Suzette Haden Elgin

Suzette Haden Elgin is an American science fiction author. She founded the Science Fiction Poetry Association, and is considered an important figure in the field of science fiction conlangs. Elgin also publishes non-fiction, of which the best-known is the Gentle Art of Verbal Self-Defense series

Born in 1936 in Missouri, Elgin attended the University of California, San Diego (UCSD) in the 1960s, and began writing science fiction in order to pay tuition. She has a Ph.D. in linguistics, and was the first UCSD student to ever write two dissertations (on English and Navajo). She created the constructed language Láadan for her Native Tongue science fiction series. A grammar and dictionary was published in 1985.

In addition, she has published works of shorter fiction, and collaborated with Anne McCaffrey. Overlying themes in her work include feminism, linguistics and the impact of language, and peaceful coexistence with nature. Many of her works also draw from her Ozark background and heritage.

Suzette Haden Elgin became a professor at her alma mater's cross-town rival, San Diego State University (SDSU). She retired in 1980, and currently lives in the Ozarks in Arkansas.

Selected Bibliography

Series

• Coyote Jones
  • Star-Anchored, Star-Angered (1976)
  • Yonder Comes the Other End of Time (1986)

• Native Tongue
  • 1 Native Tongue (1984)
  • 2 The Judas Rose (1987)
  • 3 Earthsong (1994)

Novels

• The Communipaths (1970)
• Furthest (1971)
• At the Seventh Level (1972)
• Twelve Fair Kingdoms (1981)
• And Then There'll Be Fireworks (1981)
• The Grand Jubilee (1981)
• Native Tongue III: Earthsong (1994)

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