Industry News

by Brenda Gates Spielman

When my first book was published in 1979, I had no difficulty describing myself as an author. I even won an argument with a friend about whether it took more than one book for such a claim to be valid. We were both working on Master of Science degrees in the Engineering Department, so, of course, she went off to research, including talking to another of her friends who had published enough that she did consider him an author. She was trying to prove me wrong, but instead, she ended up agreeing that one published book did indeed make me an author.

Poetry, however, was an entirely different matter. I started writing poetry in high school, and poems were my first publications. A poem was even the first piece of writing that I got paid for ($15, a good sum for a poem in 1964). But for some reason, I felt it presumptuous to label myself a poet. When I had to write a bio, I would say, “Brenda Gates Spielman writes science fiction, fantasy, and mystery. And sometimes poetry.” I do not focus on my poetry as I do my novels; there are just times when an emotion is so intense, it demands to be expressed as a poem. In those cases, a sparsely worded poem enhances the emotion instead of diluting it in sentences and paragraphs.

I might go months between writing poems. Poems were not something I planned for; they just happened. Joy, grief, contentment, rage, all at different times demanded words and stanzas, which were then mostly put in a folder to “do something” with at some unspecified future date.

Poems were sometimes words that I would not, could not say out loud. Where other people might post emphatically on social media, I would write a poem and then file it away, catharsis accomplished, publication unnecessary.

Short stories and novels were written with the knowledge that they would one day be submitted, and submitted again, and again, and again, until someone published them or I gave up. Poems were just written and filed (paper files at first; later electronic ones) and only sometimes submitted. And, to my surprise, sometimes published. But I still did not consider myself a real poet.

And then SFWA wanted volunteers to work on a poetry committee during a period when I had some spare time to commit, and I ended up on a whole committee of real poets who published whole books of poems, who published epic poems. And lo and behold, they told me I was a poet too. It took a while to sink in, and I do not know if I will ever say, “Here I am, a Poet,” but I did revise my online bios to read “…writes science fiction, fantasy, mystery, and poetry.” And, to me, it was a big deal to delete that “and sometimes.” Maybe it was not a major revelation, but it was a modification of my view of myself.

Speculative poetry is a poetics of accessibility (definition excerpted from an email from Holly Lyn Walrath). It does not demand knowledge of iambic pentameter or how a sonnet is structured. It only requires imagination and words that speculate what might be. Some of my poetry is speculative, a lot isn’t. Some of my poetry rhymes, most doesn’t. But all of it speaks to me and, if I am lucky, one or two of them might speak to someone else. Because, isn’t that the point of all writing—no matter the form—to communicate with someone else, to tell a story, to share an emotion?

If you think that poetry is something separate from what you write, some exotic realm that you have never visited and are not sure that you want to visit, maybe you should reconsider. Delve into works that are crafted not sentence by sentence but word by word. It may be that you will never write a poem, only spend a moment or two in a bright image. But maybe you, too, will find that you have an inner poet who was just waiting for permission to emerge.

How many poems does it take to make you a poet? I would say one, published or unpublished. But how many poems does it take to make you believe you are a poet? That is a different question. It might be one, or it might be dozens, or it might just be having a committee of real poets accepting you.

Explore more articles from SPECULATIVE POETICS

Brenda Gates Spielman writes mysteries, science fiction, fantasy, and poetry. Her prior publications include Lost Sun, a space opera; Death and Secrets, a mystery; Umbar, a FRP module; and short stories in Fantasy Book and Dragon Magazine. Her poems have appeared in the anthologies Never Forgotten and Whispering Willow Tree Poems. She has worked as a software engineer (avionics and telecommunication) and a teacher (HS and Adult Ed). Brenda lives near Richmond, VA. Her website is www.bgspielman.com.

The post How Many Poems Does It Take to Make You a Poet? appeared first on SFWA - The Science Fiction & Fantasy Writers Association.

The Crime Writers’ Association (CWA) has announced the winners of the 2025 Dagger Awards. Winners of genre interest include The Book of Secrets by Anna Mazzola (Orion), winner of the Gold Dagger for the overall best crime novel of the year.

