Thomas is best known for her work as an editor, including
Dark Matter: A Century of Speculative Fiction from the African Diaspora (2000) and
Dark Matter: Reading the Bones (2004) – both won World Fantasy Awards, and Thomas was the first Black writer to win a WFA. She has also edited genre magazines including Apex and Strange Horizons. She was recently named the new editor of F&SF, taking over from outgoing editor C.C. Finlay starting with the March/April 2021 issue.
Thomas is a prolific author of short fiction and poetry, and began producing work of genre interest with “How Sukie Cross de Big Wata” (2003). Some of her work is collected in