WWU's Rebecca Marrall publishes "Women of Color in Speculative Fiction" via ALA grant

October 24, 2016

Rebecca Marrall, the head of the Resource Discovery Unit with the Western Libraries, has published "Women of Color in Speculative Fiction: An Annotated Bibliography of Authors" in CEDAR, Western's online institutional repository.

The project, which was made possible by funding from the American Library Association’s Carnegie-Whitney Grants program is available for download at http://cedar.wwu.edu/cedarbooks/8/.

Women of Color in Speculative Fiction: An Annotated Bibliography is tertiary electronic resource which focuses upon authors who are women of color (i.e., non-Caucasian) and who write speculative fiction for adult and young adult audiences. Examples of these authors include Octavia Butler, N. K. Jemisin, Daina Chaviano, Jewelle Gomez, and Malinda Lo. For some background, “speculative fiction” is an umbrella term for science fiction, fantasy, and some horror, all of which have literary and popular merit (Urbanski 2007). Historically, this field has been dominated by male authors of largely Caucasian descent; women and/or people of color have not been equitably represented in this genre. The purpose of this annotated bibliography is to raise awareness about underrepresented authors who bring unique perspectives to this genre.

This project has several components:

  • Introduction: This document, which contains an overview of the rationale and implementation of the project, also includes a brief discussion of emerging patterns.
  • Project Parameters: This document outlines the scope (and subsequent limitations) of this project.
  • Annotated Bibliography: The annotated bibliography, which lists fifty-five authors and a summary of their novels and novellas.
  • Addendum: Speculative Fiction Awards in North America: This collection of awards given to speculative fiction authors in North America may be a useful resource for LIS professionals (for library programming or exhibit creation) and / or other researchers.

For more information, contact Rebecca Marrall at x4493.