Sixteen tales. Bestselling and award-winning authors. One powerful collection that redefines the Black experience through fantasy, science fiction, and magic.
Evoking the spirit of Beyoncé’s Lemonade for a teen audience, A Phoenix First Must Burn brings together stories that span from retold folktales to futuristic societies, centering Black women and gender nonconforming individuals in worlds of love, betrayal, strength, and resistance. Witches and scientists, priestesses and rebels, sisters and lovers—the heroines in these pages blaze with brilliance and complexity, reflecting truths that resonate across time and space.
From authors hailed as Octavia Butler’s literary heirs, this collection is a mesmerizing journey that you won’t forget. A Phoenix First Must Burn is where magic meets identity, and every story burns bright with power.
