Samuel R. Delany Information




Introduction

Samuel Delany is one of my heroes. I read Nova when I was a teenager. At that time, Bantam had published Triton, Dhalgren, and Nova with the same style of cover, linking them in my mind. I was twelve or thirteen years old and intimidated by long books, so I read Nova first. I liked it and thought I might like the other two. I told my best friend about it. He told me that Triton was not very good, `a commie book', based on information his older brother had given him after he read it. Because of that, it was six years before I read Triton and Dhalgren.

When I finally read Dhalgren, all I could think of was how different (and better) my life would have been had I read it when I was younger.

I have since tried to get my hands on everything Delany has written, and been pretty successful. Combing used bookstores has gotten me copies of all of his out of print stuff. He is one of the very few authors that I will buy hardcovers of, instead of waiting for the mass-market paperback to be released. I've put together a bibliography based on this.

I'm not a literary genius, and I'll admit that I don't get a lot of the references he makes, but I have enjoyed everything he's written, from the stream-of-consciousness style in Dhalgren to the literate pornography of Mad Man to the circularities in Empire Star to the use of fantasy as a vehicle to discuss contemporary politics in the Nevèrÿon series.

His autobiography explains the obsession with characters who chew their fingernails, but I used to wonder about all the characters who wear only one shoe. Several people have clued me in on this one.

Since January 2001, he has been a professor of English and Creative Writing in the English Department of the College of Liberal Arts at Temple University in Philadelphia.

From the Fall of 1999 until January 2001, he was a professor in the Department of English of the College of Arts and Sciences at the State University of New York at Buffalo.

From 1988 until the Fall of 1999, he was a professor in the department of Comparative Literature of the The College of Humanities and Fine Arts at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. (He commuted there from his home in New York City).


Web Timeline

July 2 - July 7, 2000
He's one of the writers at the 2000 Clarion SF Writer's Workshop at Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI. Check out their biography of him. He's been an instructor at Clarion East in 1970, 1971, 1972, 1975, 1982, 1988, and 1995, according to their list of Previous Clarion Instructors.

June 27 - July 2, 2000
He is one of the faculty at the Imagination Conference, a writing conference held at Cleveland State University. This was also mentioned in SFF Net's new listings.

September, 1999
He joins the University at Buffalo faculty. Here's the press release.

August(?), 1999
He participates in a New York CitySearch interview about Times Square Red, Times Square Blue

June 10, 1999
He is featured in an Event Horizon chat. The kept a transcript. Event Horizon went on hiatus at the end of 1999, but the site is still up.

June, 1999
He's on a panel sponsored by the Publishing Triangle, to pick the 100 best lesbian and gay novels. At least, that's what the Boston Phoenix reported. None of his made the list.

April 1 - 2, 1998
The University at Buffalo Department of English `Wednesdays at 4 PLUS' program features a `Prose reading by Samuel R. Delany' followed on Thursday by a talk: `Longer Views'. See the announcement.

November, 1999
He is the Special Guest at the 25th World Fantasy Convention.

February 19, 1999
He is doing a book signing with Octavia Butler. `February 19, 1999 7:00 PM: Octavia Butler and Samuel Delany Will Sign at The Stars Our Destination Booksore at 1021 West Belmont, Chicago IL. Order a signed book by phone: (773-871-2722).' as listed in BookTourists.

September 25, 1998
He is on a panel discussion titled `New York's Specialty Bookstores: Their Variety, Vitality, and Importance.' at New York's Annual Literary Festival.

November 2 - 22, 1997
He is a Master Artist-in-Residence at the Atlantic Center for the Arts. This includes a short bio and includes a description of what applicants for a residency should send.

Fall, 1997
He is the 1997 Jeffrey N. and Kathryn C. Cole Visiting Honors Professor at Michigan State University. He is teaching AL 390H in the Arts and Letters department. There is an English department course, ENG 342, that complements the course he is teaching.

July, 1997
He was an instructor at the 1997 Clarion West Writers Workshop according to their People on the WWW.

November(?), 1996
He was a guest of honor at ConCat 7.
Fall, 1995
He was the the University of Minnesota's Winton Scholar and Edelstein-Keller Visiting Writer. This link contains a short biography. He's listed in their calendar as well.

Being at the University of Minnesota - Minneapolis Campus, he made appearances in that area in the fall of 1995. A number of them are listed in the November, 1995 issue of Einblatt, the monthly events calendar of The Minnesota Science Fiction Society.

September, 1995
He was also a Distinguished Visiting Writer in the English Department of the University of Idaho for two weeks in September 1995. They have a prospectus of their courses mentioning him. Read Matt Baldwin's interview of him. Lance Olsen (Director of Creative Writing) had a promo page for the workshop Delany taught there. The link doesn't work anymore, alas.

