Andrea Hairston

{{short description|African-American science fiction and fantasy playwright and novelist}}

{{Infobox writer

| name = Andrea Hairston

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| caption = Andrea Hairston at Voyage Into Genre Live event, St. Joseph's University, May 17, 2024

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| birth_date = {{birth year and age|1952}}

| birth_place = Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, U.S.

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| occupation = {{flatlist|

Playwright
novelist
theatre professor
director
performer

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| education = Smith College
Brown University

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| period = 1979–present

| genre = Science fiction, fantasy

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| website = {{URL|http://www.andreahairston.com}}

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Andrea Hairston (born 1952) is an African-American science fiction and fantasy playwright and novelist.{{cite web | publisher=Village Voice |title=Nnedi Okorafor and Ishmael Reed, Meet Andrea Hairston |url=https://www.villagevoice.com/2011/02/23/nnedi-okorafor-and-ishmael-reed-meet-andrea-hairston/ |first = Carol |last = Cooper |date = February 23, 2011 |accessdate=28 May 2012}} Her novel Redwood and Wildfire won the James Tiptree Jr. Award for 2011.{{cite web |publisher=James Tiptree, Jr. Literary Arts Council |title=2011 Tiptree Award Winner announced. |url=http://tiptree.org/2011-james-tiptree-award |accessdate=10 March 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120509215315/http://tiptree.org/2011-james-tiptree-award |archive-date=9 May 2012 |url-status=dead }} Mindscape, Hairston's first novel, won the Carl Brandon Parallax Award and was short-listed for the Philip K. Dick Award and the James Tiptree Jr. Award.{{cite web | publisher=James Tiptree, Jr. Literary Arts Council | title=James Tiptree, Jr. Award 2006 Honor List | date=12 March 2010 | url=http://tiptree.org/award/2006-winners/2006-honor-list | accessdate=10 March 2012}} Hairston was one of the Guests of Honor at the science fiction convention Wiscon in May 2012.{{Cite web |title=Past WisCons {{!}} WisCon |date=15 February 2016 |url=http://wiscon.net/about/past-wiscons/ |access-date=2023-02-21 |language=en-US}}

She is the artistic director of Chrysalis Theatre and has created original productions with music, dance, and masks for more than a decade. Hairston is also the Louise Wolff Kahn 1931 Professor of Theatre and Afro-American Studies at Smith College.{{cite web

|publisher=Smith College

|title=Smith College: Theater Faculty & Staff.

|url=http://www.smith.edu/theatre/faculty_hairston.php

|accessdate=28 May 2012

|url-status=dead

|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20121013012837/http://www.smith.edu/theatre/faculty_hairston.php

|archivedate=13 October 2012

}} She teaches playwriting, African, African American, and Caribbean theatre literature.

Her plays have been produced at Yale Rep, Rites and Reason, the Kennedy Center, StageWest, and on public radio and television. In addition, Hairston has translated plays by Michael Ende and Kaca Celan from German to English.http://www.andreahairston.com/bio.php{{dead link|date=October 2016 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}

Hairston was born and raised in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, where as a teenager she did community organizing work with union, civil rights and antiwar activism.{{cite web | publisher=Sophia Smith Collection |title=Documenting Lesbian Lives. |url=http://www.smith.edu/libraries/libs/ssc/lives/lives-narrators.html#Hairston

|accessdate=28 May 2012}} She lives in Northampton, Massachusetts.{{Citation needed|date=January 2023}}

Works

=Novels=

Mindscape (Aqueduct Press, 2006){{Cite web |date=2011-03-30 |title=The Library - Andrea Hairston |url=https://andreahairston.com/the-library/ |access-date=2022-09-27 |website=andreahairston.com |language=en-US}}
Redwood and Wildfire (Aqueduct Press, February 2011)
Will Do Magic for Small Change (Aqueduct Press, 2016)
Master of Poisons (Tor Books, 2020){{Cite web |last=Publishing |first=Tor com |title=Master of Poisons |url=https://publishing.tor.com/masterofpoisons-andreahairston/9781250260543/ |access-date=2022-09-27 |website=Tordotcom Publishing |language=en-US |archive-date=2022-09-27 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220927193933/https://publishing.tor.com/masterofpoisons-andreahairston/9781250260543/ |url-status=dead }}
Archangels of Funk (Tor Books, 2024)
Lonely Stardust (Aqueduct Press, 2014)
Impolitic! (Aqueduct Press, 2012)

