Speculative fiction is defined as

science fiction Science fiction (sometimes shortened to Sci-Fi or SF) is a genre of speculative fiction which typically deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts such as advanced science and technology, space exploration, time travel, parallel uni ...

fantasy Fantasy is a genre of speculative fiction involving magical elements, typically set in a fictional universe and sometimes inspired by mythology and folklore. Its roots are in oral traditions, which then became fantasy literature and d ...

, and horror. Within those categories exists many other subcategories, for example

cyberpunk Cyberpunk is a subgenre of science fiction in a dystopian futuristic setting that tends to focus on a "combination of lowlife and high tech", featuring futuristic technological and scientific achievements, such as artificial intelligence and c ...

magical realism Magical is the adjective for magic. It may also refer to: * Magical (horse) Magical (foaled 18 May 2015) is an Irish Thoroughbred racehorse who excelled over middle distances and was rated in the top twenty racehorses in the world in 2018 and ...

, and

psychological horror Psychological horror is a subgenre of horror and psychological fiction with a particular focus on mental, emotional, and psychological states to frighten, disturb, or unsettle its audience. The subgenre frequently overlaps with the related subge ...

. " Person of color" is a term used in the United States to denote non-

white person White is a racialized classification of people and a skin color specifier, generally used for people of European origin, although the definition can vary depending on context, nationality, and point of view. Description of populations as ...

s, sometimes narrowed to mean non-

WASP A wasp is any insect of the narrow-waisted suborder Apocrita of the order Hymenoptera which is neither a bee nor an ant; this excludes the broad-waisted sawflies (Symphyta), which look somewhat like wasps, but are in a separate suborder. ...

persons or

non-Hispanic whites Non-Hispanic whites or Non-Latino whites are Americans who are classified as "white", and are not of Hispanic (also known as "Latino") heritage. The United States Census Bureau defines ''white'' to include European Americans, Middle Eastern Ame ...

, if "

ethnic white White ethnic is a term used to refer to white Americans who are not Old Stock or White Anglo-Saxon Protestant. "Religion is the most critical factor in separating white ethnics in American society. As Catholics and secondarily Jews ... they were ...

s" are included. The term "person of color" is used to redefine what it means to be a part of the historically marginalized racial and ethnic groups within Western society. A writer of color is a writer who is a part of a marginalized culture in regards to traditional Euro-Western mainstream culture. This includes Asians, African-Americans, Africans, Native Americans, Latinos, Asian Americans, and

Pacific Islanders Pacific Islanders, Pasifika, Pasefika, or rarely Pacificers are the peoples of the Pacific Islands. As an ethnic/ racial term, it is used to describe the original peoples—inhabitants and diasporas—of any of the three major subregions of Oce ...

. While writers of color may sometimes focus on experiences unique to their cultural heritage, which have sometimes been considered "subcategories" of national heritage (e.g. the black experience within American culture), many do not only write about their particular culture or members within that culture, in the same way that many Americans of European descent (traditionally categorized as

Caucasian Caucasian may refer to: Anthropology *Anything from the Caucasus region ** ** ** ''Caucasian Exarchate'' (1917–1920), an ecclesiastical exarchate of the Russian Orthodox Church in the Caucasus region * * * Languages * Northwest Caucasian l ...

white White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no hue). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully reflect and scatter all the visible wavelengths of light. White o ...

) do not only write about Western culture or members of their cultural heritage. The works of many well-known writers of color tend to examine issues of

identity politics Identity politics is a political approach wherein people of a particular race, nationality, religion, gender, sexual orientation, social background, social class, or other identifying factors develop political agendas that are based upon these i ...

, religion,

feminism Feminism is a range of socio-political movements and ideologies that aim to define and establish the political, economic, personal, and social equality of the sexes. Feminism incorporates the position that society prioritizes the male po ...

race relations Race relations is a sociological concept that emerged in Chicago in connection with the work of sociologist Robert E. Park and the Chicago race riot of 1919. Race relations designates a paradigm or field in sociology and a legal concept in the ...

, economic disparity, and the often unacknowledged and rich histories of various cultural groups.

