The 2023 FIYAH Grants Winners

We’re happy to announce  this year’s FIYAH Grants recipients! They’ve shown a tremendous dedication to their craft, scholarship, and activism. We hope these awards empower the already solid efforts of these individuals.

Learn more about our winners and what projects they’re working on:

Rohan Zhou-Lee is a Queer/Non-Binary Black Asian author, dancer, and organizer in New York City. Founder of the Black-Asian solidarity group the Blasian March, their writing can be found on the SFF magazine Anathema, them, Truthout, Mochi Magazine, Pigment International, Mixed Asian Media, Prism Reports, NextShark, Reappropriate, Gay City News, and Newsweek. Zhou-Lee holds a Bachelor of the Arts degree in Ethnomusicology from Northwestern University and in 2020 became a mentee to Terry J. Benton-Walker, author of Blood Debts (Tor Teen, 2023) and Alex Wise vs the End of the World (PRH/Labyrinth Rd, 2023) through the Avengers of Colour program. www.diaryofafirebird.com | www.blasianmarch.org

Ivana Akotowaa Ofori is a Ghanaian storyteller. Known also by the alias of “The Spider Kid,” she is a weaver of words in many forms, including fiction, non-fiction and spoken-word poetry. Her writing has been published on online literary platforms such as AFREADA, Jalada Africa, The Kalahari Review, and in print anthologies such as Flash Fiction Ghana’s Kenkey for Ewes and Other Very Short Stories, Writivism’s And Morning Will Come (2021), Tampered Press’s Tsoo Boi (2022), Tor.com’s Africa Risen (2022), and Clinamen Editions’ Daring Shifts (2023). Her debut novella, The Year of Return, will be published in 2024 by Android Press.

Akotowaa has been included in the long- and shortlists for various awards, among them the 2021 Miles Morland Writing Fellowship, the 2017 and 2018 Writivism Prizes, the 2020 Toyin Falola Prize, and the 2020 Nommo Awards. She was a resident of the inaugural LOATAD West African Writer’s Residency (2022) in Ghana, and is an alumna of the inaugural JIAS Creative Writers’ Workshop (2022) in South Africa. She is a member of the 2023 cohort of Clarion West’s six-week summer workshop, and will apply this grant to attend the 2023 Milford SF Writer’s Conference in Wales.

Rais Tuluka is a writer with a passion for science fiction and storytelling. Known for their ability to weave intricate narratives filled with compelling characters and thought-provoking themes, Rais captivates readers with imaginative worlds and engaging prose. Drawing inspiration from a diverse range of influences, Rais combines elements of classic science fiction with innovative concepts, breathing new life into the genre. Their storytelling is characterized by a perfect balance of high-stakes action and emotional depth, ensuring that readers are taken on an exhilarating and immersive journey.

Kiersten Adams is a freelance journalist and creative writer whose work centers Black queerness & womxnhood at the intersections of the natural and unnatural world. Kiersten’s work has appeared in The Philadelphia inquirer, Midnight & indigo, Womanly Magazine, and her short story ‘Anatomy of the Universe & Us’ will appear in the Written With Pride Speculative Anthology by Not A Pipe Publishing. She currently resides in Philadelphia with her cat Lenny and her many thriving pothos plants. When she isn’t writing, she’s resting in green spaces summoning the future forest.

Aurelius Raines II writes and lives in Chicago. He likes to write about things that aren’t happening, in hopes that they will… or won’t.. His short stories and essays have been included in the Fantasy & Science Fiction, Apex Magazine, Apparition Literature, Fiyah Magazine and Luminescent Threads: Connections to Octavia Butler, which was the winner of the Locus Award in Non-Fiction. He is a Voodoonauts Fellow (c/o ‘21). In his spare time, he teaches Physics to high-schoolers by showing them how to use science to survive the end of civilization.

The next window for grant applications will open early 2024. Please watch our social media channels and subscribe to the FIYAH newsletter for updates.