=Short fiction=

"Griots of the Galaxy" in Hopkinson, N. and Uppinder, M., eds., So Long Been Dreaming: Postcolonial Visions of the Future, Arsenal Pulp Press, 2004{{Cite book |last1=Hopkinson |first1=Nalo |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=bK02DwAAQBAJ |title=So Long Been Dreaming: Postcolonial Science Fiction & Fantasy |last2=Mehan |first2=Uppinder |date=2004-10-01 |publisher=arsenal pulp press |isbn=978-1-55152-316-3 |language=en}}
"Excerpt from Mindscape", in Thomas, S.R., ed., Dark Matter: Reading The Bones: Speculative Fiction from the African Diaspora, Grand Central Publishing, 2004.{{Cite book |last=Thomas |first=Sheree R. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4IWuSN_XPHMC |title=Dark Matter: Reading the Bones |date=2004-01-02 |publisher=Grand Central Publishing |isbn=978-0-7595-0964-1 |language=en}}
"Saltwater Road" in Lightspeed , Issue 62, July 2015
"Dumb House" in Shawl, N., ed., New Suns: Original Speculative Fiction by People of Color, Rebellion Publishing, 2019.{{Cite book |last1=Moreno-Garcia |first1=Silvia |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=HwyDDwAAQBAJ |title=New Suns: Original Speculative Fiction by People of Color |last2=Roanhorse |first2=Rebecca |last3=Das |first3=Indrapramit |date=2019-03-12 |publisher=Rebellion Publishing Ltd |isbn=978-1-78618-203-6 |language=en}}