Asian speculative fiction

Japanese horror and its origins

Belief in ghosts, demons and spirits has been deep-rooted in

Japanese folklore Japanese folklore encompasses the informally learned folk traditions of Japan and the Japanese people as expressed in its oral traditions, customs, and material culture. In Japanese, the term is used to describe folklore. The academic study o ...

throughout history. It is entwined with mythology and superstition derived from Japanese

Shinto Shinto () is a religion from Japan. Classified as an East Asian religion by scholars of religion, its practitioners often regard it as Japan's indigenous religion and as a nature religion. Scholars sometimes call its practitioners ''Shintois ...

, as well as

Buddhism Buddhism ( , ), also known as Buddha Dharma and Dharmavinaya (), is an Indian religions, Indian religion or Indian philosophy#Buddhist philosophy, philosophical tradition based on Pre-sectarian Buddhism, teachings attributed to the Buddha. ...

and

Taoism Taoism (, ) or Daoism () refers to either a school of philosophical thought (道家; ''daojia'') or to a religion (道教; ''daojiao''), both of which share ideas and concepts of Chinese origin and emphasize living in harmony with the '' Ta ...

brought to Japan from China and

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

. Stories and legends, combined with mythology, have been collected over the years by various cultures of the world, both past and present. Folklore has evolved in order to explain or rationalize various natural events. Inexplicable phenomena arouse a fear in humankind because there is no way for us to anticipate them or to understand their origins. The early horror stories of Japan (also known as

Kaidan is a Japanese word consisting of two kanji: 怪 (''kai'') meaning "strange, mysterious, rare, or bewitching apparition" and 談 (''dan'') meaning "talk" or "recited narrative". Overall meaning and usage In its broadest sense, ''kaidan'' refers ...

or more recently

J-Horror Japanese horror is horror fiction derived from popular culture in Japan, generally noted for its unique thematic and conventional treatment of the horror genre differing from the traditional Western representation of horror. Japanese horror tends ...

) revolved around vengeful spirits or

Yūrei are figures in Japanese folklore analogous to the Western model of ghosts. The name consists of two kanji, (''yū''), meaning "faint" or "dim" and (''rei''), meaning "soul" or "spirit". Alternative names include , meaning ruined or depar ...

. In recent years, interest in these tales has been revived with the release of such films as '' Ju-on: The Grudge'' and ''

Ring Ring may refer to: * Ring (jewellery), a round band, usually made of metal, worn as ornamental jewelry * To make a sound with a bell, and the sound made by a bell :(hence) to initiate a telephone connection Arts, entertainment and media Film and ...

''.

Japanese science fiction and fantasy and their origins

Japanese fiction has assumed a position of significance in many genres of world literature as it continues to chart its own creative course. Whereas science fiction in the English-speaking world developed gradually over a period of evolutionary change in style and content, SF in Japan took off from a very different starting line. Starting in the 1950s and 1960s, Japanese SF writers worked to combine their own thousand-year-old literary tradition with a flood of Western SF and other fiction. Contemporary Japanese SF thus began in a jumble of ideas and periods, and ultimately propelled Japanese authors into a quantum leap of development, rather than a steady process of evolution.

Chinese science fiction and fantasy and their origins

* :Chinese speculative fiction

Bangladeshi science fiction

* Begum Rokeya Sakhawat Hossain ('Sultana's Dream' 1905)

Indian speculative fiction

* :Indian speculative fiction *

Bengali science fiction Bengali science fiction ( bn, বাংলা বিজ্ঞান কল্পকাহিনী ''Bangla Bigyan Kalpakahini'') is a part of Bengali literature containing science fiction elements. It is called ''Kalpabigyan'' ( ) or storie ...

Thai science fiction and fantasy and their origins

* :Thai science fiction writers

African-American (Black) speculative fiction

African-American science fiction and fantasy and their origins

Black speculative fiction often focuses on race and the history of race relations in Western society. The history of

slavery Slavery and enslavement are both the state and the condition of being a slave—someone forbidden to quit one's service for an enslaver, and who is treated by the enslaver as property. Slavery typically involves slaves being made to perf ...

, the

African diaspora The African diaspora is the worldwide collection of communities descended from native Africans or people from Africa, predominantly in the Americas. The term most commonly refers to the descendants of the West and Central Africans who were e ...

