Born in New York, N.Y., in 1942, Samuel Ray Delany Jr. is a science fiction novelist, critic, essayist, and university professor who addresses in his work issues of race, sexuality, and society, heroic quests, and the nature of language. His first novel, The Jewels of Aptor, was published when he was twenty. He has won numerous Hugo and Nebula awards for his science fiction books and short stories. Many of his novels, considered by some critics as imaginative, controversial, and provocative, are being re-issued, including the acclaimed Dhalgren, Babel-17, and Empire Star. He has been concentrating on essays and literary criticism for some years. At present Delany is a member of the English Department faculty at Temple University, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

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Photograph by Becket Logan

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