Pauline Elizabeth Hopkins (1859-1930), acclaimed African-American novelist and intellectual, was raised in Boston, Massachusetts and first rose to prominence as a playwright and performer before later turning to journalism and literature. Her use of the romantic novel as a medium by which to explore race and social issues, through works such as Contending Forces: A Romance Illustrative of Negro Life North and South, made her a pioneer of her time. As an editor and director of The Colored American Magazine, she wielded significant literary and cultural influence, and went on to write stories and articles for a number of other magazines.

Patty Nicole Johnson writes sci-fi that envisions a more equitable society. Her work has been published or is forthcoming in New American Legends, On the Seawall, Midnight & Indigo, Constelacion and Flame Tree's Black Sci-Fi Short Stories. She is also revising her debut novel, The Rhythm of Reveries and has been a panellist at FIYAHCON. Visit pattynjohnson.com or Twitter & Instagram at @pattynjohnson.

Dr. Sandra M. Grayson (series Foreword) is a tenured Full Professor in the English Department at University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. Her numerous publications include the books Visions of the Third Millennium: Black Science Fiction Novelists Write the Future; Symbolizing the Past: Reading Sankofa, Daughters of the Dust, and Eve's Bayou as Histories; A Literary Revolution: In the Spirit of the Harlem Renaissance; and Sparks of Resistance, Flames of Change: Black Communities and Activism.

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