Red Dirt Witch

A graphic novel adaptation of #1 New York Times bestselling author N. K. Jemisin’s acclaimed short story “Red Dirt Witch”

In this graphic novel adaptation of the #1 New York Times bestselling author N. K. Jemisin’s short story “Red Dirt Witch”—which was featured in the 2018 short story collection How Long ’Til Black Future Month?—we are introduced to Emma, a single Black mother of three in a backwater Alabama town in segregated 1940s America. In this alternative universe, magic and faeries exist, and Emma must use her Afrocentric cultural “magicks” against a supernatural force that wants to enslave her daughter, Pauline. Jemisin infuses this world with the magic, complexity, and power of oral Black folklore that have become trademarks of her work in trilogies like The Broken Earth and Inheritance.

Red Dirt Witch has been expertly adapted into the graphic novel format by writer Kinitra Brooks and illustrators Shomari Harrington and Ashley A. Woods. They have translated Jemisin’s powerful prose into a stunning visual story of family and sacrifice. A heartbreaking reminder of the many injustices that Black mothers still have to endure in our country to ensure a better future for their children, this story will resonate with readers everywhere.