Judges for the Gold Dagger were Baroness Brown of Silvertown, Amanda Cassidy, Dan Coxon, Raymond Dickey, Jess Faraday, Pippa Macallister, Richard Reynolds (Non-voting Chair), and Ngaire Mason-Wenn Wallace. The ...Read More

The World Fantasy Awards ballot for works published in 2024 has been announced. The awards will be presented during the 2025 World Fantasy Convention, scheduled for October 30 – November 2, 2025 in Brighton, UK.

The Life Achievement Awards, presented annually to individuals who have demonstrated outstanding service to the fantasy field, will go to Juliet Marillier and Michael Whelan.

The World Fantasy Awards finalists are:

Best Novel

• The Tainted

...Read More

The Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers Association (SFWA) announced that the SFWA Blog will be renamed to Planetside: The Online Magazine of SFWA. Lead Editor Roxana Arama comments, “[The word blog] now sounds a bit dated … The word magazine better describes our content and also honors the dedicated authors who contribute to our publication”. The word “planetside” was first used in works by Damon Knight and Andre Norton and ...Read More

Submissions for the Speculative Literature Foundation’s (SLF) Diverse Writers Grant and Diverse Worlds Grant are open from July 1 through July 31, 2025. Each $500 grant “is intended to support the SLF’s mission of promoting literary quality in speculative fiction” and is awarded by SLF staff on the basis of merit.

The Diverse Writers Grant “is intended to support writers of speculative fiction who are from underrepresented and underprivileged groups, ...Read More

Scholastic combined their trade publishing, book fairs, and book clubs divisions into the unified Scholastic Children’s Book Group on June 1, 2025. Sasha Quinton has taken the new role of executive vice president and president of the division, report­ing to CEO Peter Warwick and working with chief strategy officer and Scholastic Entertain­ment president and board chair Iole Lucchese to “bolster the Company’s 360-degree IP creation strategy by opening up pathways ...Read More

A federal court judge has sanctioned Jesse David Spurlock and Vanguard Productions after finding that Spurlock forged a document that purported to give permission to use artwork by Frank Frazetta on a book cover. Frazetta Properties, LLC, has prevailed, and summary judgment against Vanguard has been reinstated. US District Judge William F. Jung wrote on June 2, 2025: “In essence, Mr. Spurlock fooled the Court (and the lawyers) into thinking ...Read More

by Victoria Strauss of WRITER BEWARE®

What Are Moral Rights?

In addition to various economic rights, such as the ability to license and profit from the use of their original work, the Berne Convention (the international source for copyright law) affirms creators’ moral rights.

Moral rights are intended to protect authorship, primarily by ensuring that a creator’s work is published or disseminated with their name—the right of attribution—and that the work can’t be altered or modified in ways that would be deleterious or prejudicial to the author or to the work itself—the right of integrity.

Here’s the relevant language, from Article 6 of Berne:

Independently of the author’s economic rights, and even after the transfer of the said rights, the author shall have the right to claim authorship of the work and to object to any distortion, mutilation or other modification of, or other derogatory action in relation to, the said work, which would be prejudicial to his honor or reputation.

Though there are variations from country to country, in most of the 181 nations that are signatory to Berne, moral rights are recognized to apply to all copyright-protected works.

In the USA, however, there’s no general moral rights provision in copyright law. When the US became a Berne signatory in 1988, Congress decided that existing federal and state laws (such as creators’ right under copyright law to control derivative works, and the Lanham Act, which prevents false attribution) provided equivalent protection to Article 6. Later, the Copyright Act was amended to recognize moral rights only for works of visual art. For other copyright-protected works, the moral rights landscape in the USA is a “patchwork of protections”, to quote the Copyright Office’s 2019 report on moral rights, that is “generally working well and should not be changed.”

If you’re a US writer, does that mean you don’t need to be concerned about moral rights? Not exactly—because you may encounter circumstances where you’re required to give them up.

The Language of Moral Rights Waivers

Moral rights waivers occur almost anywhere. I’ve seen them in book contracts, short fiction and anthology contracts, audiobook contracts, contest guidelines, serialized fiction app contracts, and more. (They are also common in the Terms of Service of apps and platforms that host user comments and other contributions, such as user profiles: you may be shocked at how big this list is.)

Some examples. This one’s from a book contract:

Notwithstanding anything contained in this Agreement to the contrary, Author hereby expressly waives in favor of Publisher, its licensees, assigns or successors in title, as the case may be, all present and future moral rights in the Work accruing to Author, by virtue of statute or otherwise throughout the world for the entire term Publisher retains copyright rights to the Work. Publisher will use commercially reasonable efforts to have the name/pseudonym of Author appear on the jacket (if any), cover and/or title page of every copy of the Work.

