Dwarf Stars Award

Last updated
Dwarf Stars Award
Awarded forThe best science fiction, fantasy, or horror poem of ten lines or fewer published in English in the prior calendar year
Presented by Science Fiction Poetry Association
First awarded2006
Currently held byJen Stewart Fueston and Mary Soon Lee
Website www.sfpoetry.com/dwarfstars.html

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. [1] [2] [3]

Contents

During the 17 nomination years, 57 poems by 43 poets have been selected as third place or better, including one three-way tie for second place in 2016, a two-way tie for third place in 2018 and a three-way tie in 2023, and two-way ties for first in 2022 and 2023, of which 19 poets have won outright. Jane Yolen has been noted four times, a first and a third place and two second-place results; Kolodji, Julie Bloss Kelsey and LeRoy Gorman have each received a first and a second place; Greg Beatty a first and a third place; Sonya Taaffe has received two second-place results; Sandi Leibowitz has received a second and a third-place result; and Ann K. Schwader and Sandra J. Lindow have each received two third-place results.

Winners and nominees

In the following table, the years correspond to the date in which the award was given, rather than when the poem was first published. Each year links to the corresponding "year in poetry". Entries with a blue background and an asterisk (*) next to the writer's name have won the award, while those with a gray background and a plus sign (+) took second place, and those with a white background took third.

* Winners
+ Second place
  Third place
YearAuthorPoemPublicationRef.
2006 Ruth Berman *"Knowledge Of"Kerem [4]
Peg Duthie+"The Stepsister"The Magazine of Speculative Poetry [4]
Greg Beatty "Prayer Causes Stars"Abyss & Apex [4]
2007 Jane Yolen *"Last Unicorn" Asimov's Science Fiction [5]
Jane Yolen +"Troll Under Bridge" Asimov's Science Fiction [5]
Sandra J. Lindow"Dwarves"The Magazine of Speculative Poetry [5]
2008 Greg Beatty *"Place Mat by Moebius" Asimov's Science Fiction [6]
Sonya Taaffe +"Muse" Strange Horizons [6]
Ann K. Schwader "Dancing to Van Gogh"Mythic Delirium [6]
2009 Geoffrey A. Landis *"Fireflies" Asimov's Science Fiction [7]
Elizabeth Barrette+"the leaf whisperer"Doorways Magazine [7]
Jane Yolen "Goodbye Billy Goat Gruff" Asimov's Science Fiction [7]
2010 Howard V. Hendrix *"Bumbershoot"Abyss & Apex [8]
Deborah P. Kolodji +"The Selkie's Children"Goblin Fruit [8]
Stephen Wilson"The Men All Pause"Poet's Espresso [8]
2011 Julie Bloss Kelsey*"Comet"microcosms [9]
Sonya Taaffe +"Tapping the Vine"Goblin Fruit [9]
Ann K. Schwader "Returning"Star*Line [9]
2012 Marge Simon *"Blue Rose Buddha"The Mad Hattery [10]
Greer Woodward+"Closure"Illumen [10]
G. O. Clark"Snowflake galaxies"microcosms [10]
2013 Deborah P. Kolodji *"Basho After Cinderella (iii)"Rattle [11]
Mary Turzillo +"The Hidden"Lovers & Killers [11]
N. E. Taylor"Sarcophagus"inkscrawl [11]
2014 Mat Joiner*"And Deeper than Did Ever Plummet Sound" Strange Horizons [12]
Mari Ness +"The Loss" Strange Horizons [12]
David Livingstone Clink"Hourglass" Prism International [12]
2015 Greg Schwartz*"abandoned nursing home"Tales of the Talisman [2]
Jane Yolen +"Princess: A Life"Mythic Delirium [2]
Robert Borski"The Square Root of Doppelgängers" Star*Line [2]
2016 Stacy Balkun*"We Begin This Way"Gingerbread House [3]
Julie Bloss Kelsey+"at the barre"Rattle [3]
F. J. Bergmann +"The Doorman"Grievous Angel [3]
Sandi Leibowitz+"Weathering"Silver Blade [3]
John C. Mannone"Alice was chasing white rabbits out of a black hole"Abbreviate Journal [3]
2017 LeRoy Gorman*"aster than the speed of lightf"Scifaikuest [13]
Holly Day+"Lover"Homestead Review [13]
Sandi Leibowitz"Loss"Through the Gate [13]
2018 Kath Abela Wilson*"The Green"Carrying the Branch: Poets in Search of Peace [14]
David C. Kopaska-Merkel+"If She Knew She Was a Ghost"Polu Texni [14]
Deborah L. Davitt"Lo Shu’s Magic Square"Snakeskin [14]
Holly Lyn Walrath "Lace at the Throat"2017 SFPA poetry contest [14]
2019 Sofía Rhei* (translated by Lawrence Schimel)"embalsamados" ("embalmed")Multiverse: An International Anthology of Science Fiction Poetry [15]
LeRoy Gorman+"where to hide an alien in plain sight"Scryptic [15]
Sandra J. Lindow"Negative Space"Sky Island Journal [15]
2020 John C. Mannone*"Standing Up"Nadwah: Poetry in Translation [16]
Mark A. Fisher+"[There are fossils]"Silver Blade 44 [16]
Denise Dumars"2015 Zinfandella"Dismal Oaks Winery Broadside [16]
2021 Holly Lyn Walrath *"Yes, Antimatter Is Real" Analog Science Fiction and Fact [17]
Robert Borski+"The Softness of Impossible Fossils" Asimov's Science Fiction [17]
Herb Kauderer"Frozen Hurricanes"Minimalism: A Handbook of Minimalist Genre Poetic Forms (Hiraeth Press) [17]
2022 Jen Stewart Fueston*"Poem with Lines from my Son"Bracken [18]
Mary Soon Lee *"What Trees Read"Uppagus [18]
Jamal Hodge+"Colony"Penumbric [18]
Gene Twaronite"Future Portrait of Dark Matter"NewMyths.com [18]
2023 Rasha Abdulhadi*"Believe the Graves"The Deadlands [19]
Bruce Boston *"In Perpetuity" Analog Science Fiction and Fact [19]
Alyssa Lo+"Excerpt from a Proposal for the New City" Strange Horizons [19]
Kim Whysall-Hammond"As Slow as Starlight"Frozen Wavelets [19]
Sumiko Saulson"Surviving"The Rat King: A Book of Dark Poetry (Dooky Zines) [19]
Warsan Shire "Trichotillomania"Bless the Daughter Raised by a Voice in Her Head (Random House) [19]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Geoffrey A. Landis</span> American aerospace engineer (born 1955)

