Encyclopedia Explores Diversity of Black Writers, Genres
Science fiction, romance share space with history and hip-hop
Dr. Wilfred D. Samuels never expected to fall — and in a big way — for science fiction as a literary genre. In actuality, he’s fallen for a group of African American sci-fi, fantasy and horror writers who are using African sensibility to reinvent the genre.
“Science fiction was a genre that … I had completely ignored,” says Samuels, an associate professor of English at the University of Utah in Salt Lake City and director of the school’s African American studies program. “I had no idea that (African American writers in the genre) had gained as much of an audience as they have.”
As the general editor of A Gift of Story and Song: An Encyclopedia on Twentieth-Century African American Writers, Samuels has had to become more familiar with the less familiar. The title, A Gift of Story and Song, was inspired by W.E.B. DuBois’ The Souls of Black Folks.
