A Point of Pride: Interview with Eboni J. Dunbar

Eboni J. Dunbar (She/her) is a queer, black woman who writes queer and black speculative fiction. She lives in the San Francisco Bay Area with her partner. She received her BA from Macalester College in English and her MFA in Creative Writing from Mills College. She is a VONA Alum and the former managing editor for the Hugo Award-Winning FIYAH Literary Magazine.

Her work can be found in Stellium Literary Magazine, FIYAH Literary Magazine, Drabblecast, Anathema: Spec from the Margins, Nightlight Podcast, and Beneath Ceaseless Skies. She also has a novella, Stone and Steel, out from Neon Hemlock Press.

Eboni has also been nominated for an Ignyte Award in the Novella Category for Stone and Steel.

She can be found on Twitter: @ebonidunbar and IG: ej_beezington.

What inspired you to start writing?

I grew up a Jehovah’s Witness, so there was a lot about my world that felt small and limiting. Writing allowed me to explore the fantastic in a way that was safe. If I wrote about things that for me would have been problematic (queer love and happiness as one example) then it wasn’t about me or what I wanted.

What was it about the horror genre that drew you to it?

I’ve never really thought of myself as a horror gal but I do love the paranormal. I think I’ve been drawn to the weird and sometimes dangerous things about the world and about what it would mean to throw magic at the weird and dangerous. To live in the darkness.

Do you make a conscious effort to include LGBTQ material in your writing and if so, what do you want to portray?

Everything I write is related to my identities in some way and queerness is part of that. I just want readers to get a sense of the good, the bad, and the ugly of queerness. There is always happiness for my queer characters, even when there is sadness.

How do you feel the LGBTQ community has been represented thus far in the genre and what hopes do you have for representation in the genre going forward?

I think this is shifting but I think LGBTQ characters are often canon fodder. They’re the characters who can be an example for the others about how to suffer. My hope is that this is changing and that we’re getting more final queer girls or nonbinary folks etc.

Who are some of your favorite LGBTQ characters in horror?

The OG Carmilla, who is a queer icon.

Gilda of The Gilda Stories (can you tell I love a vampire?).

Who are some LGBTQ horror authors you recommend our audience check out?

Caitlin Starling who I was introduced to because we’re both published by Neon Hemlock Press is really fantastic. The Death of Jane Lawrence was lovely as was Yellow Jessamine.

Zin E Rocklyn’s work is incredible and dark and personal. It stuns and disgusts and is just incredible.

And of course, the incredible Jewelle Gomez.

And to the LGBTQ writers out there who are just getting started, what advice would you give them?

Write what makes you happy. Don’t worry too much about the market etc. Not at first. Just write what you’re excited by. You’d be surprised to learn how many other people are wanting that too.