Geoffrey Alan Landis is an American aerospace engineer and author, working for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) on planetary exploration, interstellar propulsion, solar power and photovoltaics. He holds nine patents, primarily in the field of improvements to solar cells and photovoltaic devices and has given presentations and commentary on the possibilities for interstellar travel and construction of bases on the Moon, Mars, and Venus.

The Nebula Award for Best Script was given each year by the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers Association (SFWA) for science fiction or fantasy scripts for movies or television episodes. Awards are also given out for published literary works in the novel, novella, novelette, and short story categories. The Nebula Award for Best Script was awarded annually from 1974 through 1978, and from 2000 through 2009. It was presented under several names; in 1974, 1975, and 1977 the award was for Best Dramatic Presentation, while in 1976 the award was for Best Dramatic Writing. The award was discontinued in 2010 and replaced with Ray Bradbury Nebula Award for Outstanding Dramatic Presentation; this award was not originally a Nebula but was made one retroactively in 2019, and is presented at the Nebula Awards Ceremony and follows Nebula rules and procedures. The Nebula Awards have been described as one of "the most important of the American science fiction awards" and "the science-fiction and fantasy equivalent" of the Emmy Awards.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Peter S. Beagle</span> American novelist and screenwriter

Peter Soyer Beagle is an American novelist and screenwriter, especially of fantasy fiction. His best-known work is The Last Unicorn (1968) which Locus subscribers voted the number five "All-Time Best Fantasy Novel" in 1987. During the last twenty-five years he has won several literary awards, including a World Fantasy Award for Life Achievement in 2011. He was named Damon Knight Memorial Grand Master by SFWA in 2018.

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ellen Datlow</span> American editor and anthologist (born 1949)

Ellen Datlow is an American science fiction, fantasy, and horror editor and anthologist. She is a winner of the World Fantasy Award and the Bram Stoker Award.

Howard Vincent Hendrix is an American scholar and science fiction writer.. He is the author of the novels Lightpaths and Standing Wave, Better Angels, Empty Cities of the Full Moon, The Labyrinth Key, and Spears of God. His early short stories are found in the ebook Mobius Highway.

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, i.e. the Rhysling Awards for year's best speculative poems in two length categories and the Dwarf Stars Award for year's best very short speculative poem. Every year since 2013, the SFPA has additionally administered the Elgin Awards for best full-length speculative poetry collection and best speculative chapbook.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bruce Boston</span> American writer

Bruce Boston is an American speculative fiction writer and poet.

