The Memory Librarian: And Other Stories of Dirty Computer

Written by Janelle Monáe

Narrated by Janelle Monáe and Bahni Turpin

In The Memory Librarian music, fashion, film and futurist icon Janelle Monáe returns to the Afrofuturistic world of her critically acclaimed album, Dirty Computer, to explore how different threads of liberation – queerness, race, gender plurality, love – become tangled in a totalitarian landscape… and to discover costs of unravelling them.

Whoever controls our memories controls the future.

Janelle Monáe and an incredible array of talented collaborating creators have written a collection of tales comprising the bold vision and powerful themes that have made Monáe such a compelling and celebrated storyteller. Dirty Computer introduced a world in which thoughts – as a means of self-conception – could be controlled or erased by a select few. And whether human, A.I., or other, your life and sentience was dictated by those who’d convinced themselves they had the right to decide your fate.

That was until Jane 57821 decided to remember and break free.
Expanding from that mythos, these stories fully explore what it’s like to live in such a totalitarian existence… and what it takes to get out of it. Building off the traditions of speculative writers such as Octavia Butler, Ted Chiang, Becky Chambers, and Nnedi Okorafor—and filled with the artistic genius and powerful themes that have made Monáe a worldwide icon in the first place – The Memory Librarian serves readers tales grounded in the human trials of identity expression, technology, and love, but also reaching through to the worlds of memory and time within, and the stakes and power that exists there.

• Language: English
• Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers
• Release date: Apr 14, 2022
• ISBN: 9780008512439

Janelle Monáe

JANELLE MONÁE is widely celebrated as an American singer/songwriter, actress, producer, fashion icon, and futurist whose globally successful career spans over a decade. With her highly theatrical and stylized concept albums, she has garnered eight Grammy nominations and has developed her own label imprint, Wondaland Arts Society. Monáe has also earned great success as an actor, starring in critically acclaimed films including Moonlight, Hidden Figures, Harriet, The Glorias, and the 2020 horror film Antebellum. She will star in the highly anticipated sequel Knives Out 2. The Memory Librarian is her debut book.

Reviews for The Memory Librarian

[mahsdad · Rating: 1 out of 5 stars]

A half star only to indicate that it was a DNF for me. I tried, made it thru the first couple stories, but it just wasn't connecting with me. Too many books, Too little time, time to move on.

[othemts · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Musician, actor, and fashion icon Janelle Monáe adds author to her many skills with this collection of stories rooted in the dystopian future world previously explored in her music.  Each story is co-written with another talented Black author.  The stories are set in a near-future authoritarian state called New Dawn where people live under constant surveillance, have their memories harvested, and those who don't conform - especially LGBTQ people and people of color - are classified as "Dirty Computers."These stories include that of Seshet the memory librarian, a high ranking official in New Dawn, who begins to explore life on the "wrong side of town" with a new transgender partner.  A commune of women who've found refuge from New Dawn at a place called Pynk Hotel discover a traitor in their midst.  A lesbian couple discover a room in their house outside of time with each responding to it differently.  And a family are able to travel one by one into a future where they find they've been liberated giving them hope to make it a reality.It's an interesting collection of sci-fi/Afrofuturist stories that very much parallels our real world struggles.  The stories can be didactic in their messaging but honestly sometimes need to be told bluntly.  While this type of fiction is not typically something I would enjoy - and I'll confess that some elements went over my head - I am glad that I read this book and would recommend it to people who like this genre and fans of Monáe.