Harlan Ellison
American writer (1934–2018)
Harlan Jay Ellison (May 27, 1934 – June 28, 2018) was an American writer, known for his prolific and influential work in New Wave speculative fiction and for his outspoken, combative personality. His published works include more than 1,700 short stories, novellas, screenplays, comic-book scripts, teleplays, essays, and a wide range of criticism covering literature, film, television, and print media.
Some of his best-known works include the 1967 Star Trek episode "The City on the Edge of Forever", which is regarded as one of the best episodes in the Star Trek franchise - he subsequently wrote a book about the experience that includes his original teleplay - his A Boy and His Dog cycle (which was made into a film), and his short stories "I Have No Mouth, and I Must Scream" (later adapted by Ellison into a video game) and "'Repent, Harlequin!' Said the Ticktockman". He was also editor and anthologist for Dangerous Visions (1967) and Again, Dangerous Visions (1972). Ellison won numerous awards, including multiple Hugos, Nebulas, and Edgars.
Biography
Early life and career
Ellison was born to a Jewish family in Cleveland, Ohio, on May 27, 1934, the son of Serita (née Rosenthal) and Louis Laverne Ellison, a dentist and jeweler. His older sister Beverly was born in 1926. Some time after Beverly's birth, his family moved to Painesville, Ohio, but returned to Cleveland in 1949, following his father's death. Ellison frequently ran away from home. In an interview with Tom Snyder, he would later claim it was due to discrimination by his high school peers.
This brief starts where responsible research should: with the source description of “Harlan Ellison” as american writer (1934–2018). Everything that follows is an evidence route, not borrowed authority.
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The subject matters to the people & ideas register because the source frames it as american writer (1934–2018). Its deeper value depends on whether names, dates, institutions and citations support that framing.
The entry’s evidential value lies in the named roles, institutions and publications that can be tested against primary documentation. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 19, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q311253. VIAF identifies the subject as 54147301. The Library of Congress control number is n50010025. 3 of 4 selected statements include explicit references; 2 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1934, 2018, 1967 and 1972.
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This entry incorporates text from “Harlan Ellison” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.