It is rare now for people to stay where they were raised, and when we encounter one another-whether in person or online-it is usually in contexts that obscure if not outright hide details about our past. But even in moments of pure self-invention, we are always shaped by the past. In Ancestors, some of today's most imaginative writers-including science fiction master Samuel R. Delany, U.S. Poet Laureate Joy Harjo, and novelist Zadie Smith-consider what it means to be made and fashioned by others.