, and the

Civil Rights Movement The civil rights movement was a nonviolent social and political movement and campaign from 1954 to 1968 in the United States to abolish legalized institutional Racial segregation in the United States, racial segregation, Racial discrimination ...

sometimes influence the narrative of SF stories written by black authors. Within science fiction, the concern is that many traditional science fiction works do not include black people in the future under any context, or only in sidelined roles. As the popularity of science fiction and other speculative genres grows within the black community, some longtime fans and black writers branch out to write about "universal" themes that cross cultural lines and feature

African African or Africans may refer to: * Anything from or pertaining to the continent of Africa: ** People who are native to Africa, descendants of natives of Africa, or individuals who trace their ancestry to indigenous inhabitants of Africa *** Ethn ...

and African-American protagonists. These stories and novels may not deal heavily with issues concerning race but instead primarily focus on other aspects of life. They are notable because, historically, many science fiction works that deal with traditional science fiction subject matter do not feature characters of color. The cultural significance of science fiction works by black writers is being recognized in the mainstream as more fans indicate a desire for stories that reflect their interests in speculative fiction and also reflect their unique experiences as people of color. Non-POC fans are also interested in these works. While they may or may not identify with the cultural contexts of the work, they can and do identify with the characters within the context of the story and enjoy the

science fiction themes The following is a list of articles about recurring themes in science fiction. Overarching themes * First contact with aliens *Artificial intelligence **Machine rule/Cybernetic revolt/AI takeover *Extraterrestrials in fiction *End of humanity ...

and plots. This is indicated by the popularity of writers like

Octavia E. Butler Octavia Estelle Butler (June 22, 1947 – February 24, 2006) was an American science fiction author and a multiple recipient of the Hugo and Nebula awards. In 1995, Butler became the first science-fiction writer to receive a MacArthur Fellowshi ...

Walter Mosley Walter Ellis Mosley (born January 12, 1952) is an American novelist, most widely recognized for his crime fiction. He has written a series of best-selling historical mysteries featuring the hard-boiled detective Easy Rawlins, a black private inv ...

Nalo Hopkinson Nalo Hopkinson (born 20 December 1960) is a Jamaican-born Canadian speculative fiction writer and editor. Her novels ('' Brown Girl in the Ring'', ''Midnight Robber'', '' The Salt Roads'', ''The New Moon's Arms'') and short stories such as thos ...

, and

Tananarive Due Tananarive Priscilla Due ( ) (born January 5, 1966) is an American author and educator. Due won the American Book Award for her novel '' The Living Blood''. She is also known as a film historian with expertise in Black horror. Due teaches a cours ...

. The contributions of writers such as Octavia E. Butler, usually credited as the first black woman to gain widespread acclaim and recognition as a speculative fiction writer, have influenced the works of new generations of SF writers of color. Hope Wabuke, a writer and assistant professor at the

University of Nebraska-Lincoln A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States, t ...

of English and Creative Writing, argues that the term "Black Speculative Literature" can encompass the terms

Afrofuturism Afrofuturism is a cultural aesthetic, and philosophy of science and history that explores the intersection of the African diaspora culture with science and technology. It addresses themes and concerns of the African diaspora through technocu ...

Africanfuturism Africanfuturism is a cultural aesthetic and philosophy of science that centers on the fusion of Culture of Africa, African culture, history, mythology, point of view, with technology based in Africa and not limiting to the diaspora. It was coined ...

, and Africanjujuism, the latter two coined by

Nnedi Okorafor Nnedimma Nkemdili "Nnedi" Okorafor (formerly Okorafor-Mbachu; born April 8, 1974) is a Nigerian-American writer of science fiction and fantasy for both children and adults. She is best known for her ''Binti Series'' and her novels ''Who Fears ...

, all of which center "African and African diasporic culture, thought, mythos, philosophy, and worldviews."

African-American and African-Canadian science fiction, fantasy, and horror

Linda Addison (poet) Linda D. Addison (born September 8, 1952) is an American poet and writer of horror, fantasy, and science fiction. Addison is the first African-American winner of the Bram Stoker Award, which she won five times. The first two awards were for he ...

* Sheree Renée Thomas *

Leslie Esdaile Banks Leslie Esdaile Banks ( Peterson; December 11, 1959 – August 2, 2011) was an American writer under the pen names of Leslie Esdaile, Leslie E. Banks, Leslie Banks, Leslie Esdaile Banks and L. A. Banks. She wrote in various genres, including Afri ...

