It’s a jungle out there for creators, but in Kansas City from June 5-8, we’re coming prepared for any eventuality! Join your fellow creators this year at SFWA’s 60th Anniversary Nebula Awards Conference, and take part in Career Survival Planning: two workshops and one special presentation geared around challenges thrown at SFF creators by life and industry.
From 10 AM to noon on Friday, June 6, join former marketing executive and full-time author Laura Greenwood as she presents a variety of proven strategies to market your books without Pay-Per-Click (PPC) advertising.
Whether through content marketing, newsletters, or social media, there are many ways to get your book in front of the right readers and sell, sell, sell without relying on Facebook or Amazon ads. Impossible, you say? Laura will show you it’s not!
Then, from 1-2:30 PM local time, join 41st Damon Knight Memorial Grand Master Nicola Griffith, in conversation with the one who knows her best, wife and fellow writer Kelley Eskridge, for a 90-minute love letter to SFF and the wild ride of a career that’s still evolving.
Come listen, laugh, and AMA—in person or online—about the importance of figuring out who you are and what you want, how to get there, and the joy of finding your people.
Get an active pause in, then join us from 3-5 PM to hash out the big picture with Becca Syme. When you look into the future of your author career, what do you see? Do you see glistening highways paved with NYT#1 tags and dollar signs? Or do you see fans clamoring for the next book? Or do you see nothing, or worse than nothing?
Plot twist. Each author has an individual pathway to a sustainable author career, and in this workshop, Becca Syme, author success coach and alignment expert, will illustrate different pathways to an author career for life, and the action steps to keep yourself in the game. No matter what’s coming next.
Career Survival Planning at the Nebulas Friday, June 6
10 AM – 12 PM: Laura Greenwood “Successful Strategies for Marketing without Ads (and Other Impossibilities)”
3-5 PM: Becca Syme “The Longevity Blueprint: Building a Career That Lasts”
SFWA’s annual Nebula Awards Conference is an excellent opportunity to meet with SFF writers who know what it’s like to wrestle with the highs and lows of this career choice and creative passion. This year, we hope you’ll join us in Kansas City, Missouri—or online!—to celebrate our finalists and craft plans for the professional year ahead.
It’s a wild time for creators everywhere! Thank you for staying in the fray.
In 1965, two pretty great things happened in science fiction: Damon Knight founded SFWA, and one of its earliest members published a book that would become a classic that continues to inspire.
It’s no wonder, then, that as the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers Association marks 60 years as an organization committed to the uplift and defense of writers in the genre, we would turn our sights to some of the people who worked and dreamed with us from the start.
SFWA is honored to name Frank Herbert, acclaimed author of the Dune series, among other thought-provoking works of science fiction with sweeping ecological, economic, and sociopolitical depth, as our 2025 recipient of the SFWA Infinity Award.
Now in its third year, the SFWA Infinity Award serves to highlight the achievements of creators who did not live long enough to be considered for the Damon Knight Memorial Grand Master Award, but who achieved a distinct and tremendous legacy in science fiction and fantasy.
Frank Herbert first published in the genre in 1952, with a story called “Looking for Something” in Startling Stories. He carved out clear thematic territory with a serial tale in Astounding that grew into The Dragon in the Sea (Doubleday, 1956): a book informed by global strife and oil anxieties.
Herbert’s most famous work was similarly inspired by the world around him: an idea just too big to contain in a single article about the Oregon dunes.
Despite a few early run-ins with rejection, and with a little help from a publisher better known for auto-repair manuals, Dune (1965) grew in acclaim to become the much-beloved SFF franchise that exists today.
Dune was SFWA’s first Nebula winner for Best Novel, chosen over 11 other finalists, and it won joint honors for the Hugo, too. But on the financial front, Dune was not an immediate commercial success. Instead, it initially boosted Herbert in work closely aligned with the ecological, sociopolitical, and philosophical themes that his writing advanced. Posthumously, his series would be continued by his son, Brian Herbert, and Kevin J. Anderson, working off the extensive notes Frank Herbert left about his SF universe.
In life, though, Herbert’s writing was always responding to our own.
As SWFA President Kate Ristau reflects on this year’s Infinity recipient:
“Frank Herbert was a master of the craft whose most famous work emerged from close attention to the environment around him. Since 1965, Dune has inspired generation after generation of writers. His most highly acclaimed series, a master class in worldbuilding, drew routinely on real political history during its creation, and it now serves to remind us that science fiction and fantasy are natural mediums for challenging hierarchies and fighting for the greater good. Like the Fremen, we can refuse to accept living in systems broken for most of us by design, and we can become better stewards of the lands we call home.
