Delany, Samuel R. (1942-…), is an American science fiction author whose imaginative novels and short stories have broken new ground in both style and themes in science fiction. Delany’s writings often explore the importance of language and its ability to give structure to human experience. He also emphasizes the importance of myths in civilization. Many of his central characters are outsiders, often writers or other artists. Delany is African American and gay, and much of his fiction explores racial and gender discrimination as well as other social issues.
Delany’s early novel Babel-17 (1966) established him as an important new voice in science fiction. The novel follows poet Rydra Wong as she tries to decipher an alien language during an interplanetary war. Babel-17 won the Nebula Award for best novel in 1966. The Nebulas are awarded by the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of Amerca. In 1967, Delany won two more Nebulas, for the novel The Einstein Intersection (1967) and for the short story “Aye, and Gomorrah…”
One of Delany’s most controversial novels is Dhalgren (1975). This long work follows a nameless young bisexual man as he seeks personal identity in a large, decaying city cut off from the rest of the world by an unknown catastrophe. Delany’s four-volume “Return to Nevèrÿon” series (1979-1987) examines themes of politics, power, and slavery in a fantasy world of dragons and barbarians. The series includes Tales of Nevèrÿon (1979), Neveryóna (1983), Flight from Nevèrÿon (1985), and Return to Nevèrÿon (originally titled The Bridge of Lost Desire, 1987). Dark Reflections (2007) and Through the Valley of the Nest of Spiders (2012) are novels outside the science fiction field that center on the lives of gay African American men.
Delany’s short stories have been published in Driftglass (1971), Distant Stars (1981), Atlantis (1995), and Aye, and Gomorrah (2003). Delany has written theoretical works on science fiction, notably The Jewel-Hinged Jaw: Notes on the Language of Science Fiction (1977, revised edition 1978) and Starboard Wine: More Notes on the Language of Science Fiction (1984, revised edition 2012). His essays have been collected in Longer Views (1996) and Shorter Views (1999). Delany wrote the autobiographical Heavenly Breakfast (1979) and The Motion of Light in Water (1988).
Samuel Ray Delany, Jr., was born on April 1, 1942, to middle-class parents in New York City. He published his first novel, The Jewels of Aptor, in 1962. Delany began a career teaching in college in 1975, though he never earned a college degree. He was a professor of English and creative writing at Temple University from 2001 until his retirement in 2015.