Robert Alexander Frazier is an American writer of speculative poetry and fiction, as well as an impressionist painter on Nantucket Island.

Mike Allen is an American news reporter and columnist, as well as an editor and writer of speculative fiction and poetry.

Samantha Henderson is a science fiction and fantasy writer and poet.

Rachel Swirsky is an American literary, speculative fiction and fantasy writer, poet, and editor living in Oregon. She was the founding editor of the PodCastle podcast and served as editor from 2008 to 2010. She served as vice president of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America in 2013.

<i>Salon Fantastique</i>

Salon Fantastique: Fifteen Original Tales of Fantasy is a fantasy short story anthology edited by Ellen Datlow and Terri Windling.

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.

Eye to the Telescope is a quarterly online journal of the Science Fiction & Fantasy Poetry Association, which publishes speculative poetry, including science-fiction, fantasy, horror, and poetry. It was established in 2011.

<i>Nebula Awards Showcase 2003</i> 2003 anthology edited by Nancy Kress

Nebula Awards Showcase 2003 is an anthology of science fiction short works edited by Nancy Kress. It was first published in trade paperback by Roc/New American Library in April 2003.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">R. B. Lemberg</span> Ukrainian-American speculative fiction author (born 1976)

R. B. Lemberg is a queer, bigender, and autistic Ukrainian-American 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.

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.

References

  1. "The Dwarf Stars Awards". Science Fiction Poetry Association. Archived from the original on 2012-11-04. Retrieved 2012-11-27.
  2. 1 2 3 4 "The 2015 Dwarf Stars Anthology and Award". Science Fiction Poetry Association . Retrieved 2015-09-26.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 "The 2016 Dwarf Stars Anthology and Award". Science Fiction Poetry Association . Retrieved 2016-12-18.
  4. 1 2 3 "The Locus Index to SF Awards: 2006 Dwarf Stars Awards". Locus . Archived from the original on 2012-10-16. Retrieved 2012-11-27.
  5. 1 2 3 "The Locus Index to SF Awards: 2007 Dwarf Stars Awards". Locus . Archived from the original on 2012-10-16. Retrieved 2012-11-27.
  6. 1 2 3 "The Locus Index to SF Awards: 2008 Dwarf Stars Awards". Locus . Archived from the original on 2012-10-16. Retrieved 2012-11-27.
  7. 1 2 3 "The Locus Index to SF Awards: 2009 Dwarf Stars Awards". Locus . Archived from the original on 2012-10-16. Retrieved 2012-11-27.
  8. 1 2 3 "The Locus Index to SF Awards: 2010 Dwarf Stars Awards". Locus . Archived from the original on 2012-10-08. Retrieved 2012-11-27.
  9. 1 2 3 "The 2011 Dwarf Stars Anthology and Award". Science Fiction Poetry Association. Archived from the original on 2012-11-04. Retrieved 2012-11-27.
  10. 1 2 3 "The 2012 Dwarf Stars Anthology and Award". Science Fiction Poetry Association. Archived from the original on 2013-04-13. Retrieved 2013-01-30.
  11. 1 2 3 "The 2013 Dwarf Stars Anthology and Award". Science Fiction Poetry Association . Retrieved 2013-08-29.
  12. 1 2 3 "The 2014 Dwarf Stars Anthology and Award". Science Fiction Poetry Association . Retrieved 2015-06-01.
  13. 1 2 3 "The 2017 Dwarf Stars Anthology and Award". Science Fiction & Fantasy Poetry Association . Retrieved 2019-05-30.
  14. 1 2 3 4 "The 2018 Dwarf Stars Anthology and Award". Science Fiction & Fantasy Poetry Association . Retrieved 2019-05-30.
  15. 1 2 3 "The 2019 Dwarf Stars Anthology and Award". Science Fiction & Fantasy Poetry Association . Retrieved 2019-10-19.
  16. 1 2 3 "The 2020 Dwarf Stars Anthology and Award". Science Fiction & Fantasy Poetry Association . Retrieved 2021-03-25.
  17. 1 2 3 "The 2021 Dwarf Stars Anthology and Award". Science Fiction & Fantasy Poetry Association . Retrieved 2022-01-01.
  18. 1 2 3 4 "The 2022 Dwarf Stars Anthology and Award". Science Fiction & Fantasy Poetry Association . Retrieved 2022-12-01.
  19. 1 2 3 4 5 6 "The 2023 Dwarf Stars Anthology and Award". Science Fiction & Fantasy Poetry Association . Retrieved 2024-03-30.