Steven Barnes Steven Barnes (born March 1, 1952) is an American science fiction, fantasy, and mystery writer. He has written novels, short fiction, screen plays for television, scripts for comic books, animation, newspaper copy, and magazine articles. Career ...

K. Tempest Bradford K. Tempest Bradford (born April 19, 1978 in Cincinnati, Ohio) is an African-American science fiction and fantasy author and editor. She was a non-fiction and managing editor with '' Fantasy Magazine'' from 2007 to 2009 and has edited fiction for P ...

Maurice Broaddus Maurice Broaddus is an author who has published fiction across a number of genres including young adult, horror, fantasy and science fiction. Among his books are ''The Knights of Breton Court'' urban fantasy trilogy from Angry Robot, the steam ...

Octavia Butler Octavia Estelle Butler (June 22, 1947 – February 24, 2006) was an American science fiction author and a multiple recipient of the Hugo and Nebula awards. In 1995, Butler became the first science-fiction writer to receive a MacArthur Fellowship. ...

Samuel R. Delany Samuel R. "Chip" Delany (, ) (born April 1, 1942), is an American author and literary critic. His work includes fiction (especially science fiction), memoir, criticism, and essays (on science fiction, literature, sexuality, and society). His ...

* Sutton Griggs *

Andrea Hairston Andrea Hairston (born 1952) is an African-American science fiction and fantasy playwright and novelist. Her novel '' Redwood and Wildfire'' won the James Tiptree, Jr. Award for 2011. ''Mindscape'', Hairston's first novel, won the Carl Brandon P ...

N. K. Jemisin Nora Keita Jemisin (born September 19, 1972) is an American science fiction and fantasy writer, better known as N. K. Jemisin. Her fiction includes a wide range of themes, notably cultural conflict and oppression. Her debut novel, ''The Hundre ...

Alaya Dawn Johnson Alaya Dawn Johnson (born 1982) () is an American writer of speculative fiction. Career Apart from short fiction, Johnson has published two urban fantasy novels about "vampire suffragette" Zephyr Hollis set in an alternate 1920s New York City, a ...

Victor Lavalle Victor LaValle (born February 3, 1972) is an American author. He is the author of a short-story collection, ''Slapboxing with Jesus'', and four novels, ''The Ecstatic,'' ''Big Machine,'' ''The Devil in Silver,'' and '' The Changeling''. His fanta ...

* Charles Saunders *

Geoffrey Thorne Geoffrey Thorne (born January 20, 1970) is an American screenwriter, television producer, novelist and actor. Biography Thorne was born in Washington, D.C. After a successful career as a television actor including portraying police officer Wils ...

Jewelle Gomez Jewelle Gomez (born September 11, 1948) is an American author, poet, critic and playwright. She lived in New York City for 22 years, working in public television, theater, as well as philanthropy, before relocating to the West Coast. Her writing� ...

African speculative fiction writers of note

Abdourahman Waberi Abdourahman A. Waberi ( so, Cabdiraxmaan Waaberi) is a novelist, essayist, poet, academic and short-story writer from Djibouti. Early life Abdourahman Waberi was born in Djibouti City in the French Somali Coast, the current Republic of Djibouti. ...

Ahmed Khaled Tawfik Ahmed Khaled Tawfik Farrag (10 June 1962 – 2 April 2018), also known as Ahmed Khaled Tawfek, was an Egyptian author and physician who wrote more than 200 books, in both Egyptian Arabic and Classical Arabic. He was the first contemporary write ...

Amos Tutuola Amos Tutuola (20 June 1920 – 8 June 1997) was a Nigerian writer who wrote books based in part on Yoruba folk-tales. Early history Amos Olatubosun Tutuola Odegbami was born on 20 June 1920, in Wasinmi, a village just a few miles outside o ...

Dilman Dila Dilman Dila is a Ugandan writer, film maker Kojo Laing B. Kojo Laing or Bernard Kojo Laing (1 July 1946 – 20 April 2017) was a Ghanaian novelist and poet, whose writing is characterised by its hybridity, whereby he uses Ghanaian Pidgin English and vernacular languages alongside standard English. ...

Mohammed Dib Mohammed Dib ( ar, محمد ديب; 21 July 1920 – 2 May 2003) was an Algerian author. He wrote over 30 novels, as well as numerous short stories, poems, and children's literature in the French language. He is probably Algeria's most prolific ...

Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o (; born James Ngugi; 5 January 1938) is a Literature of Kenya, Kenyan author and academic who writes primarily in Gikuyu language, Gikuyu and who formerly wrote in English language, English. He has been described as having bee ...

Sofia Samatar Sofia Samatar (born October 24, 1971) is an American poet, novelist and educator from Indiana. Early life Samatar was born in 1971 in northern Indiana, United States. Her father was the Somali scholar, historian and writer Said Sheikh Samatar. ...

Sony Lab'ou Tansi Sony Lab'ou Tansi (5 July 1947 – 14 June 1995), born Marcel Ntsoni, was a Congolese novelist, short-story writer, playwright, and poet in French language. Though he was only 47 when he died, Tansi remains one of the most prolific African writers ...

Chukwuemeka Ike Vincent Chukwuemeka Ike OFR, NNOM (28 April 1931 – 9 January 2020) was a Nigerian monarch, academic and writer known for a mixture of lampoon, humor and satire. He owed a little bit of his style to his Igbo cultural upbringing. He studied h ...

Tade Thompson Tade Thompson is a British-born Nigerian psychiatrist best known for his science fiction novels. Life and career Thompson was born in London to Yoruba parents. His family left the United Kingdom for Nigeria in 1976, when Thompson was seven. He ...

Caribbean speculative fiction writers of note

* Ángel Arango *

Tobias Buckell Tobias S. Buckell (born 1979) is a New York Times Bestselling author and World Fantasy Award winner born in the Caribbean. He grew up in Grenada and spent time in the British and US Virgin Islands, which influence much of his work. His novels an ...

Daína Chaviano Daína Chaviano () (born 19 February 1957, Havana)Profile
''Encyclopæd ...

* Oscar Hurtado *

Karen Lord Karen Lord (born 22 May 1968) is a Barbadian writer of speculative fiction. Her first novel, ''Redemption in Indigo'' (2010), retells the story "Ansige Karamba the Glutton" from Senegalese folklore and her second novel, ''The Best of All Possib ...

See Also: * :Cuban speculative fiction writers

South American speculative fiction writers of note

* :Argentine speculative fiction writers * :Brazilian speculative fiction writers

U.S. Latino speculative fiction

Cultural theorist Christopher Gonzalez argues that Latino speculative, fantasy, and weird fiction create necessary excursions into the realm of impossible in order for writers and readers of color to cope with 21st-century realities. Latino speculative fiction brings humor to fantastical, futuristic, comedic, and bleak political subjects, offering readers strange new concepts such as: los cosmos azteca, shape shifting robots,

pre-Columbian In the history of the Americas, the pre-Columbian era spans from the original settlement of North and South America in the Upper Paleolithic period through European colonization, which began with Christopher Columbus's voyage of 1492. Usually, th ...

holobooks, talking sardines and gun toting reptiles, and cybernetically wired patron saints. Latino authors write about the legacy of colonialism, racism, sexism, mass incarceration, machismo culture, and other social injustices. Latino critic

Frederick Luis Aldama Frederick Luis Aldama is an American academic, known for this work as the Jacob & Frances Sanger Mossiker Chair in the Humanities, founder and director of the Latinx Pop Lab, and Affiliate Faculty in Radio-TV-Film at the University of Texas, Austi ...

noted that it has been half a century since a

Latin American Boom The Latin American Boom ( es, Boom latinoamericano) was a literary movement of the 1960s and 1970s when the work of a group of relatively young Latin American novelists became widely circulated in Europe and throughout the world. The Boom is mos ...

writers introduced

magical realism Magical is the adjective for magic. It may also refer to: * Magical (horse) (foaled 2015), Irish Thoroughbred racehorse * "Magical" (song), released in 1985 by John Parr * '' Magical: Disney's New Nighttime Spectacular of Magical Celebrations'', ...

to the publishing world. A new generation of Latino writers used that historical literary moment as a springboard into bold explorations of speculative writing. Pulitzer Prize-winner

Junot Diaz Junot is a French name that may refer to the following notable people: ;Given name *Junot Díaz (born 1968), Dominican American ;Surname *Laure Junot, Duchess of Abrantes (1784–1838), French writer *Jean-Andoche Junot, 1st Duke of Abrantès (1771 ...

