Greats of Science Fiction

Delany, Samuel R

Samuel Ray Delany, Jr. – Chip Delany to his friends - was born April1, 1942, and raised in Harlem. An African American author, professor and literary critic, his mother was a library clerk in the New York Public Library system, and his father ran the Levy & Delany Funeral Home on 7th avenue in Harlem. His aunts were civil rights pioneers – who inspired some of the adventures as a basis for Elsie and Corry in “Atlantis: Model 2924,” the opening novella in his semi-autobiographical collection Atlantis: Three Tales.

Following the death of Delany's father from lung cancer in October 1960, and his marriage in August 1961, he and his wife, Marilyn Hacker, settled in New York's East Village neighborhood at 629 East 5th Street. Due to the intervention of Hacker (then employed as an assistant editor at Ace Books), Delany was a published science fiction author by the age of 20, though he actually finished writing his first novel (The Jewels of Aptor) while still only 19 years old, shortly after dropping out of the City College of New York after one semester. He published nine well-regarded science fiction novels between 1962 and 1968, as well as two prize-winning short stories.

Delany wrote two issues of the comic book Wonder Woman in 1972. Delany's eleventh and most popular novel, the million-plus-selling Dhalgren, was published in 1975 to both literary acclaim (from both inside and outside the science fiction community) and derision (mostly from within the community).

Recurring themes in Delany's work include mythology, memory, language, sexuality, and perception. Class, position in society, and the ability to move from one social stratum to another are motifs that were touched on in his earlier work and became more significant in his later fiction and non-fiction works.

Although he does not possess a degree, Delany has been a professor at several universities since 1988.

He is one of the most prolific science fiction authors of the 20th century; Delaney’s body of work includes more than twenty novels, several novellas, and countless short stories and he has won countless prestigious awards including the coveted Nebula and Hugo awards.

His science fiction novels include Babel-17, The Einstein Intersection, Nova, Dhalgren, and the Return to Neveryon series.

After winning four Nebula awards and two Hugo awards over the course of his career, Delany was inducted into the Science Fiction Hall of Fame in 2002.

Delany is currently a professor of English and Creative Writing at Temple University in Philadelphia, where he is Director of the Graduate Creative Writing Program.

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Written by AIDukes