We recently read Rachel Kaadzi Ghansah’s interview with Samuel Delany in the new issue of The Paris Review and it got us thinking about all the things we think we know about science fiction writers and how wrong we were. Though we might first think of Philip K. Dick, Isaac Asimov, or Ray Bradbury, it’s good to remember that the field has widened in the past thirty years or so to be more inclusive. Now there are women, people of color, and writers of all different kinds of sexualities getting involved in the genre. Before, people would point to Ursula K. Le Guin as the token women of the boys’ club, but now you have so many other options. So enjoy, readers, and maybe you can discover a few writers to geek out to before the new sci-fi blockbuster makes it to the theater.
Samuel R. Delany
Queer, black, and challenging — Delany’s brain is massive, and he is constantly investigating the world through a critical lens. His grandmother, Sarah Louise “Sadie” Delany, was a civil rights pioneer, and co-wrote the bestselling memoir, Having Our Say, with her sister Bessie. Samuel has also received his share of accolades: in 2002, Samuel was inducted into the sci-fi hall of fame. His latest book, Through the Valley of the Nest of Spiders, will be out this October.
Comments (9)
I get the main message that everyone is participating in speculative writing (or shall we say more so because it was always so at least a bit) but its kind of misleading because the whole point of speculative writing is that the author is not limited by their circumstances. Delaney is a brilliant groundbreaking writer but not because he is queer and black. He is a smart imaginative writer who happens to be queer and black. Fiction should be read on the basis of whether it is good or interesting, not because the author belongs to some favoured group.
The list is a little safe and predictable. You could have taken the opportunity to mention some newer writers like: N.K. Jemisin, Lavie Tidhar, Hannu Rajaniemi, Nnedi Okorafor, Karen Lord, Charles Yu, and so on. Perhaps you haven’t heard of them?
Curious that Mary Soon Lee is listed among the tags at the top of this series, but if you click through all the authors you get Ursula K. Le Guin instead.
So you say Le Guin is the classic token author, then include her anyways, instead of someone else, such as Margaret Atwood?
James P. Blaylock!!
An underrated speculative writer is Alma Alexander, whose fantasy based on a world resembling Imperial China, The Secrets of Jin-Shei, has been published in 14 languages around the world. She also writes innovative young adult books, like the Worldweavers series which combines ancient Native American myths and computer science.
[...] offers a thoughtful view of “10 Diverse Sci-Fi Authors You Should Know.” The list includes a [...]
Yay! Thanks for including SP Somtow!
Great list — but anyone who read “Having Our Say” will remember that Sadie and Bessie Delany never married or had children, so neither one was a grandmother. They were actually Samuel R. Delany’s aunts.
OCTAVIA BUTLER should ALWAYS BE REMEMBERED AND INCLUDED
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