George Eliot, born Mary Ann Evans in 1819, chose to write under a male pen name for two reasons: She wanted to avoid the stereotype of women’s writing of her day, and sought to protect herself from the scandal of being an unmarried woman living with a married man. Truth, in her personal life, was indeed difficult — but truth was also of vital importance to Eliot, even in her fiction. Her novels, including “Middlemarch” and “Silas Marner,” were a realistic portrayal of life, full of detailed depictions and psychological insight. As she once wrote, “I aspire to give no more than a faithful account of men and things as they have mirrored themselves in my mind.”

When she was nine years old, Octavia Butler saw a science fiction movie called “Devil Girl From Mars” and thought to herself: “I can write a better story than that.” She went on to become the first widely recognized Black female science fiction writer, publishing 12 novels in all. She was the only sci-fi writer ever to be awarded a MacArthur “Genius” Grant, which she added to her Nebula Award, Hugo Award, and PEN Lifetime Achievement Award. She used fiction to tell stories of deep truth, imparting wisdom that transcends genre, gender, or race. Even as the times have changed, her stories continue to entertain and enlighten. 

These final words in Sharon Begley’s 1977 “Newsweek” profile on famed astronomer Carl Sagan have often been misattributed to the scientist himself. But the phrase was actually written by Begley, to summarize Sagan’s interest in exploring the cosmos for electromagnetic waves to determine if extraterrestrial life exists. Begley concludes the profile by admitting that while “there may be no galumphing green Barsoomian giants to satisfy the fantasies of a romantic Brooklyn boy,” there was “no doubt” that there were “even stranger discoveries to be made. Some totally new phenomenon, perhaps.” Begley’s ending statement invites us to remain eternally curious. Our most far-fetched imaginings (galumphing green giants, for example) may pale in comparison to the wonders of what the universe — and our lives — hold in store.