I'm Naomi.
So here is why I write what I do: We all have futures. We all have pasts. We all have stories. And we all, every single one of us, no matter who we are and no matter what’s been taken from us or what poison we’ve internalized or how hard we’ve had to work to expel it—we all get to dream.. --N.K. Jemisin
Recent Fiction
"A Small Bloody Gift"
FIYAH Literary Magazine
Jan 2023
6100 words
Kehaka weeds the early-season tomatoes with practiced, mindless jerks. Dirt gathers beneath her fingernails and the heat of the day crawls beneath her shirt, but her mind is far away. She’s thinking instead of the half-packed duffel hidden in the back of her closet and of the decision looming over her, of nervousness and hope and fresh dirt after a rainstorm, messy and new. Her thoughts have drifted so far on the early morning breeze that sweeps languorously across the rooftop garden that she doesn’t hear the humming approach.
A pinch creases her hip. She slaps absentmindedly at the spot and then freezes as recognition prickles the hairs along her arms. One hand balances her against rich, dark soil. She holds the other out to find a spot of blood beading against her middle finger.
"A Small Bloody Gift"
FIYAH Literary Magazine
Jan 2023
6100 words
Kehaka weeds the early-season tomatoes with practiced, mindless jerks. Dirt gathers beneath her fingernails and the heat of the day crawls beneath her shirt, but her mind is far away. She’s thinking instead of the half-packed duffel hidden in the back of her closet and of the decision looming over her, of nervousness and hope and fresh dirt after a rainstorm, messy and new. Her thoughts have drifted so far on the early morning breeze that sweeps languorously across the rooftop garden that she doesn’t hear the humming approach.
A pinch creases her hip. She slaps absentmindedly at the spot and then freezes as recognition prickles the hairs along her arms. One hand balances her against rich, dark soil. She holds the other out to find a spot of blood beading against her middle finger.
Get in Touch
Meet Naomi
Naomi Day is a queer Black human writing Afro-centric speculative fiction in which she interrogates her own generational distance from the concept of home. Her narratives center on those who drift in liminal spaces; the weight of family legacy and belonging; and the effect of sustained trauma and systems of power on queer Black lives.
Her short fiction has appeared in khōréō, FIYAH, The Seventh Wave, and Black Warrior Review. Her work has been supported by the Bread Loaf Environmental Writers’ Conference, The Seventh Wave, and the Octavia E. Butler Memorial scholarship from the Carl Brandon Society. She is part of the Clarion West class of 2022 and is currently pursuing a dual MFA in Fiction and Writing for Children and Young Adults from The New School. In various former lives, she’s worked as a software engineer and an assistant editor.
Naomi Day is a queer Black human writing Afro-centric speculative fiction in which she interrogates her own generational distance from the concept of home. Her narratives center on those drifting in liminal spaces; the weight of family legacy and belonging; and the effect of sustained trauma and systems of power on queer Black lives. Her short fiction has appeared in FIYAH, The Seventh Wave, and Black Warrior Review. Her work has been supported by the Bread Loaf Environmental Writers’ Conference, The Seventh Wave, and the Octavia E. Butler Memorial scholarship from the Carl Brandon Society. She is part of the Clarion West class of 2022 and is currently pursuing a dual MFA in Fiction and Writing for Children and Young Adults from The New School. In various former lives, she’s worked as a software engineer and an assistant editor.