Michael Roch is a caribbean science-fiction writer and screenwriter, born in Lyon in 1987. He currently lives in Martinique.
His first fantasy and horror short stories were published in various underground fanzines before he joined Walrus Editions, with two science fiction novels, Twelve, then Mortal Derby X. His novel Moi, Peter Pan, published by Label Mu (2017), was shortlisted for the Grand Prix de l’Imaginaire in 2018 and, together with Le Livre jaune (Label Mu, 2019), forms a fairytale diptych with hints of Astroblackness.
Since 2015, the year he returned to his native West Indies, he has led several writing workshops on the theme of Afrofuturism – a literary movement developing Afrocentric counter-dystopias – in prison and university settings. He also teaches storytelling at Parallel 14, a 3D animation school. He is also a member of the Fabrique décoloniale, a group of sociologists, political scientists and artists working on issues of decoloniality.
In 2020, he joined the Fabrique de Rocambole, which reissued Twelve and Mortal Derby X alongside a new series: Héritiers, revealing his desire to build Afrocentric plots. His novel Tè Mawon, the first trace of a french caribbean Afrofuturism, was published by La Volte Éditions (2022) and shortlisted for numerous science fiction awards. He defines it as a counter-dystopia, a proposal for the re-empowerment of Afrodescendant Caribbean societies, towards a desirable future, despite its unpredictability. His last novel, Les Choses immobiles, published in August 2023 (Label Mu), is part of the literature of marronnage. In 2024, he published a collection of short stories in the same universe as these two novels: Lanvil emmêlée (La Volte).
He is also the creator and director of the popular literary channel La Brigade du Livre on Youtube, with a community of over 35,000 subscribers. Alongside Axolot and Le Fossoyeur de films, he was part of the Pandora video creation label. Today, he hosts Latilié on Twitch.
