The publishing industry has been widely criticized for its lack of BIPOC voices. At She Writes Press and SparkPress, we are well aware of the need for more and broader representation of BIPOC authors on our lists.

In an effort to address this issue head-on we launched the She Writes Press and SparkPress Toward Equality in Publishing (STEP) contest in 2018 to offer two female authors of color publishing package (plus a 500-book print run) to publish on either She Writes Press or SparkPress.

It’s our fourth contest year, and after reading through almost 70 phenomenal manuscript submissions—about a 20% increase in contestants from the last contest year!—we narrowed it down to five top contest finalists.

Meet our two lovely winners below, and show them some love on social!

Fatima Henson, Love in the Age of Dragons

Fatima Henson will publish on the SparkPress Fall 2022 season with her winning book Love in the Age of Dragons. 

About Love in the Age of Dragons:

Ayanna Grace, a seventeen-year-old, black girl, etches out a life in an abandoned subway system as part of an underground community. Ayanna survived after a wormhole opened and ushered vicious dragons into the world. These dragons burn cities to the ground. Underground, medicine runs short, and outbreaks of disease spread uncontrollably. The water supply is low, uprisings occur frequently, and dragon attacks are imminent.  All the while, Ayanna wrestles with her feelings as she finds herself torn between her childhood friend, Richard, and a new member of the group, the mysterious Jackson. With no hope of rescue, will Ayanna be able to save her mentor, the community’s only doctor, who is dying from a failing heart before it is too late?

Fatima Henson is a native of Atlanta, Georgia. She is a passionate and talented US history teacher and writer, with a penchant for dystopian and fantasy storytelling. She is an alum of the University of Miami in Coral Gables, Florida, and American University in Washington D.C. Much of her work seeks to swing open the doors of imagination into fantastical worlds where she reveals the deep and intimate lives of young Black characters thriving against persistent and remarkable obstacles.

Twitter: @f_henson
Instagram: @fatima.r.henson
Website: www.loveintheageofdragons.com

Mona Alvarado Frazier, Strong Women Grow Here

Mona Alvarado Frazier will publish on the SparkPress Spring 2023 season with her winning book Strong Women Grow Here.

About Strong Women Grow Here:

Juana, a naïve sixteen-year-old immigrant, flees her abusive American ‘husband’ and is arrested for his death. Convicted of manslaughter, she is incarcerated for six years and must navigate the prison culture of staff rules, gangs, and violence. When a slight on a gang leader results in an attack, Juana cultivates a  garden in the prison backyard to avoid others, but other difficulties arise.

When her mother-in-law files for custody of Juana’s baby, she has to fight to uncover additional evidence of her alleged crime and appeal her case or risk losing her child.

Mona Alvarado Frazier is a member of SCBWI, Macondo Writers, a co-founder of #LatinxPitch Twitter event, and a 2021 mentee of Las Musas kidlit collective. After years of working with incarcerated youth and raising three creative children as a single parent, Mona is fulfilling her passions of writing and traveling, as well as volunteering, hiking, and watching K-dramas. Her short stories are published in the University of Nevada anthology, Basta! and PALABRITAS, a Harvard College literary magazine.

Twitter handle: @AlvaradoFrazier
Instagram: @m.alvaradofrazier
Website: www.alvaradofrazier.com