Olukotun, Tade Thompson, Stephen Embleton, and many who are relatively new on the scene like Tobi Ogundiran and Adam Oyebanjo.”
—Adelehin Ijasan – “Xhova”
—Somto Ihezue and Oghenechovwe Donald Ekpeki – “A City, A Desert and all their Dirges”
—Stephen Embleton – ‘Undulation”
—Tobias S Buckell – “The Groves Lament”
—J Umeh – “Kalabashing”
—Eugen Bacon – “Sina, The Child With No Echo”
2024 NOMMO AWARD WIN: BEST NOVELLA
Sauúti member Stephen Embleton's Mothersound novella, "Undulation", was announced as the winner of the 2024 Nommo Award for Best Speculative Fiction Novella by an African.
Also announced at Glasgow WorldCon on 10 August 2024, at the 7th Nommo Awards was fellow Sauúti member, Wole Talabi's win in the Ilube Novel category for his debut novel "Shigdi and the Brass Head of Obalufon".
Announcing The Sauúti Collective’s New Anthology – Sauúti Terrors: The Dark Side
Members of the Sauúti Collective and co-editors of a new anthology, Eugen Bacon, Stephen Embleton and Cheryl S. Ntumy, are thrilled to announce a newly-signed contract with Bieke van Aggelen of the African Literary Agency to represent Sauúti Terrors: The Dark Side.
“We’re immensely pleased to work with Bieke and her team, comprising Martijn Lindeboom and Debbie van de Zande, on another Sauútiverse project!” said co-editors Eugen, Cheryl and Stephen jointly.
PODCAST: Eugen Bacon explores the migrant experience by creating a universe
Eugen Bacon is an award-winning speculative fiction author who is spending three months in Hobart as the Hedberg Writer in Residence at the University of Tasmania.
She explains to Lucie Cutting how she explores the African-Australian migrant experience by creating her own universe called the Sauutiverse.
This interview was originally broadcast on Tasmania Sundays on 2 June, 2024
LISTS: HWA Bram Stoker Award Reading List
6 Sauúti stories, featured in the Mothersound Anthology were included in the 2024 HWA Bram Stoker Award Reading List.
Short Fiction:
Lost In The Echoes – Xan van Rooyen
The Grove’s Lament – Tobias S. Buckell
The Way Of Baa’gh – Cheryl S. Ntumy
Undulation – Stephen Embleton
Xhova – Adelehin Ijasan
Long Fiction:
A City, A Desert & All Their Dirges – Somto Ihezue & Oghenechovwe Donald Ekpeki
Speculative fiction author Eugen Bacon to be 2024 Hedberg Writer-in-Residence
Sauúti Collective member Eugen Bacon has been awarded the $30,000 residency, which consists of a three-month stint in Hobart writing, working with students and taking part in community conversations.
Eugen will use the time to progress work on a new novel, Crimson in Quietus (A Sauúti novel), a new kind of mystery where the investigator is not a detective but a sound magic scientist.
INTERVIEW: Into the Sauútiverse
The Sauútiverse is a fascinating collaborative writing project born from the creative space Syllble.
Arturo Serrano spoke with Ghanaian author Cheryl Ntumy, one of the founding members of the Sauútiverse, about the conception of this fictional world and the ideas behind it. In befitting Sauúti fashion, the answers came from the writing collective as a whole.
ARTICLE: The Call of Sauúti
What exactly is the Sauútiverse? Eugen Bacon—an African writer based in Australia, and an active member of the SFWA, HWA, SFPA, BSFA, and BFS—tells us more about the amazing Afrocentric storytelling collective that’s fast-emerging.
ARTICLE: Dominant Themes in Afro-Centric Fiction, Aurealis #158
The Sauútiverse integrates a robust diversity of traditional African spirituality and cultural practices across the continent that hosts over 50 countries, 2000 languages and nearly 1.4 billion peoples. There’s much to draw from Mother Africa socially, politically, linguistically and we haven’t even got to the food: cassava, millet, sorghum, maize, yams, papaya, coconuts, mangoes, let alone cultural practices embracing birth, rites of passage, marriage and death... Storytelling has increasingly morphed itself into a critical artistic canvas for writers in African and the diaspora to channel their longing and memory, connection and belonging.
ARTICLE: Sauútiverse: Speculative African Writers Reshaping World Building
Every other day, we see and hear of the progress being made by Africans and Africans in the diaspora; in various fields and sectors. One, however, manages to be deep yet relatively quiet, and that is the world of speculative fiction, which has experienced major shakes by Africans in the last few years and perhaps beyond. As the world over begins to recognize and identify with the richness of our stories, strengthened by a culture of folklore and tradition, it becomes clearer how important the place of the continent is on the larger scale.
SEE ALSO:
First Look at The Sauútiverse: An African Interplanetary World-Building Project
BRITTLE PAPER, OCT 2022
A First Look at the Sauútiverse
AFROCRITIK, OCT 2022
Out of this world: why we created the first collaborative African fantasy universe
THE GUARDIAN, SEPT 2022
The Sauúti Fictional World: A Partnership Between Syllble and Brittle Paper
BRITTLE PAPER, JUNE 2022
MOTHERSOUND ANTHOLOGY REVIEWS
Starred Review from Publishers Weekly
Given this vast scope, there’s plenty of room for J. Umeh’s joyous “Kalabashing,” chronicling an interplanetary battle of the bands, to sit next to T.L. Huchu’s horror story “The Hollowed People,” in which a planet’s fragmented reality leaves its inhabitants both dead and alive at once. Eugen Bacon’s poetic neurodivergent dragonslayer tale “Sina, the Child with No Echo” fits in every bit as well as Xan van Rooyen’s futuristic story of a magical Deaf DJ in “Lost in the Echoes.” Released with a story bible and under copyright arrangements that will soon allow any African writer to add their voice to the collective, this feels like the start of something monumental.
AUREALIS REVIEW by Michaela Teschendorff Harden
"The worldbuilding of Mothersound is the star of the show. Science fiction and fantasy blend through the coexistence of magic and advanced technology. Central to the worldbuilding are the diverse cultures of Africa and the African diaspora, constructing a unique set of voices, values and aesthetics underrepresented in mainstream speculative fiction."
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Mothersound Anthology Book Blurbs