= Articles and essays =

"'I Wanna Be Great!': How to Rescue the Spirit in the Wasteland of Fame" in Donkin, E. and Clement, S., ed., Upstaging Big Daddy: Directing Theater as if Gender and Race Matter, University of Michigan Press, 1993.{{Cite book |last=Donkin |first=Ellen |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=XRsNAQAAMAAJ |title=Upstaging Big Daddy: Directing Theater as If Gender and Race Matter |date=1993 |publisher=University of Michigan Press |isbn=978-0-472-09503-2 |language=en}}
"Driving Mr. Lenny: Notes on Race and Gender as a Transport to Another Reality, Another Dimension" in The International Review of Science Fiction, 2004{{Cite web |title=The Science Fiction and Fantasy Research Database |url=https://sffrd.library.tamu.edu/site/search/by/author/21632 |access-date=2022-09-27 |website=sffrd.library.tamu.edu}}
“Octavia Butler–Praise Song to a Prophetic Artist” in Larbalestier, J., ed., Daughters of the Earth: Feminist Science Fiction in the Twentieth Century, Wesleyan University Press, 2006{{Cite book |last=Larbalestier |first=Justine |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=XZWGc3V9lb0C |title=Daughters of Earth: Feminist Science Fiction in the Twentieth Century |date=2006-05-22 |publisher=Wesleyan University Press |isbn=978-0-8195-6676-8 |language=en}}
"King Kong" in Duchamp, L. T., ed., The WisCon Chronicles, Vol. 1, Aqueduct Press, 2007
"Double Consciousness" in Barr, M., ed., Afro-Future Females: Black Writers Chart Science Fiction’s Newest New Wave Trajectory, Ohio State University Press, 2008{{Cite book |last=Barr |first=Marleen S. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=OI24ywEACAAJ |title=Afro-future Females: Black Writers Chart Science Fiction's Newest New-wave Trajectory |date=2008 |publisher=Ohio State University Press |isbn=978-0-8142-9156-6 |language=en}}
"Lord of the Monsters—Minstrelsy Redux: King Kong, Hip Hop, and the Brutal Black Buck" in the Journal of the Fantastic in the Arts
"Romance of the Robot: From RUR & Metropolis to WALL-E" in Kelso, S., ed., The WisCon Chronicles, Vol. 4, Aqueduct Press, 2010.
"Stories Are More Important than Facts: Imagination as Resistance in Guillermo del Toro’s Pan’s Labyrinth" in Duchamp, L. T., ed., Narrative Power: Encounters, Celebrations, Struggles, Aqueduct Press, 2010.
"Heretical Connectedness: An Appreciative Look at Symbiotic Planet by Lynn Margulis" in Cascadia Subduction Zone, Vol. 1., No. 4, October 2011.{{Cite journal |last=Hairston |first=Andrea |date=October 2011 |title=Heretical Connectedness: An Appreciative Look at Symbiotic Planet by Lynn Margulis |url=https://thecsz.com/past-issues/csz-v1-n4-2011.pdf |journal=The Cascadia Subduction Zone |volume=1 |issue=4 |pages=12–13}}
"Different and Equal Together: SF Satire in District 9" in Journal of the Fantastic in the Arts, Vol. 22, No. 3, 2011.{{Cite journal |last=Hairston |first=Andrea |date=2011 |title=Different and Equal Together: SF Satire in District 9 |url=http://www.fantastic-arts.org/jfa/view-indices-and-lists/issues-introductions-and-tables-of-contents/jfa-22-3-2011/ |journal=Journal of the Fantastic in the Arts |volume=22 |issue=3}}
"Guest of Honor 2012 Speech" in Vanderhooft, J., ed., The WisCon Chronicles, Vol 7., Aqueduct Press, 2013.{{Cite web |last=Vanderhooft |first=JoSelle |date=June 2013 |title=The WisCon Chronicles (Vol 7): Shattering Ableist Narratives |url=http://www.aqueductpress.com/books/978-1-61976-042-4.php |access-date=2022-09-27 |website=Aqueduct Press}}
"Disappearing Natives: The Colonized Body is Monstrous" in Extrapolation, Vol. 54, No. 3, 2013.{{Cite journal |last=Hairston |first=Andrea |date=2013-01-01 |title=Disappearing Natives |url=http://liverpooluniversitypress.co.uk/journals/id/71/volume/54/issue/3/article/33812/ |journal=Extrapolation |language=en |volume=54 |issue=3 |pages=257–264 |doi=10.3828/extr.2013.15 |issn=2047-7708}}
"Dismantling the Echo Chamber: On Africa SF" in Los Angeles Review of Books, 16 January 2014.{{Cite web |last=Hairston |first=Andrea |date=2014-01-16 |title=Dismantling the Echo Chamber: On Africa SF |url=https://lareviewofbooks.org/article/dismantling-echo-chamber-africa-sf/ |access-date=2022-09-27 |website=Los Angeles Review of Books |language=en}}
"Ghost Dances on Silver Screens: Pumzi and Older than America" in Extrapolation, Vol. 57, No. 1-2, 2016.
"What Art Does: 'When the World Wounds' by Kiini Ibura Salaam" in Los Angeles Review of Books, 25 March 2017.{{Cite web |last=Hairston |first=Andrea |date=2017-03-25 |title=What Art Does: "When the World Wounds" by Kiini Ibura Salaam |url=https://lareviewofbooks.org/article/what-art-does-when-the-world-wounds-by-kiini-ibura-salaam/ |access-date=2022-09-27 |website=Los Angeles Review of Books |language=en}}
"It’s Our Time: Women of Wakanda", Los Angeles Times, 8 September 2018.{{Cite web |last=Hairston |first=Andrea |date=2018-09-08 |title=It's Our Time: The Women of Wakanda |url=https://lareviewofbooks.org/article/time-women-wakanda/ |access-date=2022-09-27 |website=Los Angeles Review of Books |language=en}}

=Plays=

On Display - Do Not Touch (1977)
Signs of Life (1987){{Cite web |date=2011-03-30 |title=Shows - Andrea Hairston |url=https://andreahairston.com/chrysalis-theatre/shows/ |access-date=2022-09-27 |website=andreahairston.com |language=en-US}}
The Black Women’s Survival Kit (1988–1989)
It's Not Too Late (1994), with Pan Morigan
Dancing With Chaos (1995)
Strange Attractors (1996, 1997)
Lonely Stardust (1998)
Hummingbird Flying Backward (2000)
Soul Repairs (2002)
Archangels of Funk (2003–2005)
Dispatches (2008–2009)
Thunderbird at the Next World Theatre (2014){{Cite web |date=2014-11-10 |title=Thunderbird at the Next World Theatre - Andrea Hairston |url=https://andreahairston.com/thunderbird-at-the-next-world-theatre/ |access-date=2022-09-27 |website=andreahairston.com |language=en-US}}{{Cite book |last1=Gunnels |first1=Jen |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=s-y5oQEACAAJ |title=Geek Theater |last2=Underwood |first2=Erin |date=2014 |publisher=Underwords |isbn=978-0-9858934-6-0 |language=en}}

