Grace L. Dillon is an American academic and author. She is a professor in the Indigenous Nations Studies Program, in the School of Gender, Race, and Nations, at

Portland State University Portland State University (PSU) is a public research university in Portland, Oregon, United States. It was founded in 1946 as a post-secondary educational institution for World War II veterans. It evolved into a four-year college over the next ...

. She received her PhD in literary studies with an emphasis in sixteenth-century literature, and her recent research regards

science fiction studies ''Science Fiction Studies'' (''SFS'') is an academic journal founded in 1973 by R. D. Mullen. The journal is published three times per year at DePauw University. As Science fiction studies, the name implies, the journal publishes articles and ...

. Similar to the concept of

Afrofuturism Afrofuturism is a cultural aesthetic, 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 technoculture ...

that was created in 1993, Dillon is best known for coining the term Indigenous Futurism, which is a movement consisting of art, literature and other forms of media which express Indigenous perspectives of the past, present and future in the context of

science fiction Science fiction (often shortened to sci-fi or abbreviated SF) is a genre of speculative fiction that deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts. These concepts may include information technology and robotics, biological manipulations, space ...

and related sub-genres. Although Grace Dillon first coined the term “Indigenous Futurisms" in 2003, the first publication of its kind with a focus on Indigenous Futurisms, ''Walking the Clouds,'' was not published until 2012.

Academic Work

Dillon is the editor of ''Walking the Clouds: An Anthology of Indigenous Science Fiction'', which is the first anthology of Indigenous science fiction short stories, published by the University of Arizona Press in 2012. She organized the collection with the following sub-genres: Native Slipstream, Contact, Indigenous Science and Sustainability, Native Apocalypse, and Returning to Ourselves. The anthology includes works from

Gerald Vizenor Gerald Robert Vizenor (born 1934) is an American writer and scholar, and an enrolled member of the Minnesota Chippewa Tribe, White Earth Reservation. Vizenor also taught for many years at the University of California, Berkeley, where he was D ...

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

Sherman Alexie Sherman Joseph Alexie Jr. (born October 7, 1966) is a Native American novelist, short story writer, poet, screenwriter, and filmmaker. His writings draw on his experiences as an Indigenous American with ancestry from several tribes. He grew up ...

, William Sanders and

Stephen Graham Jones Stephen Graham Jones (born January 22, 1972) is a Piegan Blackfoot, Blackfeet Native Americans in the United States, Native American author of experimental fiction, horror fiction, crime fiction, and science fiction. His works include the horror ...

. The anthology brings together multiple stories from authors who are Native American,

First Nations First nations are indigenous settlers or bands. First Nations, first nations, or first peoples may also refer to: Indigenous groups *List of Indigenous peoples *First Nations in Canada, Indigenous peoples of Canada who are neither Inuit nor Mé ...

Aboriginal Australian Aboriginal Australians are the various indigenous peoples of the Australian mainland and many of its islands, excluding the ethnically distinct people of the Torres Strait Islands. Humans first migrated to Australia 50,000 to 65,000 year ...

, and New Zealand Maori. Previously, Dillon has edited ''Hive of Dreams: Contemporary Science Fiction from the Pacific Northwest'', which was published in 2003 by Oregon State University Press. This is an anthology of science fiction from writers living in the Pacific Northwest, and features works from authors such as

Greg Bear Gregory Dale Bear (August 20, 1951 – November 19, 2022) was an American science fiction writer. His work covered themes of Interstellar_war, galactic conflict (''The Forge of God, Forge of God'' books), parallel universes (''The Way (Greg Bear ...

Octavia Butler Octavia Estelle Butler (June 22, 1947 – February 24, 2006) was an American science fiction writer who won several awards for her works, including Hugo, Locus, and Nebula awards. In 1995, Butler became the first science-fiction writer to recei ...

, and

Molly Gloss Molly Gloss (born November 20, 1944) is an American writer of historical fiction and science fiction. Life Gloss grew up in rural Oregon and began writing seriously when she became a mother. She now lives in Portland, Oregon, and was close friend ...

. She also coedited ''The Routledge Handbook of CoFuturisms'' with Taryne Jade Taylor, Isiah Lavender III, and Bodhisattva Chattopadhyay. This book was published in 2023 by

Routledge Routledge ( ) is a British multinational corporation, multinational publisher. It was founded in 1836 by George Routledge, and specialises in providing academic books, academic journals, journals and online resources in the fields of the humanit ...

. The book dives into different forms of futurisms, such as Latinx Futurisms,

s, and Indigenous Futurisms.

Selected works

* Hive of Dreams: Contemporary Science Fiction from the Pacific Northwest.

Oregon State University Press Oregon State University Press, or OSU Press, founded in 1961, is a university press that publishes roughly 15 titles per year and is part of Oregon State University. The only academic publisher in Oregon, the press produces works related to the P ...

. 2003. * Indigenous Scientific Literacies in Nalo Hopkinson's Ceremonial Worlds. GL Dillon.

Journal of the Fantastic in the Arts The International Association for the Fantastic in the Arts (IAFA), founded in 1982 is a nonprofit association of scholars, writers, and publishers of science fiction, fantasy, and horror in literature, film, and the other arts. Its principal ac ...

. 2007. * Walking The Clouds: An Anthology Of Indigenous Science Fiction.

University of Arizona Press The University of Arizona Press, a publishing house founded in 1959 as a department of the University of Arizona, is a nonprofit publisher of scholarly and regional books. As a delegate of the University of Arizona to the larger world, the Press p ...

. 2012. * The Routledge Handbook of CoFuturisms.

. 2023.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dillon, Grace Year of birth missing (living people) Living people American women non-fiction writers 21st-century American non-fiction writers Portland State University faculty American women academics 21st-century American women writers