Note how, having required the author to waive their right of attribution, the publisher promises to include their name on their work anyway—but only if it’s “commercially reasonable” to do so.

From the contract of a serialized fiction app:

Party B [the author] hereby irrevocably grants his/her moral rights of Work (including rights to object to derogatory treatment) to Party A [the app] and its Affiliates that are necessary and indispensable for exercising all the rights granted to them in this Agreement under the applicable laws.

“Derogatory” in this context doesn’t mean insults or nasty remarks, but rather what Berne defines as “distortion, mutilation or other modification” of the work that might be prejudicial to the author’ reputation. In other words, the app is emphasizing its prerogative under the waiver to change or adapt the work, including in ways the author might find objectionable or hateful.

From a magazine contract (where it’s very unusual to find a moral rights waiver):

You agree that the publisher may publish the work in the style and format of its choosing, including next to advertising Notwithstanding anything to the contrary contained in this document, you expressly waive all moral rights in favor of, and covenants to, Publisher, its Related Licensees and Unrelated Licensees, assigns or successors in title, as the case may be, to refrain from asserting any and all moral rights in the Work or any updates or revisions to the Work, accruing to you now and in the future, by virtue of statute or otherwise, howsoever arising throughout the world. However, Publisher undertakes to make its commercial best efforts to ensure that Author’s Pseudonym or Name, will appear with the story of every copy of the Work published by Publisher, its Related Licensees and Unrelated Licensees.

Moral rights waivers don’t always appear as distinct clauses: they may be just a sentence buried in a general paragraph addressing rights (and thus easily glossed over or overlooked). This is from the rules of a writing contest (see the last sentence):

Upon submission of a story to the email address set out at rule 2, an entrant grants to [Company] a perpetual non-exclusive, worldwide licence to publish the story in any of its magazines or any licensed editions thereof, or in any other format or via any other medium. All intellectual property rights in the story shall remain with the entrant save as set out in these terms and conditions. All entrants shall waive their moral rights in their story in respect of any use of the story by [Company] or any of [Company’s] licensees in accordance with the licence granted herein. 

What Does It Mean to Give Up Your Moral Rights?

In many European countries, moral rights are inalienable: they cannot be waived (which poses interesting legal questions for European authors who encounter a waiver in a contract or agreement from another country). Elsewhere, including the UK, Canada, and the USA, creators can renounce their moral rights if they choose to do so—although in the UK and Canada, unlike the USA where moral rights aren’t enshrined in law, they can enforce those rights in court if they retain them (here’s one famous example).

Generally speaking, there are two main reasons why publishers and others might want to demand a waiver: they may wish to ensure that they and their affiliates and licensees don’t have to identify the author every time the work is reprinted or adapted (especially where the contract grants multiple subsidiary rights); and they may want the ability to make changes or adaptations without having to seek permission or deal with the possibility that the author might object.

When you sign a moral rights waiver, you give whoever is demanding the waiver the right to do any and all of those things. How likely is it that they will? Maybe not very. But I don’t think you can ever safely assume that the literal language of a contract or other rights-granting vehicle won’t apply to you at some point. In that context, the fact that moral rights aren’t really meaningful for US writers (a “don’t worry about it” response that the publisher or other group may haul out if you object to the waiver) looks a little different. After all, why would any entity include a waiver if they weren’t at least contemplating acting on it–perhaps in countries where moral rights are recognized and the “patchwork of protections” that substitute for them in the US don’t apply? (And if they aren’t contemplating acting on it, why include a waiver at all?)

To agree that something can happen is to acknowledge that it very well might happen. As distant as the possibility may be, if you sign a contract that requires you to give up your moral rights you need to consider how you feel about surrendering control of those important aspects of authorship.

The Bottom Line

Deciding whether to sign a moral rights waiver or walk away from a contract or agreement that includes one is difficult, complicated, and, ultimately, personal.

Where possible, you can choose to try and negotiate—to strike the waiver entirely, if you can, or modify it–for example, adding language retaining your right to be credited as the author, or ensuring that any reprints or translations include the entire work without making substantial changes or misrepresenting its ideas and themes.

