Formation | 1978 |
---|---|
Purpose | To bring together poets and readers interested in speculative poetry. |
Region served | International |
President | Bryan Thao Worra |
Vice President | Colleen Anderson |
Secretary | Brian Garrison |
Treasurer | Rich Magahiz |
Website | sfpoetry |
The Science Fiction & Fantasy Poetry Association (SFPA) is a society based in the United States with the aim of fostering an international community of writers and readers interested in poetry pertaining to the genres of science fiction, fantasy, and/or horror. The SFPA oversees the quarterly production of literary journals dedicated to speculative poetry and the annual publication of anthologies associated with awards administered by the organization, [1] i.e. the Rhysling Awards for year's best speculative poems in two length categories [2] and the Dwarf Stars Award for year's best very short speculative poem. [3] Every year since 2013, [4] the SFPA has additionally administered the Elgin Awards for best full-length speculative poetry collection and best speculative chapbook. [5]
The SFPA was established as the Science Fiction Poetry Association in 1978 by author and linguist Suzette Haden Elgin. [6]
Elizabeth Chater served as the first president of the SFPA, followed by Gene Wolf. [7] Other SFPA presidents have included Deborah P Kolodji, David C. Kopaska-Merkel, Bryan D. Dietrich, and, most recently, Bryan Thao Worra. [8]
In 2017, members of the SFPA voted to rename the organization the "Science Fiction & Fantasy Poetry Association," while maintaining the acronym "SFPA." [9]
Since 1978, the organization has overseen the production of the speculative poetry journal Star*Line, [10] currently edited by Jean-Paul L. Garnier. [11] In addition to publishing poetry and reviews of books released in the relevant genres, Star*Line provides SFPA members and other subscribers with market listings and industry news bulletins. Past editors include Vince Gotera, F. J. Bergmann, Marge Simon, and founder Suzette Haden Elgin. [12]
Since 2011, the SFPA has additionally published the online poetry magazine Eye to the Telescope. [13] In order to broaden the scope of the organization's literary footprint, Eye to the Telescope has a rotating editorship, with a different editor responsible for selecting the theme and contents of each issue of the journal. [14]
Since its inception in 1978, [23] [20] the organization has administered the Rhysling Award for best science fiction poetry of the year. [24] [25] The award is given in two categories: "Best Long Poem" for works of 50 or more lines and "Best Short Poem" for works of 49 or fewer lines. [2] The SFPA also bestows the Dwarf Stars Award for short poem (up to ten lines). [26] Since the 1980s [23] the Rhysling-winning poems are included in the Nebula Awards anthology published by the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America, [27] along with (since 2008) the Dwarf Stars winning poems. [28] The two awards involve the publication of annual anthologies of nominated works.
Since 2006 (with a hiatus in 2009 and 2011), the SFPA has sponsored an annual contest for best poem in the dwarf (up to 10 lines), short (11 to 49 lines), and long category (50 lines and above). [29] [30]
In 2013, SFPA inaugurated the Elgin Awards for poetry collections, named after SFPA founder Suzette Haden Elgin. [31] Two awards are given annually, for best speculative chapbook and best full-length speculative poetry collection. [32]
Since 1999, [33] the SFPA has intermittently conferred Grand Master status on select poets who "for a period of no fewer than 20 years" have been actively publishing speculative poetry deemed "exceptional in merit, scope, vision and innovation." Poets must be living to be considered for the honor. [34] Recipients of the award include Ray Bradbury in 2008 [35] and Jane Yolen in 2010. [33]
The Rhysling Awards are an annual award given for the best science fiction, fantasy, or horror poem of the year. The award name was dubbed by Andrew Joron in reference to a character in a science fiction story: the blind poet Rhysling, in Robert A. Heinlein's short story "The Green Hills of Earth". The award is given in two categories: "Best Long Poem", for works of 50 or more lines, and "Best Short Poem", for works of 49 or fewer lines.
Speculative poetry is a genre of poetry that focusses on fantastic, science fictional and mythological themes. It is also known as science fiction poetry or fantastic poetry. It is distinguished from other poetic genres by being categorized by its subject matter, rather than by the poetry's form. Suzette Haden Elgin defined the genre as "about a reality that is in some way different from the existing reality."
Bruce Boston is an American speculative fiction writer and poet.
Marge Baliff Simon is an American artist and a writer of speculative poetry and fiction.
Robert Alexander Frazier is an American writer of speculative poetry and fiction, as well as an impressionist painter on Nantucket Island.
Akua Lezli Hope is an African-American woman artist, poet and writer.
The Dwarf Stars Award is an annual award presented by the Science Fiction & Fantasy Poetry Association to the author of the best horror, fantasy, or science fiction poem of ten lines or fewer published in the previous year. The award was established in 2006 as a counterpoint to the Rhysling Award, which is given by the same organization to horror, fantasy, or science fiction poems of any length. Poems are submitted to the association by the poets, from which approximately 30 are chosen by an editor to be published in an anthology each fall. Members of the association then vote on the published poems, and first through third-place winners are announced. The 2006 anthology was edited by Deborah P. Kolodji, and subsequent anthologies have been edited by an array of editors, including Kolodji, Stephen M. Wilson, Joshua Gage, Geoffrey A. Landis, Linda D. Addison, Sandra J. Lindow, John Amen, Jeannine Hall Gailey, and Lesley Wheeler.
Mike Allen is an American news reporter and columnist, as well as an editor and writer of speculative fiction and poetry.
Mary Soon Lee is an American speculative fiction writer and poet.
Abyss & Apex Magazine (A&A) is a long-running, semi-pro online speculative fiction magazine. The title of the zine comes from a quote by Friedrich Nietzsche (1844-1900), "And if you gaze long into the abyss, the abyss gazes also into you." The stories and poetry therefore follow the pattern of "how would humans react?" if a new technology or a type of magic or supernatural power affected them.
Amal El-Mohtar is a Canadian poet and writer of speculative fiction. She has published short fiction, poetry, essays and reviews, and has edited the fantastic poetry quarterly magazine Goblin Fruit since 2006.
Nebula Awards 24 is an anthology of award-winning science fiction short works edited by Michael Bishop, the second of three successive volumes published under his editorship. It was first published in hardcover and trade paperback by Harcourt Brace Jovanovich in April 1990.
Nebula Awards Showcase 2014 is an anthology of science fiction short works edited by Kij Johnson. It was first published in trade paperback by Pyr in May 2014.
Nebula Awards Showcase 2017 is an anthology of science fiction and fantasy short works edited by Canadian writer Julie E. Czerneda. It was first published in trade paperback and ebook by Pyr in May 2017.
R. B. Lemberg is a queer, bigender, and autistic author, poet, and editor of speculative fiction. Their work has appeared in publications such as Lightspeed, Strange Horizons, Beneath Ceaseless Skies, Sisters of the Revolution: A Feminist Speculative Fiction Anthology, Uncanny Magazine, and Transcendent 3: The Year's Best Transgender Speculative Fiction 2017.
Deborah P Kolodji was an American haiku poet.
F. J. Bergmann is the pen name of Jeannie Bergmann, an American editor and writer of speculative poetry and prose fiction.
Holly Lyn Walrath is a poet, fiction writer, and editor based in Houston, Texas.
Ann K. Schwader is an American poet and writer of short fiction based in Westminster, Colorado. Schwader is a grand master of the Science Fiction & Fantasy Poetry Association, a multiple winner of the Rhysling Awards, and has been called one of the "top poets" in the speculative poetry genre.
David C. Kopaska-Merkel is an American geologist, poet, and editor.