, author of "''Monstro,''" noted that colonialism's legacy in

Caribbean culture The term Caribbean culture summarizes the artistic, musical, literary, culinary, political and social elements that are representative of Caribbean people all over the world. As a collection of settler nations, the contemporary Caribbean has b ...

involves speculative fiction, monsters, and aliens. The short story "Room for Rent," by

Richie Narvaez Richie Narvaez (born 1965) is an American author and professor. In 2020, he won an Agatha Award and an Anthony Awards, Anthony Award for his novel ''Holly Hernandez and the Death of Disco.'' His work focuses on the Puerto Rican and Nuyorican exper ...

, in which the arrival of extraterrestrials is likened to the arrival of Columbus to the Caribbean, "evokes a dialogue between past and present colonial scenarios." In the story collection ''Her Body and Other Parties,''

Carmen Maria Machado ''Carmen'' () is an opera in four acts by the French composer Georges Bizet. The libretto was written by Henri Meilhac and Ludovic Halévy, based on the Carmen (novella), novella of the same title by Prosper Mérimée. The opera was first perfo ...

deals with misogyny through science fiction and ghost stories.

Giannina Braschi Giannina Braschi (born February 5, 1953) is a Puerto Rican poet, novelist, dramatist, and scholar. Her notable works include ''Empire of Dreams'' (1988), ''Yo-Yo Boing!'' (1998) ''and United States of Banana'' (2011). Braschi writes cross-genr ...

's ''

United States of Banana ''United States of Banana'' (2011) is a postmodern allegorical novel by the Puerto Rican author Giannina Braschi. It is a cross-genre work that blends experimental theatre, prose poetry, short story, and political philosophy with a manifesto on ...

'' (2011) deals with Puerto Rican independence, financial terrorism, and racism, by imagining what might happen if the United States tries to sell Puerto Rico to China as debt relief or turn the island into the 51st state. Speculative fiction about Latino immigration includes Alex Rivera's cult film ''

Sleep Dealer ''Sleep Dealer'' is a 2008 futuristic science fiction film directed by Alex Rivera. ''Sleep Dealer'' depicts a dystopian future to explore ways in which technology both oppresses and connects migrants. A fortified wall has ended unauthorized Mex ...

,'' which is set a futurist, militarized world of closed borders, drone surveillance, and an abused global digital workforce.

Eric Garcia Eric Garcia may refer to: * Eric Garcia (writer) (born 1972), American writer * Eric García (footballer, born 1993), Spanish football midfielder * Eric Garcia (basketball) (born 1994), American basketball player *Eric García (footballer, born 2001 ...

's '' The Repossession Mambo'' (2009) is a futuristic horror story about a health care system in which body parts are bought, sold, and repossessed depending on the financial agreement. Mexican-American author

Rudy Ruiz Rudy Ruiz is a writer, advocate, and social entrepreneur. Ruiz is known for writing ''The Resurrection of Fulgencio Ramirez'' and ''Valley of Shadows'', magical realism novels which received critical acclaim and literary awards. In 2014, Ruiz auth ...

has written dystopian sci-fi and

works addressing social issues related to immigration, borders, social justice and

machismo Machismo (; ; ; ) is the sense of being " manly" and self-reliant, a concept associated with "a strong sense of masculine pride: an exaggerated masculinity". Machismo is a term originating in the early 1930s and 1940s best defined as hav ...

List of Latino authors of note

Kathleen Alcalá Kathleen Alcalá (born 29 August 1954) is the author of a short-story collection, three novels set in the American Southwest and nineteenth-century Mexico, and a collection of essays. She teaches creative writing at workshops and programs in Was ...

* William Alexander *

Catherine Asaro Catherine Ann Asaro (born November 6, 1955) is an American science fiction and fantasy author, singer and teacher. She is best known for her books about the Ruby Dynasty, called the Saga of the Skolian Empire. Biography Catherine Asaro was bo ...

Ana Castillo Ana Castillo (born June 15, 1953) is a Chicana novelist, poet, short story writer, essayist, editor, playwright, translator and independent scholar. Considered one of the leading voices in Chicana experience, Castillo is known for her experiment ...

Daína Chaviano Daína Chaviano () (born 19 February 1957, Havana)Profile
''Encyclopæd ...

