Moonyani Wright Creates New Worlds Where Music Becomes Magic

December 5th, 2025

Visitors walking through Westroads Mall may expect boutiques and gift kiosks, but they might not expect to discover an author building entire universes from a small booth. That is where Omaha writer Moonyani Wright shares her sci-fi fantasy trilogy, The Music Man, a series that blends time travel, magical dimensions, and the power of music.

Wright, a graduate of the University of Nebraska at Omaha with a degree in psychology, began the trilogy in 2014. What started as a single poem grew into a full narrative about a teenage runaway who finds refuge with a stranger named Cornelius, a mysterious figure known only as The Music Man. Their connection through music becomes a doorway into an alternate realm shaped by imagination and emotion.

Although Wright completed the first book in 2017, she hesitated to publish. That changed when she saw Pixar’s Coco, a film about a boy transported to another world through a musical moment. The parallel to her own story gave her the confidence to move forward. By 2018, the first installment was in print, with two more to follow. Today, the trilogy is available on Amazon and Audible in print, audio, and digital formats.

The series stands apart in the sci-fi and fantasy landscape because Wright centers Black British characters in magical adventures without tying their identities to trauma. Though the story moves between an imagined realm and the real world, the real-world setting takes place on the outskirts and in London, England. Wright’s goal is to create the kind of stories she wished she had growing up—where young people who look like her can simply be the heroes. Her books reflect her love of classical music, including years spent playing violin and piano, and her belief that representation should celebrate joy, imagination, and the full emotional life of young readers.

Wright’s creativity extends beyond the page. She has written a screenplay adaptation of her first novel and hopes to continue into filmmaking. Having acted in local theater productions, she sees screenwriting and film as natural next steps in her artistic journey—another way to broaden representation in genres where it has long been limited.

With her trilogy complete and new creative paths opening, Wright continues to build stories that invite readers into worlds shaped by music, courage, and possibility. She will be signing books this Saturday from 1–5 p.m. at the mall, offering fans a chance to meet her and step into the imaginative world she’s created.