SF Canada is an association of speculative fiction authors in Canada.
Its stated goals are to: "foster a sense of community among Canadian writers of speculative fiction, improve communication between Canadian writers of speculative fiction through such means as the publication of a regular newsletter, foster the growth of quality writing in Canadian speculative fiction, carry out lobbying activities on behalf of Canadian writers of speculative fiction, encourage the translation of Canadian speculative fiction, and to promote positive social action." [1]
It was initially founded as an authors collective circa 1989 under the title Canada’s National Association of Speculative Fiction Professionals. Several Canadian science fiction authors have made public claim to be "founding members" of the organization, notably Phyllis Gotlieb, [2] [3] Candas Jane Dorsey, Karl Schroeder [4] and Yves Meynard, [5] but documentation from this early period is sparse, apart from the self-report of the participants on their official websites.
SF Canada in its present form was incorporated by letters patent from the Government of Canada on September 21, 1992 with three signatories, Candas Jane Dorsey, Michael Skeet and Diane Walton [6]
The bylaws of the corporation are publicly available in English and French on the association's website. [7]
Presidents of SF Canada in order of succession have been: Candas Jane Dorsey, Karl Schroeder, Jean-Louis Trudel, Hugh Spencer, Mark Shainblum, Candas Jane Dorsey, Derryl Murphy, Colleen Anderson, Edward Willett, Steve Stanton, Peter Halasz, Ann Dulhanty, Lynda Williams, Ira Nayman, Robert Dawson, Arinn Dembo, and Margaret Curelas. [8]
During the tenure of Steve Stanton, from 2011 to 2014, SF Canada awarded cash prizes in support of the Prix Aurora Award and Aurora-Boréal Award, initially $500 increasing in 2013 to $1,000 each to the winners of the Best Novel in English and le Meilleur Roman en Français.
Candas Jane Dorsey is a Canadian poet and science fiction novelist who resides in her hometown of Edmonton, Alberta. Dorsey became a writer from an early age and works across genre boundaries, writing poetry, fiction, mainstream and speculative, short and long form, arts journalism and arts advocacy. Dorsey has also written television and stage scripts, magazine and newspaper articles, and reviews.
Phyllis Fay Gotlieb was a Canadian science fiction novelist and poet.
Robert James Sawyer is a Canadian and American science fiction writer. He has had 25 novels published and his short fiction has appeared in Analog Science Fiction and Fact, Amazing Stories, On Spec, Nature, and numerous anthologies. He has won many writing awards, including the best-novel Nebula Award (1995), the best-novel Hugo Award (2003), the John W. Campbell Memorial Award (2006), the Robert A. Heinlein Award (2017), and more Aurora Awards than anyone else in history.
A strong element in contemporary Canadian culture is rich, diverse, thoughtful and witty science fiction.
Karl Schroeder is a Canadian science fiction author and a professional futurist. His novels present far-future speculations on topics such as nanotechnology, terraforming, augmented reality, and interstellar travel, and are deeply philosophical. More recently he also focuses on near-future topics. Several of his short stories feature the character Gennady Malianov.
On Spec is a digest-sized, perfect-bound, Canadian quarterly magazine publishing stories and poetry in science fiction, fantasy, and allied genres broadly grouped under the "speculative fiction" umbrella.
The 61st World Science Fiction Convention (Worldcon), also known as Torcon 3, was held from 28 August to 1 September 2003 at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre and at the Fairmont Royal York and Crowne Plaza hotels in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
Ad Astra is an annual science fiction, fantasy, and horror convention in Ontario. Major events of the convention include the Masquerade, Guest of Honour presentations, panel discussions, Art Show, and Dealer's Room, as well as a wide variety of privately run room parties. Other events on the convention program include a games room, book launches, and the Saturday evening dance.
Cameron Reed is an American science fiction author whose work, while sparse, has met with considerable acclaim.
Con-Version was an annual science fiction and fantasy convention held in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. Since its beginning in 1984, the convention hosted many authors such as Robert J. Sawyer, Larry Niven, and J. Michael Straczynski; it also hosted the judging for the Robyn Herrington Memorial Short Story Competition. Appearances had also been made by Jeremy Bulloch and Dirk Benedict.
Caitlin Sweet is a Canadian fantasy author and writer at the Ontario Government who teaches a genre writing workshop at the University of Toronto's School of Continuing Studies. She lives in Toronto with her family, which includes two children and her husband, hard science fiction author Peter Watts.
Yves Meynard is a Canadian science fiction and fantasy writer. He writes in both English and French.
The IAFA William L. Crawford Fantasy Award is a literary award given to a writer whose first fantasy book was published during the preceding calendar year. It's one of several awards presented by the International Association for the Fantastic in the Arts (IAFA) and is presented at the International Conference of the Fantast in the Arts each March in Orlando.
CAN-CON, stylized CAN•CON, or more completely "CAN•CON: The Conference on Canadian Content in Speculative Arts and Literature", is a periodic science fiction and fantasy convention in Ottawa put on by The Society for Canadian Content in Speculative Arts and Literature. Founded in 1991 by James Botte and Farrell McGovern in response to a perception that there were no dedicated public venues that featured primarily Canadian speculative fiction writers, editors, and artists. In addition to the focus on Canadian content, it was also an attempt to bring a focus on the book back to Ottawa science fiction and fantasy events. It ran from 1992 through 1997, and again in 2001 before taking a hiatus of several years due to the two founders moving out of Canada for employment reasons; it was then relaunched in 2010 after they had both returned to Canada.
SFContario is a general-interest science fiction convention held in Toronto, Ontario, Canada and sponsored by the Science Fiction and Fantasy Society of Upper Canada.
The WWW Trilogy is a trilogy of science-fiction novels by Canadian science fiction author Robert J. Sawyer. The first book, Wake, was originally serialized in four parts in Analog Science Fiction and Fact from November 2008 to March 2009, published in book form through Ace on April 7, 2009, and was followed by the second book, Watch, on April 6, 2010. Wonder was published in 2011.
NeWest Press is a Canadian publishing company. Established in Edmonton, Alberta, in 1977, the company grew out of a literary magazine, NeWest Review, which had been launched in 1975. Early members of the collective that founded the company included writer Rudy Wiebe and University of Alberta academics Douglas Barbour, George Melnyk, and Diane Bessai.
The Aurora Awards are granted annually by the Canadian SF and Fantasy Association and SFSF Boreal Inc. The Award for Best Short Fiction, was first recognized in 1986 as a separate category from Best Long-Form and was first granted as the Award for Best Short-Form, one granted to an English-language work and one to a French-language work, but did not become a dedicated category until 1989. In 1997 it was renamed to the Award for Best Short-Form Work and then again in 2012 it became the Award for Best Short Story, when the Prix Aurora and Prix Boreal combined, before adopting the name Award for Best Short Fiction a year later.
Gennady Malianov is a fictional detective from a cycle of science fiction / techno thriller stories by Canadian writer Karl Schroeder set in the near future. Typically Malianov operates as a freelance nuclear arms inspector investigating various cases of threats related to radioactive materials.