MAINSTAGE CONVERSATIONS

The Keeper: A Journey from Page to Screen

Sunday, November 15, 2026

SPEC BLK is honored to welcome acclaimed authors, screenwriters, educators, and creative collaborators Tananarive Due and Steven Barnes as featured MainStage guests at the inaugural SPEC BLK Convening.

A leading voice in Black speculative fiction, Tananarive Due is the award-winning author of The Reformatory, The Wishing Pool and Other Stories, The Good House, and other works of speculative fiction, horror, and historical fiction. Her honors include an American Book Award and an NAACP Image Award.

The Reformatory was named a New York Times Notable Book and received the Los Angeles Times Book Prize, Chautauqua Prize, Bram Stoker Award, and World Fantasy Award. Due teaches at UCLA and is also the co-author, with her late mother Patricia Stephens Due, of Freedom in the Family: A Mother-Daughter Memoir of the Fight for Civil Rights.

Steven Barnes is a New York Times bestselling author of more than thirty novels spanning science fiction, horror, and suspense. An Image, Endeavor, and CableACE Award-winning writer, his television credits include The Twilight Zone, Stargate SG-1, Andromeda, and an Emmy Award-winning episode of The Outer Limits.

Barnes has taught at UCLA and Seattle University and lectured at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C. Together, Barnes and Due have also created online courses exploring Afrofuturism, Black horror, and screenwriting.

Their MainStage conversation, The Keeper: A Journey from Page to Screen, will explore the evolution of the original short story into a graphic novel and, most recently, a short film co-written and co-directed by Due and Barnes.

Moving a story across formats requires more than translation. It demands new creative decisions, trusted collaboration, clarity around ownership, and a deep understanding of what must remain at the center of the work.

During this MainStage conversation, Due and Barnes will discuss the creative and practical process of adapting Black speculative storytelling for different mediums, the dynamics of collaboration, and what writers should consider when building stories with the potential to live beyond the page.

Designed for writers, filmmakers, producers, artists, and multidisciplinary storytellers, this session offers an intimate look at how stories evolve—and how Black creators can remain intentional as their work moves into new forms, industries, and audiences.

Join us on Sunday, November 15, for a conversation about adaptation, collaboration, creative ownership, and the journey from page to screen.

Reserve your seat today and join us in Atlanta or virtually.