August, 1995
He was the guest of honor at Intersection, the 53rd World Science Fiction Convention (1995 WorldCon), in Glasgow, Scotland. Enjoy Roberto Quaglia's synopsis, (translated from the italian). He also took some pictures, including one of Delany, and one of Mike Resnick and Delany. Voice of the Mysterons, #14, the Intersection Daily Newszine, mentions him. Look at his picture. The Intersection web sites seem not to always work, but the con really did happen, according to Greg's list of SF conventions, ads placed in the brochure, and a German fanzine. Of course, neither of these last two links work anymore.

July, 1995
He's one of the writers at the 1995 Clarion SF Writer's Workshop at Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI, according to their list of Previous Clarion Instructors and this resumé.

June, 1995
He introduces Video Spaces, an exhibition at The Museum of Modern Art, New York.

March, 1995
He attends the Black Nation/Queer Nation? conference in New York City. I found this in a review of a documentary made at that conference. This link no longer works, but it is worth your while to poke around the Black International Cinema web site.

March, 1994
He was a panelist discussing gay and lesbian literature at a NYC PEN writers workshop. Their March, 1994 newsletter includes an edited transcript.

April, 1991
He spoke to the Swarthmore Warders of Imaginative Literature in April, 1991. They mention it in their January, 1991. February 28, 1991, March 28, 1991, and April 12, 1991 Newlsetters.

September, 1989
You can buy a video of him speaking at Noreascon Three, which was also the 50th Anniversary Worldcon.

Index of Samuel R. Delany References

Other Delany pages on the Web

Since we all steal links from each other, these are ones that contain more content than this page (which is only an index) or ones that might be more authoritative (like at UB).

Biographies

There are a couple biographies out there.

Literary Awards

Delany has been nominated for and won and many literary awards. Here's a list of nominations. Ones he won are asterisked. Lists of the Nebula, Hugo, and Lambda SF/F Award nominees and winners are available from:

Bibliographies

Smaller Works

Stuff that's Delany's written that's been published as an introduction, or as part of an anthology or otherwise. This stuff should be in the Bibliography, but for now, it's here.

Book Reviews and Recommendations

Criticism

Well, since I'm not really sure what criticism is, these are writings that seem more than a simple book review or recommendation.

Inspirations

Delany has inspired people to do some great work. Meet some of them here.

Academia

Games

There's even a Dhalgren MOO, an electronic community devoted to the exploration and criticism of virtual reality and postmodern science fiction. They've got a nifty picture of Bellona on the home page. It was even mentioned in Wired

Other Fans

Other people whose lives Delany has influenced.

Other Mentions of Delany and His Work

Miscellaneous

Readers

These people have mentioned Delany as someone they have read.

Book Lists

Many people maintain lists of books on certain topics. Some of these lists are included here.

Author Lists

Several people maintain lists of authors on the Web, and not just science fiction authors. Here are a few lists that include Delany.

Publishers

Bookstores, Soundstores, and Libraries

There are a bzillion bookstores and libraries on the web. I'm not attempting to list them all here. I'm just listing ones that have specifically mentioned Delany. Some of these places aren't stores, but just lists of links to Amazon and other places.

Science Fiction Repositories

Unorganized Links

I put links that I find here, until I can put them somewhere else.

Academia

Racial Realities and Amazing Alternatives: Studying the Works of Samuel R. Delany by Jeffrey Allen Tucker, Ph.D.
http://usenet.umr.edu/faqs/writing/recommended-reading
http://www.towson.edu/~flynn/writ-scifi.html
Ereignis 2
MJK: Root of the Rhizome
Wired for Books

Bibliographies

Samuel R. Delany: Bibliographie
Samuel R. Delany -- All Books
Samuel Delany
Samuel R Delany
Book Shelf D

Inclusion in Other Works

Shopping.com: Race Men
The SF Site: New Books in Science Fiction and Fantasy
Andy's Sandman Art
Foreword
He Came from the Future! The Life and Works of Alfred Bester

Mentions

Interview | Nicola Griffith
samuel delany
http://www.nestor.minsk.by/mg/0897/m3101.htm
Lem: Cyberiad
SFBG A+E | December 1, 1999 | Noise
Who knows if this is a relation, but there are so few Delany's (versus Delaney's) that I put this here: Roll of Emigrants sent to Liberia, Western Africa, by the American Colonization Society and its auxiliaries, to September, 1843.
Knitting Circle Radclyffe Hall Well of Literature
1860
Re: Samuel Delany
Nalo Hopkinson Subverts Science Fiction
Savoy's 20 Questions: Paul Di Filippo
http://www.inform.umd.edu/EdRes/Colleges/ARHU/Depts/CompLit/cmltgrad/JSchaub/CMLT270SU98/readings/nixon1.html
DENT COVER

Reciprocity

These pages have links to this page.
Jay Schuster at The Physician's Computer Company.
Last modified at: Wed Sep 19 17:19:07 EDT 2001