Author Archive

2023 Nebula Conference Registration and Volunteer & Programming Opportunities

We are pleased to announce that registration is now open for the 2023 Nebula Conference, which will be taking place both online and in-person at the Sheraton Park Hotel at the Anaheim Resort, in Anaheim, CA, the weekend of May 12–14, 2023.

Conference Hotel exterior with fireworks in the night sky behind it.

Registrations may be purchased at this link. Registration for the online portion of the conference is $150.00 and includes access to broadcasts of the weekend’s panels and the subsequent archive, the Nebula Awards ceremony, a conference Discord, and entry to our ongoing Nebula conference events beginning May 1, 2023.

In-person conference registration begins at $449.00. Due to limited space and seating, we anticipate the conference and banquet to sell out, so we are encouraging people to buy their tickets early. Participants may attend panels and the awards ceremony in-person, take part in mentorships and receptions, and visit the SFWA hospitality suite. It also includes access to the online conference.

For Anaheim attendees, tickets for the Nebula Awards banquet can be purchased for an additional $125.00. This three-course celebration dinner held before the Nebula Awards ceremony on Sunday, May 14, 2023 is a fantastic opportunity to mingle with old friends and meet new peers. Conference attendees who wish to attend the ceremony without purchasing a ticket to the banquet may do so on a space-available basis.

The Nebula Conference is the premier professional development conference for aspiring and established members of the science fiction and fantasy industries. It includes content geared toward creators working in games, comics, prose, poetry, and other mediums of storytelling, which reflects the diversifying and expanding membership in the organization.  We hope you’ll join us in celebrating our community and our Nebula Award finalists and honorees throughout the weekend.

Exterior of the conference hotel with lawn and palm trees.

Programming Survey

Are you interested in being part of the programming for this year’s online Nebula Conference? That could mean being a panelist or giving a workshop! Or it could simply mean suggesting the topics you’d most like to see on the schedule.

If you’d like to volunteer as a speaker, you can do that by updating your volunteer preferences when you complete your registration or at any time by updating your volunteer preferences in your profile at SFWA.org. Not a member? Not a problem! Anyone can volunteer as a speaker at any time by submitting contact information and volunteer preferences here: https://membership.sfwa.org/Volunteer.  Either way, you’ll receive an automated survey shortly after you update your preferences.

To contribute specific panel and programming ideas to our 2023 conference, submit your program proposal by Monday, Feb 13, 2023 here: https://airtable.com/shrXE8V14VhKjbrBH. Please complete one form for each program idea you’d like to suggest.

Volunteer Opportunities

The Nebula Conference could not exist without the assistance of our amazing group of volunteers. Not only that, volunteering at the conference is an easy and fast way to meet new people and make friends. Join us, whether in-person or online!

We have dozens of volunteer roles that need to be filled, but we’re looking for excited, dedicated volunteers to hit the floor running in a few key areas:

  • Banquet Manager (in-person)
  • Safety Ambassadors (in-person and online)
  • Accessibility Ambassadors (in-person and online)
  • Special Guest Liaison (in-person)
  • Nebula Award Finalists Liaison (in-person and online)
  • Local Coordinator (in-person)

If you are interested in any of those roles, whether in-person or online, please contact our volunteer coordinator at volunteers@sfwa.org. More detailed calls about other Nebula Conference volunteer roles will be sent out soon.

Once again, registrations may be purchased at this link. Hotel reservations must be made separately, and information on how to reserve a room at conference rates is available at that webpage. For questions, please contact events@sfwa.org.

We look forward to seeing you on the Airship Nebula or at the Anaheim Port of Call in May!

The SFWA Events Team

SFWA Names Robin McKinley Its 39th Grand Master!

The Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers Association (SFWA) is proud to announce that Robin McKinley has been named the 39th Damon Knight Grand Master for her contributions to the literature of science fiction and fantasy.

The SFWA Damon Knight Memorial Grand Master Award recognizes “lifetime achievement in science fiction and/or fantasy.” It is named after author Damon Knight, SFWA’s founder and the organization’s 13th Grand Master. McKinley joins 38 writers who’ve been granted the title, including other luminaries such as Nalo Hopkinson, Peter S. Beagle, Connie Willis, Ursula K. LeGuin, Ray Bradbury, Anne McCaffrey, and Joe Haldeman.

