Seeking work by both native and diasporic Africans "that reject[s] regressive ideas of blackness, respectability politics, and stereotype,"[1] FIYAH was developed by a group of writers led by Troy L. Wiggins and L.D.

[5] Items published include prose stories, essays and poetry, and many of the issues are themed (e.g. "Hair", "Chains",[6] "Haunting and Horrors", "Food and Cuisine", and "Palestinian Solidarity").

[9] Tade Thompson's "Yard Dog", which appeared in the Summer 2018 issue, was anthologized in The Best Science Fiction & Fantasy of the Year: Volume Thirteen in 2019.

[12][13] In 2020, FIYAH produced the inaugural FIYAHCON, a virtual convention held 17–18 October to "celebrate the perspectives and contributions of BIPOC in speculative fiction".

[16] In August 2020, Tor.com announced the production of an SFF flash fiction anthology by Black authors in collaboration with FIYAH.

Called Breathe FIYAH, it was co-edited by Lambert and DaVaun Sanders[17] and released for free on the Tor.com website in October 2020.

[18] In 2022, FIYAH, Tor.com, and the LeVar Burton Reads podcast collaborated in producing an "Origins and Encounters"-themed SFF contest.