Junot Díaz Junot Díaz (; born December 31, 1968) is a Dominican-American writer, creative writing professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), and was fiction editor at ''Boston Review''. He also serves on the board of advisers for Freedo ...

* Ernest Hogan *

Alejandro Morales Alejandro Morales is an Emeritus Professor of Chicano and Latino (demonym), Latino Studies at the University of California, Irvine, and an award-winning Mexican-American writer of fiction and poetry. He has published seven ground-breaking novels ...

Daniel José Older Daniel José Older is an American fantasy and young adult fiction writer. His work includes the '' Shadowshaper'' ''Cypher'' series as well as novels in the ''Star'' ''Wars'' series. Career Older's career as a writer began in 2014, in the back ...

Malka Older Malka Older is an American author, academic, and humanitarian aid worker. She was named the 2015 Senior Fellow for Technology and Risk at the Carnegie Council for Ethics in International Affairs, and has more than eight years' experience in humani ...

* Edmundo Paz Soldan * Alex Rivera *

Native American speculative fiction writers of note

Sherman Alexie Sherman Joseph Alexie Jr. (born October 7, 1966) is a Spokane- Coeur d'Alene-Native American novelist, short story writer, poet, screenwriter, and filmmaker. His writings draw on his experiences as an Indigenous American with ancestry from se ...

Winfred Blevins Winfred Blevins (October 21, 1938 – July 2, 2023) was an American author of fiction and non-fiction. He wrote many books about the western mountain trappers, and is known for his "mastery of western lore." His notable works include ''Stone Song ...

Louise Erdrich Louise Erdrich ( ; born Karen Louise Erdrich, June 7, 1954) is an American author of novels, poetry, and children's books featuring Native American characters and settings. She is an enrolled member of the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa Indian ...

* Owl Goingback *

Stephen Graham Jones Stephen Graham Jones is a Piegan Blackfoot, Blackfoot Native Americans in the United States, Native American author of experimental fiction, horror fiction, crime fiction, and science fiction. Although his recent work is often classified as horror ...

Daniel Heath Justice Daniel Heath Justice is an American-born Canadian academic and citizen of the Cherokee Nation. He is professor of First Nations and Indigenous Studies and English at the University of British Columbia. He started his studies at University of Nor ...

* Susan Power *

Rebecca Roanhorse Rebecca Roanhorse (born March 14, 1971) is an American science fiction and fantasy writer from New Mexico. She has written short stories and science fiction novels featuring Navajo characters.Kerry Lengel"Navajo legends come to life in Rebecca Ro ...

* William Sanders (writer) *

Greg Sarris Gregory Michael Sarris (born February 12, 1952) is the Chairman of the Federated Indians of Graton Rancheria (since 1992), the Graton Rancheria Endowed Chair in Creative Writing and Native American Studies at Sonoma State University, where he t ...

Leslie Marmon Silko Leslie Marmon Silko (born Leslie Marmon; born March 5, 1948) is an American writer. A Laguna Pueblo Indian woman, she is one of the key figures in the First Wave of what literary critic Kenneth Lincoln has called the Native American Renaissance ...

Cynthia Leitich Smith Cynthia Leitich Smith (born 1967) is a New York Times best-selling author of fiction for children and young adults. A member of the Muscogee Creek Nation, she writes fiction for children centered on the lives of modern-day Native Americans. Th ...

Martin Cruz Smith Martin Cruz Smith (born November 3, 1942) is an American mystery novelist. He is best known for his nine-novel series (to date) on Russian investigator Arkady Renko, who was first introduced in 1981 with '' Gorky Park''. Early life and educat ...

Craig Strete Craig Kee Strete (born 6 May 1950) is an American science fiction writer of Cherokee descent. He is noted for his use of Native Americans in the United States, American Indian themes and has had multiple Nebula Award nominations. Career Craig K. ...

Gerald Vizenor Gerald is a male Germanic given name meaning "rule of the spear" from the prefix ''ger-'' ("spear") and suffix ''-wald'' ("rule"). Variants include the English given name Jerrold, the feminine nickname Jeri and the Welsh language Gerallt and Iri ...

Asian diaspora speculative fiction writers of note

Aliette de Bodard Aliette de Bodard is a French-American speculative fiction writer. Writing de Bodard published her first short story in 2006. In 2007, she was a winner of Writers of the Future, and in 2009 was nominated for the John W. Campbell Award for Best ...

