The “Dive into Diversity: Your Media Adventure Awaits!” panel kicked off 2025’s Diversity in Speculative Fiction & Literature Fandom Track on Thursday, 7PM, at Hyatt Hanover AB. Moderator Joy Stephens asked the guests how representation is changing and what we may see and want to see in spec fic and fandom. Panelists Noel E. Plaugher, Afua Richardson, and Sorah Suhng answered these questions from their own creative endeavors and expressions.
Richardson, an illustrator, writer, musician, singer, and songwriter, was on the first Black female team to create a story, “Black Panther World of Wakanda,” for the Marvel universe. She introduced Adinkra, Ghanan philosophical symbolism, to that world’s portrayal.
Novelist and black belt (Shou Shu Kung Fu) Plaugher wanted a character that was different from those featured in typical martial arts stories. Maggie Long, the protagonist of his novel The Lady Dragon of Chinatown (first in a series), is a strong female character who secretly trained in kung fu at a time when it was forbidden to her.
Sung, a comic book cover artist, accentuates power in the sexy female characters she creates, including Karnal Sin, who appears in the Karnal Confessions series. She recommended “to draw what you want to draw. Fans want to connect with you as a person. Art is the medium.”
Stephens develops and leads workshops in the diversity, equity, and inclusion space. She seeks diversity across cultures and discussed the Japanese concept of ikigai (from Japanese words for “life and worth or value”). She emphasized finding your ikigai as a Venn-diagram intersection of four elements: what you love (your passion), what the world needs (your mission), what you can be paid for (your profession), and what you’re good at (your vocation). You can find additional information from ikigai topic at durangoschools.org.
