Animist realism, introduced by Harry Garuba in his article Ben Okri: Animist Realism and the Famished Genre is a relatively new term. Garuba links it to African literature, while others (Ato Quayson, Graham Harvey) use it in association with a broader spectrum of fiction. The main objective of this article is to redefine the category of animist realism as a subgenre of magical realism with its own connecting characteristics and its formal difference. Author of the article argues that animist realism is applicable especially to postcolonial and indigenous literature permeated with myths and other elements derived from traditional belief systems.