Janelle Monáe Announces New Short Story Collection ‘Memory Librarian’
Janelle Monáe can check off “author” as one of her latest accomplishments. The “Make Me Feel” singer is debuting a collection of short stories titled The Memory Librarian: And Other Stories from Dirty Computer.
Janelle Monáe, the talented actress and singer, will be a published author come April 2022. Monáe’s collection pays homage to her third studio album, Dirty Computer. The 2018 record was met with critical acclaim, landing her a Grammy nomination for Album of the Year. Dirty Computer is a concept album about society’s negatives. She spoke about the album in an interview with CBS, where she says, “Well, dirty computers are inspiring to me….People say that these dirty computers, these humans have these bugs and these viruses, the things that make them unique are looked at as negatives. But dirty computers look at their bugs and their viruses as attributes, as features, as added value to this country, to this society….it’s just saying that I’m a dirty computer, but I too am American.”
#DirtyComputer is out now! I spoke to @oldmanebro about it on @Beats1. Check out the interview and listen to the new album when you can. Thank you @AppleMusic 🙏🏿🌈 https://t.co/P6GTmBv1Rn pic.twitter.com/A7T0r2TGJ0
— Janelle Monáe, Cindi Mayweather👽🚆🤖🚀🪐 (@JanelleMonae) April 28, 2018
Much of Monáe’s art is connected to Afro-futurism, which blends the African Diaspora with science, technology, and philosophy. The singer writes on Instagram, “Sci-fi and Afro-Futurism have always been vehicles I use to drive my art & storytelling (no matter the medium) so it’s a dream to be publishing my first short story collection in these genres! Thank you to everyone at @harpervoyagerus for the support and opportunity. It’s been a complete honor to swim in creative waters with other dirty computers in our community.”
In a press release for The Memory Librarian: And Other Stories from Dirty Computer, it is revealed, “In the collection of stories, Monáe and the other writers build on the album’s “Afrofuturistic world” by “exploring how different threads of liberation — queerness, race, gender plurality, and love — become tangled with future possibilities of memory and time in such a totalitarian landscape…and what the costs might be when trying to unravel and weave them into freedoms.”
Monáe ends her post thanking the many talented writers (dirty computers) who helped complete The Memory Librarian: And Other Stories from Dirty Computer. The singer collaborates with many female and non-binary writers. She thanked Alaya Dawn Johnson (“The Memory Librarian”), Eve L. Ewing (“Timebox”), Yohanca Delgado (“Save Changes”), Sheree Renée Thomas (“Timebox Altar(ed)”), and Danny Lore (“Nevermind”).
[jumps out from behind a bush]
— Eve L. Ewing used to go by wikipedia brown (@eveewing) December 2, 2021
HEY!!!!
sorry did i scare you? my b. anyway
i got to collaborate on a story with one of my most important artistic influences/most admired people and now i finally get to tell you about it. so grateful to @JanelleMonae
https://t.co/lYLkMZ6WEt
Janelle Monáe’s THE MEMORY LIBRARIAN: AND OTHER STORIES FROM DIRTY COMPUTER. UK pub April 2022, @HarperVoyagerUK.
— So Mayer (@Such_Mayer) December 2, 2021
Can you pre-order next year’s most exciting book from Burley Fisher?
Yes: https://t.co/NvdhSPNOVr
Did I make this link at 9pm so *I* could pre-order it? Also yes. https://t.co/DBODpxfz0U
Janelle Monáe continues to be one of the most inspiring artists of this generation. Fans can pre-order The Memory Librarian: And Other Stories from Dirty Computer at select bookstores.
Writer | Tweet me @court__giles
