Home > HCAS > HCAS_PUBS > HCAS_JOURNALS > TQR Home > TQR > Vol. 30 > No. 2 (2025)

Social Fiction: Leavy Pioneers a Genre

Christine Sleeter, California State University, Monterey BayFollow

Abstract

In this article Sleeter details how Patricia Leavy pioneered the genre of social fiction. She details the method and the publication of the landmark Social Fictions book series, the first and only series of its kind. Sleeter reviews a handful of Leavy’s acclaimed novels, her own fiction, and other titles in the series. She explains how and why social fiction is significant for the qualitative research community.

Keywords

Patricia Leavy, social fiction, fiction as research, novels, arts-based research, qualitative writing, writing as method, writing as inquiry, publishing, innovative methods

Author Bio(s)

Christine E. Sleeter is a former classroom teacher in Seattle, Washington, and Professor Emerita in the College of Education at California State University Monterey Bay, where she was a founding faculty member. She is past President of the National Association for Multicultural Education, and past Vice President of the American Educational Research Association. She has published over 170 academic articles and 23 books on various issues related to education and racial justice. She has also published three novels, the most recent being Family History in Black and White (Brill, 2021). Awards for her work include the International Impact Book Awards, the Firebird Award for Multicultural Fiction, American Educational Research Association Social Justice in Education Award, and the Willamette University Distinguished Alumni Citation for Professional Achievement.