Robin McKinley is one of the leading writers of the modern fairy-tale retelling genre, and indeed, her debut Beauty, a retelling of Beauty and the Beast, could be said to have started the fairy-tale retelling trend. She is also celebrated for her original fantasy novels. Her 1982 book The Blue Sword received the Newbery Honor, and its 1984 prequel The Hero and the Crown was awarded the Newbery Medal. School Library Journal said, “Her work has impacted not just the Newbery canon, but the fantasy genre, too.” Her 1985 anthology Imaginary Lands won the World Fantasy Award, and Water, the 2002 collection she co-wrote with Peter Dickinson, was later nominated as well.

Sunshine (2003), a dark sensual vampire fairy tale that Neil Gaiman called “A gripping, funny, page-turning, pretty much perfect work of magical literature,” won the Mythopoeic Award for Adult Literature and was named to NPR’s “Top 100 Science-Fiction Fantasy Books” list and Tor.com’s list of “Best SFF Novels of the Decade.” Spindle’s End, McKinley’s Sleeping Beauty retelling, was named to Time Magazine’s “100 Best Fantasy Books of All Time” in 2020.

McKinley’s biography, in her own words, and her full bibliography can be viewed here:

“I read McKinley’s Deerskin in my late-twenties and it turned my world upside-down,” says SFWA President Jeffe Kennedy. “From there I went on to read everything McKinley has written. With every story, each book, she haunts, delights, and enlightens me. Naming an author who’s been such a profound influence on me as both a reader and a writer as SFWA’s newest Grand Master is one of the greatest privileges of my life.”

On being named a SFWA Grand Master, McKinley shares, “I am astonished, amazed, delighted & dumbfounded. Thank you very much.”

The 39th Damon Knight Memorial Grand Master award will be presented to McKinley at the 58th Nebula Awards ceremony, which will take place during the annual SFWA Nebula Conference. Further details about next year’s conference will be released soon.

Connie Willis and Neil Gaiman Will Host the 57th Annual Nebula Awards!

The SFWA Events Team is thrilled to announce that the highly talented duo of Connie Willis and Neil Gaiman will be toastmasters of the 57th Annual Nebula Awards®! The Nebula Awards Ceremony will be broadcast live to the public online on May 21, 2022, at 5pm PT.

Photo Credit: Mark Lewis

In addition to her long history as a celebrated toastmaster for award ceremonies in the science fiction and fantasy genres, Connie Willis was named the 2012 SFWA Damon Knight Memorial Grand Master and a recipient of the 2021 Kevin O’Donnell, Jr., Service to SFWA Award. Willis is the author of Doomsday Book, Crosstalk, and Passage, among many other fictional works and the upcoming novel The Road to Roswell. She has won eleven Hugo Awards and seven Nebula Awards. In 2009, Willis was inducted into the Science Fiction Hall of Fame. Being a toastmaster is her favorite thing besides bulldogs, romantic comedies, Oxford, and Randy Rainbow videos.

Photo Credit: Beowulf Sheehan 

Neil Gaiman is the New York Times bestselling author and creator of books, graphic novels, short stories, films, and television for all ages, including Norse Mythology, Neverwhere, The Graveyard Book, The Ocean at the End of the Lane, The View from the Cheap Seats, and The Sandman comic series. His fiction has received many awards and honours, including the Newbery and Carnegie medals, and the Hugo, Nebula, World Fantasy, and Will Eisner awards. Several of his novels have been adapted for film and television, winning an Oscar nomination for Coraline, an Emmy nomination for American Gods, and Good Omens won the Hugo and Ray Bradbury awards, for the adaptation of a novel he wrote with the late Sir Terry Pratchett. His books have been translated into forty languages world-wide. In 2017, Gaiman became a Goodwill Ambassador for UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency. Originally from England, he now divides his time between Scotland, where Good Omens and Anansi Boys are filmed, and the United States, where he is Professor in the Arts at Bard College.

President Jeffe Kennedy says, “I’m delighted that Connie and Neil have so graciously taken time from their busy schedules to lend their voices and dynamic presences to the Nebula Awards ceremony. I’ve caught a glimpse in my crystal ball of what they’re up to and I can’t wait for everyone to join in the fun!”

This year’s Nebula Awards winners (the list of finalists) will be announced during the ceremony, which will stream for free on SFWA’s social media platforms. Of course, the ceremony is where we celebrate the most outstanding fictional works of the past year, and it’s a highlight of the 2022 Nebula Conference Online! 

Kevin O’Donnell, Jr. Service to SFWA Award will be presented to Colin Coyle 

The Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America, Inc. (SFWA) is pleased to announce that the 2021 Kevin O’Donnell, Jr. Service to SFWA Award will be presented to Colin Coyle at the 57th Annual SFWA Nebula Awards® for his outstanding work on behalf of the organization.