Where negotiation isn’t feasible—contest guidelines, for example–some writers may choose to stand on principle and reject the waiver as unnecessary overreach. Others may decide to risk the potential harm for the sake of the potential benefit, especially where the entity requiring the waiver is notable, or offers clear advantage to a writing career.

The one thing you shouldn’t do is to gloss over a moral rights waiver because you’re not sure what it means, or dismiss it because you believe it’s unlikely to happen, or assume that because you’re a US-based writer it can’t affect you (and don’t let the publisher or other entity gaslight you on these points). Whatever you decide, it should be a careful and considered choice, not a hasty or careless one.

This article is for informational purposes only, and is not intended as legal commentary or advice.

The post Moral Rights: What Writers Need to Know appeared first on SFWA - The Science Fiction & Fantasy Writers Association.

The Canadian Science Fiction & Fantasy Association (CSFFA) announced three inductees to the Canadian Science Fiction and Fantasy Hall of Fame for 2025: organizer Clint Budd, author Charles R. Saunders, and On Spec co-founder Diane L. Walton.

This year’s jury included David Clink (chair), Rebecca Diem, Candas Jane Dorsey, Stephen Kotowych, and Randy McCharles.

For more information, see the CSFFA website.

While you are here, please take a moment to ...Read More

Independent publisher Quirk Books has paused its publishing program and laid off “a significant portion of its staff.” In a statement to Publishers Weekly, David Borgenicht, Quirk Books founder and publisher, said:

We have a plan in place that required us to really make some staff reductions and change the nature of the list moving forward so that we can be profitable and grow again … The layoffs had been ...Read More

The European Science Fiction Society (ESFS) announced the Hall of Fame Awards, Achievement Awards, and winners of the Chrysalis Awards for emerging talent.

Hall of Fame Awards

Best Author

• WINNER: Aliette de Bodard (France)

• Marc Elsberg (Austria)
• Lanfranco Fabriani (Italy)
• Cristian Hriscu & Lucian Merișca (Romania)
• Макс Кідрук/Max Kidruk (Ukraine)
• Darko Macan (Croatia)
• Aiki Mira (Germany)
• Tais Teng (Netherlands)
• Marin Troshanov (Bulgaria)

Best Artist

• WINNER: Johan Egerkrans (Sweden)

• benSwerk/S. Beneš

...Read More

by Roxana Arama, Lead Editor

For nearly 30 years, The SFWA Blog has been an essential resource for speculative fiction creators. Our editorial team is excited to begin a new chapter on July 1, 2025, reintroducing our publication with a new name that better reflects who we are and where we’re headed.

Planetside: The Online Magazine of SFWA

Three Decades of Insight

The first post on what is now called The SFWA Blog was published in January 1996. It took a few years for The Blog to find its stride and consistently deliver the content our readers have come to expect, but by the mid-2000s, SFF writers were using this space to provide up-to-date insight into their craft and the publishing industry at large.

While the word blog brings to mind the beginnings of our online magazine as a forward-looking platform embracing the new technologies of its day, it now sounds a bit dated. The blog format implies a more casual tone compared to the well-researched and polished articles we publish. The word magazine better describes our content and also honors the dedicated authors who contribute to our publication.

Over the years, our magazine has featured thousands of articles, covering everything from worldbuilding best practices and industry news to emerging trends and craft discussions. Experienced authors generously provided guidance and perspective to aspiring writers through our pages. Many new voices who rose through The SFWA Blog went on to become household names in the literary world. Under its new name, our magazine will empower writers to connect with the larger creative community—just as it always has—by sharing diverse knowledge, exchanging ideas, and encouraging collaboration.

Why Planetside?

According to the Historical Dictionary of Science Fiction, the word planetside entered the English lexicon in the 1950s through the works of Andre Norton and Damon Knight, two speculative fiction authors who hold a special place in the SFWA community for their lasting influence. We even have two Nebula awards named in their honor: the Andre Norton Nebula Award for Middle Grade and Young Adult Fiction, and the Damon Knight Memorial Grand Master Award. Their legacy is one reason why planetside resonates deeply with us, because it reflects both our roots and our ongoing mission to elevate speculative storytelling.

Though planetside might initially sound like a science fiction term, we invite you to see it as an anchor we provide to our community of creators. While you venture out there, into your worlds of fantasy, game writing, horror, YA, romantasy, poetry, sci-fi, comics, middle-grade, and other genre-bending story forms, we’ll be down here, writing our planetside dispatches that provide you with everything you need to make your adventure as amazing as possible. Think of us as your Planetside Crew (more on that below), which equips you with the essential information and insight you need while you’re exploring the boundless worlds of your creation.