Ted Chiang Ted Chiang (born 1967) is an American science fiction writer. His work has won four Nebula awards, four Hugo awards, the John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer, and six Locus awards. His short story "Story of Your Life" was the basis of the ...

Wesley Chu Wesley Chu (朱恆昱) (born September 23, 1976, in Taipei) is a #1 New York Times Bestselling speculative fiction author. He was originally raised by his grandparents in Taiwan while his parents were studying in the United States. In 1982, he ...

Larissa Lai Larissa Lai (born 1967) is an American-born Canadian novelist and literary critic. She is a recipient of the 2018 Lambda Literary Award for Lesbian Fiction and Lambda Literary Foundation's 2020 Jim Duggins, PhD Outstanding Mid-Career Novelist Pr ...

Fonda Lee Fonda Lee (born March 10, 1979) is a Canadian-American author of speculative fiction. She is best known for writing ''The Green Bone Saga'', the first of which, ''Jade City'', won the 2018 World Fantasy Award and was named one of the 100 Best Fa ...

Ken Liu Ken Liu (born 1976) is an American author of science fiction and fantasy. His epic fantasy series ''The Dandelion Dynasty'', which he describes as silkpunk, is published by Simon & Schuster. Liu has won Hugo and Nebula Awards for his short fic ...

Marjorie Liu Marjorie M. Liu is an American ''New York Times'' best-selling author and comic book writer. She is acclaimed for her horror fantasy comic '' Monstress'', and her paranormal romance and urban fantasy novels including ''The Hunter Kiss'' and ''Tig ...

Malinda Lo Malinda Lo is an American writer of young adult novels including ''Ash'', ''Huntress'', ''Adaptation'', ''Inheritance,'' ''A Line in the Dark'', and '' Last Night at the Telegraph Club''. She also does research on diversity in young adult literat ...

Marie Lu Marie Lu (born 陸希未) is a Chinese-American young adult author. She is best known for the ''Legend'' series, novels set in a dystopian and militarized future, as well as the Young Elites series, the Warcross series, and ''Batman: Nightwalke ...

* Mary Anne Mohanraj *

Vandana Singh Vandana Singh is an Indian science fiction writer and physicist. She is an Associate Professor and Chair of the Department of Physics and Earth Science at Framingham State University in Massachusetts. Singh also serves on the Advisory Council o ...

Alyssa Wong Alyssa Wong is an American writer of speculative fiction, comics, poetry, and games. Wong is a recipient of the Nebula Award, World Fantasy Award, and Locus Award. Wong studied fiction at North Carolina State University, graduating in 2017 ...

Laurence Yep Laurence Michael Yep (; born June 14, 1948) is an American writer. He is known for his children's books, having won the Newbery Medal, Newbery Honor twice for his ''Golden Mountain'' series. In 2005, he received the biennial Laura Ingalls Wilder ...

Charles Yu Charles Chowkai Yu (born January 3, 1976) is an American writer. He is the author of the novels ''How to Live Safely in a Science Fictional Universe'' and '' Interior Chinatown'', as well as the short-story collections ''Third Class Superhero'' ...

Kat Zhang Kat Zhang (born 1 April 1991) is an American award-winning author of young adult and middle grade literature. She has also written two picture books, ''Amy Wu and the Perfect Bao'' and ''Amy Wu and the Patchwork Dragon''. Her first trilogy, '' ...

Anglo-Indian speculative fiction writers

* Georgina Kamsika

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Speculative fiction by writers of color Person of color Speculative fiction writers

Asian speculative fiction

Japanese horror and its origins

Japanese science fiction and fantasy and their origins

See also

Chinese science fiction and fantasy and their origins

Bangladeshi science fiction

Indian speculative fiction

Thai science fiction and fantasy and their origins

African-American (Black) speculative fiction

African-American science fiction and fantasy and their origins

See also

African-American and African-Canadian science fiction, fantasy, and horror

African speculative fiction writers of note

Caribbean speculative fiction writers of note

South American speculative fiction writers of note

U.S. Latino speculative fiction

List of Latino authors of note

Native American speculative fiction writers of note

Asian diaspora speculative fiction writers of note

Anglo-Indian speculative fiction writers

See also

Further reading

References