Leslie Fish

Leslie Fish (1944-2025) was an American folk musician, author, and political activist best known as a founding figure of filk, the science-fiction and fantasy fan-music tradition. With the Dehorn Crew, she released Folk Songs for Folk Who Ain't Even Been Yet in 1976, regarded as the first commercial filk recording, and her song "Hope Eyrie" became an anthem of American SF fandom; she won multiple Pegasus Awards for her music. Alongside her recording career she wrote fiction, contributing to C. J. Cherryh's shared-world Merovingen Nights series (with "A Dirge for Sabis") and to Jerry Pournelle's War World anthologies, and co-authored The Sword of Knowledge trilogy. A longtime anarchist and Industrial Workers of the World member, she was also active in gun-rights advocacy and science-fiction fandom, including the Society for Creative Anachronism.