Thu
Feb 16 2012 3:00pm
Star Trek Showed Me There Was a Place For Me in the Future.” LeVar Burton’s Keynote at Tools of Change

LeVar Burton delivered the opening keynote address at the Tools of Change for Publishing conference on February 13 and placed the emphasis on science fiction literature as the driving impetus behind the very tools that are currently redefining publishing, outreach, and reading habits across all ages.

He begins with an anecdote on being a young kid growing up in the 60s seeing Uhura on Star Trek, and knowing, just by virtue of her presence on the bridge, that he had a place in the future of mankind.

It’s a great keynote, so check it out when you get 15 minutes to spare. For more information on what Burton is up to in the digital publishing arena these days, read the coverage form Publishers Weekly.

And if you like, wish LeVar Burton a happy 55th birthday today!


Stubby the Rocket is the mascot of Tor.com and is always saving a seat for LeVar.

6 comments
Bittersweet Fountain
1. Bittersweet Fountain
LeVar may have been inspired by Uhura, but I was inspired by LeVar. I remember being really young, watching TNG and thinking, "I want to be Chief Engineer of the Enterprise when I grow up." Now, I'm an aerospace engineer and my title actually is "chief engineer" (though not, alas, of the Enterprise).

I may be a white girl and not a black guy but I was still inspired by him. Happy birthday, LeVar Burton!!
Jenny Thrash
2. Sihaya
LeVar's many fans wish him a very happy birthday! But don't just take my word for it ...
Bittersweet Fountain
3. Lesley A
What an inspiring speaker! Thanks for this - I was even pausing the speech to write down some of what he was saying, and I never do that normally.
Lisamarie LiGreci-Newton
4. Lisamarie
I haven't watched this yet (I'm at work) but I am looking forward to it. I grew up on Reading Rainbow (ha!) and my mom was a big ST:TNG fan...but I only watched it very occasionally. Now my husband and I are watching the whole series and I've actually noticed that Geordi is becoming one of my favorite characters. I'm science minded so of course I have a soft spot for the engineer, but he (his character) also just seems very friendly and I also like the way he deals with the fact that he is blind and some of the things that raises.

I don't know if the actor is as friendly, but I'd like to think so :)

Bittersweet Fountain, that is a great story :)

Happy birthday LeVar!
Lisamarie LiGreci-Newton
5. Lisamarie
That was so interesting!

I actually had no idea that he had been Catholic at some point (or if he still practices). I wonder if he has studied any of the writings/stories of Pope John Paul II, who, in his youth also struggled between discerning between a life of theater and the priesthood, and had strong feelings about the meaning of theater/literature and its ability to reach people.

Also, HE KNEW MR. ROGERS! Jealous :)
Bittersweet Fountain
6. Bishop
Great video. Sad though that the cover art and protagonists for the scifi fantasy genre don't look much different than they did when LeVar was a kid 40+ years ago.

Maybe time to start asking Tor and other publishers why that is?

Subscribe to this thread

Receive notification by email when a new comment is added. You must be a registered user to subscribe to threads.
Post a comment