We’d also like to better communicate the sense of wonder and discovery we encounter every time we bring a new article to our readership. As such, with its new logo, Planetside: The Online Magazine of SFWA strives to represent SFWA’s mission to inform, inspire, support, and advocate for creators of speculative fiction worldwide.

Our Contribution to SFWA Publications

Planetside is part of SFWA Publications, which offers a number of publishing services. These include the New Release Newsletter, which helps SFWA members promote their upcoming titles; Singularity, which offers monthly industry news to members; and the NetGalley Partnership Program, which helps authors connect with reviewers and offers priority placement for members. (And we have more to be announced soon!)

But Planetside is special among the SFWA Publications projects because the magazine is for everyone working in SFF: SFWA members or otherwise, professional and professionalizing writers alike. We’re here for the full journey of industry creators. We also strive to bring a wide range of voices, opinions, and perspectives from across the planet to our readers. And that commitment carries through our editorial approach.

Our Editorial Process

The Planetside Crew is the volunteer team that reviews pitches and then edits the submissions for our online magazine. I joined this wonderful group of editors three years ago and have since had the privilege of collaborating with many talented authors on their articles. I’ve also become familiar with the toolkit SFWA Publications uses to maintain its ever-growing platform. As Lead Editor of Planetside, I now manage the magazine’s publishing pipeline and our monthly editorial meetings.

We work as a team on submissions, which expands our ability to reflect the full spectrum of industry know-how. Once a month, we carefully review pitches, evaluating their strengths and considering their role within the broader scope of SFWA Publications. We also follow a set of internal standards that guide us in selecting ideas that are particularly valuable to our readers. We then partner with each author over a few editorial rounds to elevate their article’s argument and focus on clarity, always keeping our audience in mind.

Building Planetside Together

In that spirit, we encourage you to explore SFWA’s many volunteer opportunities—including the Planetside Crew—and consider lending your talents to support our writing and creative community. You can also learn more about writing for our magazine from “What Should I Pitch to Planetside?” and our Submissions Guidelines, complete with open calls to get you started. And if you enjoy our articles, please help us spread the word to your community or on your social media.

As the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers Association celebrates 60 years of championing speculative fiction and its creators, we at SFWA Publications are thinking about what another 60 years might depend on. We hope that the new name of our online magazine will inspire you to be part of this next chapter, as we continue to provide industry perspectives to SFF writers at every stage of their careers.

I’d like to close with a heartfelt thank you to everyone who has helped us get this far. To every writer who trusted us, every reader who joined us on this journey, our generous volunteers, and all those who contributed to shaping what we’ve become: thank you. Your support, creativity, and dedication have carried us forward, and we couldn’t have done it without you.

The post Introducing Planetside: The Online Magazine of SFWA appeared first on SFWA - The Science Fiction & Fantasy Writers Association.

by Brian U. Garrison

A poem doesn’t need an award to have impact. But the process of celebrating builds community, excitement, and audience. With the Hugo and Nebula Awards preparing space in their victory gardens for poetry, new gateways are opening for poems to be declared “The Best.”

Not that there’s one ideal path in poems or awards. Without diversity, every poet would just keep writing the same line. Readers, like the eagle stuck eating Prometheus’s liver again and again, would receive no variety. In the words of Science Fiction & Fantasy Poetry Association (SFPA) Grand Master David C. Kopaska-Merkel, “Vive la diversité.” In poems. In readers. In awards. Let there be multitudes.

Find art that is filling.

                 The beautiful.

                             The meaningful.

                                     The impactful.

Poetry fills the world fuller every day. Let’s celebrate!

The Expanding Universe

Momentum has been building for short writing: flash, drabbles, poetry, and more. Awards provide gravity, and like spacecraft slingshotting Jupiter, gravity provides acceleration. I feel the excitement orbiting speculative poetry as I talk to poets and see poetry-curious writers sharpen their quills. The poetry world is spinning faster than Rumpelstiltskin turns straw to gold. May it be unstoppable. More excitement means more poems! More readers!

