Delany, Samuel R.

American science fiction author born in Harlem, New York. Samuel Ray Delany Jr. grew up above his father's funeral parlour. His mother was a librarian at the New York Public Library, his aunts Sadie and Bessie Delany were among the first human rights campaigners in the United States (their biography became a bestseller). Delany's paternal grandfather was the first black bishop of the Episcopal Church.