The Service to SFWA Award recognizes a volunteer of SFWA who best exemplifies the ideal of service to the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America. In 2012, the award was renamed in honor of author Kevin O’Donnell, who dedicated 20+ years of volunteer service to the organization.

Colin Coyle

Colin Coyle will join many distinguished recipients of the Kevin O’Donnell, Jr. Service to SFWA Award, including Connie Willis, Victoria Strauss, Julia Rios, Bud Sparhawk, Lee Martindale, Vonda McIntyre, and Jim Fiscus. The award will be presented at the 57th Nebula Awards® Ceremony, taking place the weekend of May 20–22, 2022.

SFWA President Jeffe Kennedy shared the following remarks, “Summarizing all the ways that Colin has served SFWA feels almost impossible. He’s been a pillar of SFWA’s programs for years and this recognition is long overdue. I’m thrilled to add Colin to this list and I know his name on it will set a high bar for those who will follow after.”

For the last five years, Coyle has been instrumental in shepherding the audio/visual component of the annual Nebula Conference. Coyle tirelessly researched and implemented some of the first hybrid conference components seen in the industry at our Nebula Conference in Pittsburgh in 2017. With his attention to detail and expertise, SFWA was able to simultaneously stream some of our live panel and workshop events, including our business meeting, to international attendees and members. 

In 2020, when the Nebula Conference moved entirely online due to the ongoing pandemic, Coyle’s contributions ensured that the virtual Nebula Airship launched with both a professional look and feel. Seamless technical integration meant that the entire conference was now accessible to an entirely new and international audience. In a year where many were forced to stay in their homes, Coyle’s work ensured the community could celebrate together. He led the technical aspects of the Nebula Awards ceremony as well, helping to elevate the once simple stage presentation to a professionally produced show. 

In 2019, when SFWA’s publisher of the Nebula Showcase anthology suddenly ceased operations, Coyle stepped up and rescued the anthology, turning it around quickly through his own Parvus Press. This fulfilled a longtime wish of many past Board members, allowing SFWA to offer copies onsite at the Nebula Conference only a few months later and in addition to the usual retail offerings. 

In 2018, Coyle spent the majority of his time at the San Jose Worldcon volunteering in the SFWA suite. Over 350 SFWA members and their guests attended the SFWA suite that year, a record, which required record volunteer hours to manage. 

For all of this tireless work, dedication, and commitment to the organization, SFWA is proud to offer the 2021 Kevin O’Donnell, Jr. Service to SFWA Award to Colin Coyle.

The 57th Nebula Awards® will take place during the 2022 Nebula Conference, an annual professional development conference organized by SFWA for aspiring and established members of the speculative fiction industry. The conference will take place both online and in-person in Los Angeles, May 20–22, 2022. 

Nebula Awards® Showcase 55 now available!

9/9/2021 – The Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America, Inc. (SFWA) spotlights outstanding science fiction and fantasy with the release of the Nebula Awards Showcase 55. This latest volume of the prestigious anthology series, published annually since 1966, reprints finalist and winning works for the 55th Annual Nebula Awards® , as voted by SFWA’s full, senior, and associate members.

The anthology retails for $9.99 in ebook format on most online platforms, including Amazon, Apple, Kobo, and Bookshop.org for the print edition with more retailers coming soon. 

This volume’s guest editor is Catherynne M. Valente, the New York Times bestselling author of over forty works of science fiction and fantasy for adults and young readers. Valente has won a number of awards, including the Nebula, Hugo, Lambda, Otherwise, Sturgeon, and Locus. She lives on an island off the coast of Maine with her partner, son, and a magnificent cat who will not stand to be cut from any bio.

Valente remarks, “The array of nominated works span just about every corner of the genre as it stood in 2019, an incredible spectrum of voices, perspectives, styles, and tales. I’m thrilled to have been able to help in bringing them together to show the truth—which is that we are living, right now, in a new Golden Age of Science Fiction.” 

As part of the celebration of the Nebula Award winners, SFWA has partnered with audio-first entertainment studio Podium Audio to adapt, produce, and distribute the Nebula Awards Showcase 55 in audio format as well. A top publisher of science-fiction and fantasy audiobooks, Podium Audio is at the forefront of discovering new authors and voice artists from the U.S. and around the world. Publication of the audio version will be announced at a later date.

The full table of contents for the Nebula Awards Showcase 55 is below. Winners from the 55th Annual Awards are starred and include Sarah Pinsker, Amal El-Mohtar, Max Gladstone, Fran Wilde, Cat Rambo, and A.T. Greenblatt. New essays on the 2019 SFWA Damon Knight Grand Master Lois McMaster Bujold, the Game Writing Nebula Award, and the Ray Bradbury Outstanding Dramatic Presentation Nebula Award are included, along with full reprintings of the finalist and winning short stories and novelettes and excerpts from the novels and novellas. 