Each poem written is a skein of yarn. Each reader is woven into the universe’s deep magic. Interconnection among writers, readers, or any group of people builds cohesion. We won’t agree. And yes, declaring one “best” poem is inherently exclusive. But if we enter the journey accepting fuzzy boundaries, picking a winner is one way to see the fabric that binds us.

Watching threads become networks—watching poetry spread—readers are reminded that some poets are even alive. Poems have been written this decade. This year. Today! Annual awards are a reminder that your syllabus, to-be-read pile, and conversations can include more than just a bunch of dead white guys.

F. J. Bergmann, SFPA’s newest Grand Master, mentioned an article she once read asking speculative novelists how poetry influenced their writing. As writers gushed about their love of poetry, Bergmann was not impressed. “Every one of them cited the out-of-date warhorses they’d been assigned to read in high school or college intro to lit classes,” she said. Sure, there are a lot of excellent poems from long ago, but the proliferation of speculative poetry awards can help you find shiny new poems that are more precious than mithril. (Or to avoid the dead-white-guy reference: soul-guarding poems more potent than kenet, the dragon-fire-protective ointment imagined by Robin McKinley).

Miguel O. Mitchell, Dwarf Stars Editor (2023, 2025), similarly advocates for readers to explore a wide range of poetry: short and long poems, poems by writers known and unknown. Mitchell hopes readers will “discover gems from the less famous [writers].” In poetry lists, you may recognize names from past Nebula or Hugo ballots such as Amal El-Mohtar, Beth Cato, Theodora Goss, and Jane Yolen. You should definitely read their poetry, and as you admire words by familiar writers, take a peek at nearby poems too. Many journals publish online and are free to read. Open as browser tabs impulsively! Read for awards, and sometimes just for the love of words.

Awards in Abundance

How do we celebrate excellent speculative poetry? “The work of SFPA has always been to model some of the many possible ways…but we’re by no means the only arbiters of taste,” says Bryan Thao Worra, SFPA President from 2016 to 2022 and first Lao American member of the Horror Writers Association (HWA). Awards typically focus on one poem, a book/chapbook, or a writer. SFPA has been presenting the Rhysling Award since 1978 and has been adding to its bouquet of awards.

SFPA’s Rhysling Award goes to an individual poem in two categories: short and long. Since adding the Grand Master Award in 1999, the group has named twelve worthy poets. The Dwarf Stars Award has been praising very short poems since 2006. Books and chapbooks have been earning the Elgin Award since 2013. Most recently, the Lifetime Service Award was established in 2023. SFPA has been cultivating excitement and awards for decades.

Others have picked up on the excitement. The HWA was an early adopter, adding Best Poetry Collection to their Bram Stoker selections in 2000. They have also published an annual Poetry Showcase since 2014, providing a celebration without an associated award.

From the World Science Fiction Society (WSFS) at Seattle Worldcon 2025, one Best Poem will win a Hugo Award. Seattle chose to add the special category, but the category will go away unless the bylaws are amended (fortunately, there is an initiative to add that amendment). Worldcon 2025 also named WSFS’s first Poet Laureate, Brandon O’Brien. I hope other conventions follow the lead!

Starting in 2026, SFWA will bestow a Nebula Award to one Best Poem each year. I look forward to seeing the suggested reading list and first year of finalists.

When I asked multi-award-winning New Zealand writer Lee Murray for her thoughts, she emphasized, “Different awards address different aspects of poetry.” The awards discussed here are still rather US-centric. Murray pointed out that regional awards, small communities, and connecting with non-spec writing communities all expand the influence of speculative poetry.

Group Decisions

Will the voting groups agree? Hugo and Nebula voters pick the same novel a little under half the time. There’s less convergence as word count shrinks. Novellas, novelettes, and short stories are each less likely to win both awards.

Count of Shared Hugo and Nebula Wins by Decade and Category

With poetry’s abundant candidates, I suspect nominations and votes will root far and wide. Thao Worra agrees that one poem is unlikely to win everything, “and that’s good for the field,” he says.

If the Hugos do not adopt poetry long term, then the awards from SFPA and SFWA will be the top tastemakers for individual speculative poems written in English. It will be interesting to see how the distinct-yet-overlapping communities agree and disagree on “The Best.”

Looking Forward

What else can I say other than “I hope you participate”?

Poetry is brevity, gravity, and line breaks. It is the good kind of dangerous. It can shatter your world and open new universes—parallel, perpendicular, and oblique.

