Charles H. Rowell

Feb 22, 2023 | daily.jstor.org | Lavelle Porter |Charles Nilon |Charles H. Rowell |Samuel R. Delany

On April Fools’ Day, Samuel R. Delany will turn 81. These days he’s the lovable, bearded grandpa of American science fiction, but back in the 1960s Delany was a controversial young phenomenon in the field. He was born in Harlem in 1942, into a prominent black family that includes, among others, his aunts Sadie and Bessie Delany, famously known as the Delany Sisters, who were the subject of the best-selling book Having Our Say.