TABLE OF CONTENTS

    • Introduction by Catherynne M. Valente
    • “The Best of Twines, the Worst of Rhymes: A Tale of Two C++ies (or, Why Game Writing Is Bad and Great)” by Seth Dickinson
    • “Queering Chaos” by Foz Meadows
    • “Lois McMaster Bujold and Being a Grand Master” by LaShawn Wanak
    • “Give the Family My Love” by A. T. Greenblatt*
    • “The Dead, In Their Uncontrollable Power” by Karen Osborne
    • “And Now His Lordship Is Laughing” by Shiv Ramdas
    • “Ten Excerpts from an Annotated Bibliography on the Cannibal Women of Ratnabar Island” by Nibedita Sen
    • “A Catalog of Storms” by Fran Wilde
    • “How the Trick Is Done” by A.C. Wise
    • “A Strange Uncertain Light” by G. V. Anderson
    • “For He Can Creep” by Siobhan Carrol
    • “His Footsteps, Through Darkness and Light” by Mimi Mondal
    • “The Blur in the Corner of Your Eye” by Sarah Pinsker
    • Excerpt: “Carpe Glitter” by Cat Rambo*
    • “The Archronology of Love” by Caroline M. Yoachim
    • Excerpt: A Song for a New Day by Sarah Pinsker*
    • Excerpt: Riverland by Fran Wilde*
    • Excerpt: “Anxiety Is the Dizziness of Freedom” by Ted Chiang
    • Excerpt: “The Haunting of Tram Car 015” by P. Djèlí Clark
    • Excerpt: “This Is How You Lose the Time War” by Amal El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone*
    • Excerpt: “Her Silhouette, Drawn in Water” by Vylar Kaftan
    • Excerpt: “The Deep” by Rivers Solomon, Daveed Diggs, William Hutson, and Jonathan Snipes
    • Excerpt: “Catfish Lullaby” by A.C. Wise

* Winner

Please visit our media kit for the Nebula Showcase 55 here, including social media shareables, cover art, and SFWA and Nebula logos. For more information, contact the SFWA Publications team at publications@sfwa.org.

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The 56th Annual Nebula Awards Ceremony airs June 5!

The winners of the 56th Annual Nebula Awards® will be announced at our annual ceremony this Saturday! SFWA members and the general public can watch live, whether or not you’re attending the Nebula Conference. As previously announced, writer and comedian Aydrea Walden will host for the second year.

 

 

The 56th Annual Nebula Awards Ceremony

Saturday, June 5, 2021

Livestreaming at 5pm PT

Facebook: https://fb.me/e/Mb5vRaLW 

YouTube: http://Youtube.com/SFWA_youtube/live

Last week, we released a trailer for the ceremony that gives just a glimpse of the fun and celebration we have planned for the program: https://youtu.be/jV-LEtHvboI. This year’s presenters include Tobias S. Buckell, Jeffe Kennedy, Nisi Shawl, Carrie Patel, Mallory O’Meara, Mark Oshiro, Troy L. Wiggins, and Adam Savage. 

At both the Facebook and YouTube event links, you can set a reminder to make sure you don’t miss one of the premiere SFWA events of the year! Closed captioning will be provided. We can all take pride in recognizing the fantastic work that the speculative fiction community released in 2020.

Enjoy the show!

The SFWA Events Team

Sponsorship Opportunities for the 2021 Nebula Conference!

Update: Our scholarship applications are now closed with the exception of those for Black writers.

Scholarship for Black Writers: A part of SFWA’s BlackLivesMatter Initiative, this scholarship is open to Black writers in the U.S. and abroad. To learn more about this initiative, visit this release on the SFWA.org website. This scholarship is awarded outside of the lottery system and will be available until June 6th, 2021. Any interested applicants should send an email to events@sfwa.org.

We’re rapidly approaching the 2021 Nebula Conference and our next Airship Nebula voyage!

Are you looking to increase the visibility of your latest book release? Wishing for a private Zoom gathering with friends during the Nebula Awards ceremony or at any time over the weekend? Interested in getting your brand in front of hundreds of conference attendees?

Share this opportunity with your publishers, agents, and other industry friends! Sponsorship is a great way to promote a book or podcast, get visibility for your business, or host a private gathering for fellow authors and clients. We’ll work with you to create a package that fits your needs and budget.

Can’t wait to hear from you!

The Nebula Sponsorship Team