= Collections =

Impolitic! with Notkin, D., Aqueduct Press, 2012{{Cite book |last1=Hairston |first1=Andrea |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2020NAEACAAJ |title=Impolitic! |last2=Notkin |first2=Debbie |date=2012-05-01 |publisher=Aqueduct Press |isbn=978-1-61976-009-7 |language=en}}
Lonely Stardust: Two Plays, a Speech, and Eight Essays, Aqueduct Press, 2014{{Cite book |last=Hairston |first=Andrea |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=lNrUoAEACAAJ |title=Lonely Stardust: Two Plays, a Speech, and Eight Essays |date=2014 |publisher=Aqueduct Press |isbn=978-1-61976-051-6 |language=en}}

Awards

2011 James Tiptree Jr. Award for Redwood and Wildfire{{cite web | publisher=Locus Magazine |title=Hairston Wins Tiptree. |date=12 March 2012 |url=http://www.locusmag.com/News/2012/03/hairston-wins-tiptree/ |accessdate=28 May 2012}}
International Association of the Fantastic in the Arts Distinguished Scholarship Award for distinguished contributions to the scholarship and criticism of the fantastic, 2011
2006 Carl Brandon Parallax Award for Mindscape, 2010
Launch Pad—Fellow at NASA-funded Writer's Workshop, August 2008
Guest of Honor, Diversicon Science Fiction Convention, Minneapolis, MN, August 2007
James Tiptree Jr. Award Finalist for Mindscape, 2006
Philip K. Dick Award Finalist for Mindscape, 2007
Older Writers Grant, Speculative Literature Foundation for Exploding in Slow Motion excerpt, 2004.{{cite web|publisher=Speculative Literature Foundation |title=The Speculative Literature Foundation: Grants |url=http://www.speculativeliterature.org/Grants/SLFOlderWriters/OlderWritersGrant2004.php |accessdate=28 May 2012 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20120220045935/http://www.speculativeliterature.org/Grants/SLFOlderWriters/OlderWritersGrant2004.php |archivedate=20 February 2012 }}
NEA Grant to Playwrights, a Ford Foundation grant to collaborate with Senegalese Master Drummer Massamba Diop, and a Shubert Fellowship for Playwriting.{{cite web |publisher=PioneerValley.org |title=Staged Reading of Smith Professor Andrea Hairston's Latest Novel Redwood and Wildfire |url=http://www.pioneervalley.org/event/staged-reading-smith-professor-andrea-hairston-s-latest-novel-redwood-and-wildfire-762.html |accessdate=28 May 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304061637/http://www.pioneervalley.org/event/staged-reading-smith-professor-andrea-hairston-s-latest-novel-redwood-and-wildfire-762.html |archive-date=4 March 2016 |url-status=dead |df=dmy-all }}

References

External links

[https://web.archive.org/web/20110208174113/http://andreahairston.com/ Official website and blog]
[https://web.archive.org/web/20101104210540/http://www.aqueductpress.com/authors/AndreaHairston.html Aqueduct Press Bio]
[http://aqueductpress.blogspot.com/search/label/Andrea%20Hairston Ambling Along the Aqueduct blog posts]
[http://aalbc.com/authors/andrea_hairston.htm The African American Literature Book Club Profile]
[http://www.worldswithoutend.com/author.asp?ID=1001 Worlds Without End Profile]
[https://web.archive.org/web/20100704084012/https://alumnae.smith.edu/authors/scifi.php Smith Alumnae Interview]
{{ISFDB name|id=Andrea_Hairston|name=Andrea Hairston}}

Category:Living people

Category:21st-century American novelists

Category:American science fiction writers

Category:American fantasy writers

Category:Afrofuturist writers

Category:American women novelists

Category:Brown University alumni

Category:Writers from Pittsburgh

Category:Smith College alumni

Category:Smith College faculty

Category:American women science fiction and fantasy writers

Category:African-American novelists