Black Science Fiction Authors

Octavia E. Butler (1947-2006) and Steven Barnes (born in 1952) were two Black science fiction authors who began publishing their work in the 1970s. Magazine publication helped the authors gain recognition in a time when the majority of science fiction was written by white authors. Butler and Barnes are considered influential examples of Afrofuturism, a cultural movement that blends African diasporic cultures with science and technology, often through speculative fiction.