Phoenix Alexander (he/him) is the Jay Kay and Doris Klein Librarian for Science Fiction and Fantasy at the University of California, Riverside, where he curates one of the world’s largest collections of catalogued science fiction.
He completed his Ph.D. in the departments of English and African American Studies at Yale University and worked as a curatorial assistant at the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library for three years, alongside his studies. Prior to coming to UCR he was the Science Fiction Collections Librarian at the University of Liverpool.
Phoenix is a queer, Greek-Cypriot scholar and writer of science fiction himself. His work has appeared in The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, Beneath Ceaseless Skies, Black Static, Safundi: the Journal of South African and American Studies, and Science Fiction Studies. He is a full member of the Science Fiction Writers Association (SFWA), and served as a judge for the Arthur C. Clarke Award for 2021 and 2022.
His research interests cover the intersections of librarianship and curatorial practice, speculative fiction, and social justice. His work is informed by the question of how archives can serve as literary “home places” (after Carla Peterson’s definition) for marginalized creators who have been historically undervalued - and whose work has had to take on new and innovative forms for recognition.
Find him on Twitter @dracopoullos and on Instagram at Alexander.phoenix.