When it comes to Black representation in media, it’s been a long, windy road littered with setbacks and triumphs. Hollywood would take one step forward, giving shows about Black experiences a spotlight or majority accolade, and then, in a blink of an eye, the industry reverts to its old ways of Black erasure.

That problematic ebb and flow set the tone for other industries—like publishing, for example. 17 years ago, finding books about Black people was no easy task, and finding stories about African people was even harder.

Anna Fye was confronted with the latter when she was pregnant with her daughter Halima at the time. Fye’s family immigrated to the U.S. from a then-war-torn Gambia in the years prior, and growing up, her parents made a point to keep their Gambian traditions alive at home. Fye wanted to do the same for Halima— she wanted to read her magical stories about people who looked like her and where she comes from was extremely important.

“I went to Barnes and Noble to look for Princess books because I wanted to find books that I could relate to for my baby girl,” Fye explains to me. “My husband is an African man. We’re having an African child in America. And I wanted to replicate beautiful moments from my childhood for my daughter.”

She searched her local Barnes and Noble meticulously, and later “learned that they didn’t have any books about African princesses.”

“I searched other bookstores, I checked online (online options were minimal at the time), but still… nothing. I was heartbroken,” she shared.

So what did Fye do? She decided to write one herself.

“I got in touch with my younger sisters YaAdam and Jainaba, and my mom, Lucy, and we came together to write a princess book,” she explained. “We wanted our princess to be unapologetically African and travel the continent learning the different cultures, traditions, music, the scenes and food of our beloved homeland.”

When it came to naming their princess, they had the perfect name in mind.

“We named her Halima, after my daughter,” Fye tells me, beaming. “We did this all for her—she was our undeniable muse.”

Halima is 16-years-old now, and Fye and her family have grown their princess book into an empire: FyeN Network. As a publishing house, they’ve told a plethora of African stories geared towards children, including books like Bakary on Safari, which features a young African boy who’s passionate about protecting the continent’s national parks, Taj The Builder, a Gambian kid who discovers a passion for construction, and so much more.

Their publishing success birthed a new side of the company in 2017: production. A lot of times African representation in years prior has resulted in harmful stereotypes about African life or hodgepodge representations that blend African cultures. And as Black storytelling has evolved and started to get its flowers around the world, African storytelling still trails behind.

“We decided back then that we were going to go for it and take things to the next level,” YaAdam explains. “We were like, ‘okay, let’s get the world to come to us. And that’s what we’ve been committed to doing for the last six years.”

 

FyeN’s stories feel fresh and realized, and their bringing nuance and creativity to kid’s entertainment. In the space, OG titans like Disney and Nickelodeon have defined the genre for decades, with newcomer streamers like Netflix hot on their tails. Amid all of that, FyeN is doing something totally different in kids entertainment— marrying elements that are cornerstones of the industry with stories that feel new, thrilling, and nuanced.

The team is well aware of the obstacles in front of them: their big whig competitors, people believing African stories are only for African audiences, finances (animation— the form of storytelling FyeN is predominately working with— is not cheap), the list goes on. But the Fye family knows they’re creating something that fulfills a major hole in the market and, with the right platform, they’ll have audiences of all ages hooked.

“African children’s stories are one of the most neglected parts of our entertainment industry.” Fye says. “In Africa, we do not have content that we cater to African children. And in the U.S., the vision of applying African storytelling to entertainment is barely there, let alone executed. We want to become a one stop shop for anything and everything African storytelling, in the kids space and beyond.”

And their forging ahead to make their dream a reality boldly. FyeN Network plans to make a major splash at AfroAnimation— the world’s biggest BIPOC animation summit— this April.

“We’re incredibly excited about summit,” Kahenya Kang’ethe, head of animation at FyeN, says. “We can’t wait to rub elbows with our peers and share an exciting announcement about our future.”

Buy books like Bakary on Safari and Taj The Builder on FyeN Network’s website, and follow the company on Instagram for more.