Ytasha L. Womack is an award-winning author, director, independent scholar, and dance therapist. Her book Afrofuturism: The World of Black Sci Fi & Fantasy Culture was a 2014 Locus Awards Nonfiction Finalist. She lectures on Afrofuturism and the imagination for audiences around the world and was a cocurator of Carnegie Hall's Afrofuturism Festival, a nationwide arts festival, in 2022. Her other works include the sci-fi novel Rayla 2212; the Kickstarter project A Spaceship in Bronzeville; and nonfiction books Post Black and Beats Rhymes and Life: What We Love & Hate About Hip Hop. Her films include the Afrofuturist dance film A Love Letter to the Ancestors From Chicago (director) and Couples Night (screenwriter). Ytasha was an inaugural resident for Black Rock Senegal, helmed by artist Kehende Wiley in Dakar, showcasing her zine Liquid at the 2022 Dakar Biennial. Other residencies include serving as writer-in-residence at the WOW Festival in Liverpool, Kickstarter, and Emerson College. Ytasha has a BA from Clark Atlanta University and is an alumnus of Columbia College in Chicago. A Chicago native, Ytasha can be found dancing to house music and drinking unusual amounts of tea.