Read.

Celebrate.

Vote!

Explore more articles from SPECULATIVE POETICS

Brian U. Garrison (he/him) writes poetry for children, adults, and grand adults. He has been a member of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Poetry Association (SFPA) since 2012 and was elected President in 2025. He joined SFWA in 2023. His work on the Rhysling Awards includes co-editing the anthology (2022, 2024), leading the effort to add a jury process, and shepherding volunteers. He is a program volunteer with Seattle Worldcon 2025 but is not part of the awards team. Brian’s chapbooks include New Yesterdays New Tomorrows (self-published) and Micropoetry for Microplanets (Space Cowboy Books). He lives under a tall, leafy tree in Portland, Oregon. More at www.bugthewriter.com.

The post Awards in Speculative Poetry: Ways (and Reasons) to Celebrate Excellent Writing appeared first on SFWA - The Science Fiction & Fantasy Writers Association.

Dream Foundry, a “non-profit dedicated to bolstering the careers of nascent professionals working with the speculative arts,” has announced the finalists for its 2025 contests.

Writing Contest

• Gwendolyn Bellinger
• Craig Borri
• Fin Leary
• Elisa Maiz
• Fatima Masood
• Chii Ọganihu
• Ewa Gerald Onyebuchi
• sheena daree romero
• Sanad Tabbaa
• Yee Heng Yeh

Art Contest

• Erin Daytona Cook
• Fengári Delattre
• Ariana Eldarion
• Sierra Eston
• Noll Griffin
• Savannah Rice
• Siana Robey
• Santiago Rosas
• Keturah

...Read More

Seattle Worldcon has opened site selection voting for the 85th World Science Fiction Convention, to be held in 2027. The only active bid is Montréal, Canada, though write-in bids are also allowed.

Voting is open only to WSFS members, attending members, and virtual attending members of Seattle Worldcon, and there is a voting fee of $50. Mail-in ballots must be received by August 12, 2025, and in-person voting at Seattle ...Read More

The North Carolina Speculative Fiction Foundation (NCSFF) has announced the shortlist for the 2025 Manly Wade Wellman Award. The award recognizes “outstanding achievement in science fiction and fantasy novels written by North Carolina authors.”

• Crypt of the Moon Spider, Nathan Ballingrud (Tor Nightfire)
• Where Dark Things Grow, Andrew K. Clark (Cowboy Jamboree)
• Trinity, Tom DeLonge & A.J. Hartley (To The Stars)
• The Borgia Dove, Jo Graham

...Read More

Mo*Con was held May 1-4, 2025 in Indianapolis IN, with panels featuring Guests of Honor Phenderson Djèlí Clark, John Jennings, and Wrath James White, plus special guests Bridget Smith, Lesley Conner, and Richard Dansky.

While you are here, please take a moment to support Locus with a one-time or recurring donation. We rely on reader donations to keep the magazine and site going, and would like to keep the site ...Read More

The Booksmith, an independent bookstore in San Francisco CA, announced that it is removing author J.K. Rowling’s books from its collection of books for sale. This comes in response to Rowling’s announcement of the J.K. Rowling Women’s Fund, which will reportedly use the author’s funds to provide “legal funding support” for “women’s sex-based rights in the workplace, in public life, and in protected female spaces.” Rowling has long been a ...Read More

International Thriller Writers has announced the winners of the 2025 Thriller Awards. Titles and authors of genre interest follow.

Best Standalone Thriller Novel

• WINNER: The Last One at the Wedding, Jason Rekulak (Flatiron)

Best Series Novel

• WINNER: To Die For, David Baldacci (Grand Central)

• Shadowheart, Meg Gardiner (Blackstone)
• Flashback, Iris Johansen & Roy Johansen (Grand Central)

Best First Novel

• WINNER: Deadly Animals, Marie Tierney (Henry

...Read More

The 12-title longlist for the ninth annual Goldsboro Books Glass Bell Award has been announced. Titles and authors of genre interest include:

• The Warm Hands of Ghosts, Katherine Arden (Century)
• The Cautious Traveller’s Guide to the Wastelands, Sarah Brooks (W&N)
• James, Percival Everett (Mantle & Picador)
• The Silverblood Promise, James Logan (Arcadia)
• There Are Rivers in the Sky, Elif Shafak (Viking)

The announcement dates for ...Read More