Bayana A. Davis
Bayana A. Davis
Bayana A. Davis is co-host of #WizardTeam, a podcast that discusses and highlights Black fantasy stories. She co-founded Black Nerds Create, a collective that provided content through the lens of critical and creative fandom in order to advocate for meaningful representation for Black creators. She has a B.A. in English-Creative Writing from Mills College, was a finalist in the Voyage First Chapters Contest, and was selected for the DVmentor program where she was mentored by Gabi Burton, author of Sing Me to Sleep and Drown Me with Dreams (Bloomsbury YA). She is a fierce advocate of critical fandom and increased representation of Black women in publishing and media. She hopes her writing will add to the increasing diversity of stories creating space and representation for Black folks, especially in science fiction and fantasy.
Website: bayanawrites.com
Bluesky: @yanawroteit
Instagram: @yanawroteit
Trouble the Waters
Knopf Books for Young Readers
Sold in a six-figure, seven-way auction, this YA historical fantasy blends the ancestral magic and myth-infused worldbuilding of Tracy Deonn’s LEGENDBORN with the fantasy-laced alternate history of Justina Ireland’s DREAD NATION and the magic-steeped exploration of racial injustice in Lovecraft Country.
Born with the ability to sense and control water, Blessing has always been drawn to the Dismal Swamp. But she’s never considered running into its wild depths, especially not after her master sold her to the Mason siblings—a doctor with deep interest in the secrets of the swamp and his sister, whose blood magic keeps Blessing tightly bound to her.
When her mother meets the fatal consequences of leading a failed rebellion against the white folks of Sweet Tide Plantation and the surrounding county, Blessing is the only one left to protect her younger sister from the doctor’s experiments and her mistress’s binding magic. Determined to keep her sister from a beastly fate, she decides it’s time to leave Sweet Tide behind.
Fleeing into the Dismal Swamp, Blessing and her sister find Solace, a maroon settlement cloaked in magic and secrecy. Determined to be welcomed into the village, Blessing hopes to keep the true nature of her magic a secret—but when a strange rot forcing its way through Solace’s barriers connects back to her own traumatic past, it’s up to her to confront the monsters who bound her in order to keep her sister and new community safe.
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