Herbert launched a conversation that hasn’t stopped since he got started. His legacy can be seen not only in the number of writers who build on his work today with stories tackling ongoing ecological and sociopolitical challenges, but also in the number who write in constructive dissent with aspects of his initial universe. He encouraged us to think about how setting informs character, whether on the distant sands of Arrakis or in ecosystems close to home.
Herbert’s most famous novel is now larger than Shai-Hulud in the imaginations of SFF writers, but it began as but a dream and a struggle, pursued by a writer responding to the challenges in his time.
Now it’s our turn to honor and celebrate Herbert’s powerful work, by carrying forward the best of his ambition into the stories we tell to confront the challenges in our own.”
Speaking on behalf of his family, Brian Herbert writes: “I’m sure my parents, Frank and Beverly Herbert, would have been thrilled that the prestigious Infinity Award is being granted to Frank Herbert, the legendary author of DUNE. While Frank Herbert authored numerous novels, including his magnum opus, it’s important to note that my mother was also a professional writer, and she was with him every step of the way during their 37 years of marriage, providing him with expert advice on everything he wrote. This is her award as much as it is my father’s. I’m very sorry that I cannot attend the convention, but want to personally thank the officers and members of SFWA, as well as the millions of Frank Herbert fans all over the world, for this great award.”
The SFWA Infinity Award will be presented at this year’s Nebula Awards Conference in Kansas City, Missouri, where a 2024 film inspired by Herbert’s writing is on this year’s ballot: a reminder of the many generations of writers who have been moved by Herbert’s words.
We hope to see you out in Kansas City: in celebration of Frank Herbert, our latest Nebula finalists and other very special guests, and 60 years of SFF excellence in the best of creative community.
The Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers Association is pleased to announce that the 2025 Kate Wilhelm Solstice Award will be presented to Eugen Bacon at the 60th Annual SFWA Nebula Awards® ceremony on June 7, 2025.
The Kate Wilhelm Solstice Award is bestowed by SFWA to a person who has made significant contributions to the science fiction, fantasy, and related genres community. The award was created in 2008, with Wilhelm named as one of the three original recipients, and it was renamed in her honor in 2016. Our latest recipient joins the ranks of Solstice Award winners, including Cerece Rennie Murphy, Greg Bear, Petra Mayer, Arley Sorg, Troy L. Wiggins, Ben Bova, Rachel Caine, and Jennell Jaquays.
Eugen Bacon (eugenbacon.com) is an African Australian author of several novels and collections. She’s a British Fantasy and Foreword Indies Award winner, a twice World Fantasy Award finalist, and a finalist for the Shirley Jackson, Philip K. Dick, Victorian Premier’s Literary Award in Australia, and the Nommo Awards for speculative fiction by Africans. Eugen is an Otherwise Fellow, and was also announced in the honor list for “doing exciting work in gender and speculative fiction”.
Her short story collection, Danged Black Thing, made the Otherwise Award Honor List as a “sharp collection of Afro-Surrealist work”. Her latest publications are A Place Between Waking and Forgetting (short stories) and Afro-Centered Futurisms in Our Speculative Fiction—an edited anthology of original artistic essays infused with creative excerpts from award-winning African writers on the futurisms in their speculative fiction.
In accepting the Solstice Award, Eugen said, “I am beyond words—we don’t always feel visible. Deepest thanks to SFWA for this amazing recognition! I see the work you do, and can only stay earnest in the hope that science fiction and fantasy writers, globally, will continue to make a difference in these particularly challenging times. My heart is glowing.”
The gratitude goes both ways. As SFWA President Kate Ristau shared, “We are proud to celebrate Eugen for her continued work in the community, challenging us to create and contextualize our own creative practice. In her Bloomsbury Academic book Writing Speculative Fiction, Eugen tells us there’s a story in you. With her curiosity, playfulness, and keen eye for storytelling, Eugen continues to inspire and motivate the speculative fiction community to write that story. Thank you, Eugen, for your passionate leadership and support.”
Children’s book author Christine Taylor-Butler heartily agrees: “In today’s environment, it is more important than ever that we recognize the voices and contributions of creative people all over the world. Eugen is an award-winning author/editor who shows that holding science and art backgrounds are not mutually exclusive. She pays her success forward by expanding opportunities for others through writing clinics, award competitions, and mentorship opportunities in Australia. She represents the best of us both through her writing and by encouraging others in the pursuit of their own.”
Our latest Kate Wilhelm Solstice Award Recipient will be celebrated during our 60th Annual Nebula Awards Conference, which will be held online and in-person from June 5–8, 2025 in Kansas City, Missouri. Registration for the conference, in both formats, is now open here. We hope you’ll join us in celebrating Eugen Bacon’s achievements, and help us to usher in the next chapter of SFWA’s story together.
The Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers Association (SFWA) is looking forward to marking this year’s diamond-year 60th Annual Nebula Awards Conference with you in Kansas City, Missouri. From June 5 to 8, you’ll find us at the Kansas City Marriott Country Club Plaza, celebrating our finalists, special guests, and future for the genre.
Have you registered yet? The full in-person weekend, including Nebula Awards Banquet Dinner, is only $375 USD!
Here’s what we’ll be up to, whether you’re joining us in-person or online:
From June 5-8 in Kansas City, Missouri, at the Kansas City Marriott Country Club Plaza.
All times below are local to Kansas City (Central Daylight Time). Plan accordingly for online panels!
Thursday, June 5
12:00 P.M. – 11:00 P.M. Visit our Book Depot throughout the conference to snag great titles by SFWA’s celebrated authors. We promise: Most of the merchandise doesn’t bite. 3:00 P.M. – 8:00 P.M. Registration Station: Welcome to SFWA’s diamond-year 60th Anniversary Nebula Awards Conference! Please check all intergalactic devices at reception, and safely stow all anti-matter units upon re-entry.
8:00 P.M. – 11:00 P.M. Welcome Reception & Volunteer Recognition: Land-based environment only! Check your multiverse coordinates for aquatic equivalents.
Friday, June 6
Our Registration Station / Help Desk runs from 8:00 A.M. to 8:00 P.M., and our Hospitality Suite keeps pace from 8:00 A.M. to 5:00 P.M., with refreshments on hand for humans and convincing replicants alike.
Our Silent Art Auction also runs out of the Hospitality Suite all weekend, with winners announced on Sunday morning. Almost all of this year’s items are original works, not reprints, and none (to the best of our knowledge) have been regurgitated by space whales.
The Book Depot opens at 9:00 A.M. and runs until 11:00 P.M., at which point the remaining books do get a bit bite-y, so we put them to bed for everyone’s safety.
8:00 A.M. – 9:30 A.M. – Short Story Market (Hybrid Workshop!)
The short story market is rapidly changing, and SFWA has been working on a new tool to analyze paying markets. Join us to test out the Short Story Matrix. We will discuss what writers should look for in professional markets—from payment to legalese.
Join us online and in persion to dive into the world of short story market advocacy, with Kate Ristau, John Murphy, Michael Capobianco, Anthony Eichenlaub, and Rachel Gutin!
8:00 A.M. – 9:30 A.M. – Coffee & Career (In-Person)
Here’s an opportunity for all you early birds to catch a worm! Grab a cup of coffee and join a group of experienced publishing professionals as they critique your and your colleagues’ career strategies! Conference attendees have the opportunity to submit career questions and strategies for critique. During this workshop, the professionals will answer your questions, work through the pros and cons of your strategy, and offer possible alternative solutions.
Join Becca Syme, Jonathan Brazee, Katie Spina, Christine Taylor-Butler, and Phillip Drayer Duncan to start your conference day off right!
Join Karen Osborne, Shannon A. Thompson, Jennifer Povey, and Rosemary Claire Smith for refreshing chats about their work!
10:00 A.M. – 11:30 A.M. – The Second Person and You (In-Person)
Second person fiction is often considered “artsy” and “difficult,” but it can also produce uniquely powerful, affecting stories. Authors Rachel Swirsky (“If You Were Dinosaur, My Love”; “A Memory of Wind”) and P H Lee (“The V*mpire”; “Your Own Undoing”), plus perhaps a mystery guest, will discuss a variety approaches to writing fiction in the second-person, including but not limited to you-and-I, ultra-close interiority, and reader-as-character. They’ll cover the effects on reader experience, benefits and obstacles in the writing process, and how to elevate your second-person story game.
10:00 A.M. – 12:00 P.M. – Laura Greenwood (Hybrid Workshop)
“Successful Strategies for Marketing without Ads (and Other Impossibilities)”
Description: Join former marketing executive and full-time author Laura Greenwood as she presents a variety of proven strategies to market your books without PPC advertising. Whether through content marketing, newsletters, or social media, there are many ways to get your book in front of the right readers and sell, sell, sell without relying on Facebook or Amazon ads. Impossible you say? Laura will show you it’s not!
Bio: Laura Greenwood is a bestselling author of fantasy romance and urban fantasy. She’s been a full-time author for over five years and has experience in PPC advertising from her previous career as a marketing executive. She specialises in leveraging content marketing and putting processes in place that result in a constant baseline income. When she’s not writing, Laura drinks a lot of tea, tries to resist French macarons, and works towards a diploma in Egyptology.
BREAK TIME TO FEED THE SPACE WOMBATS (and everybody else)
1:00 P.M. – 2:00 P.M. Poetry & Prose (Online)
Writers of all types have so much in common: the love of a precise word, a complex rhythm, an agonizingly well-turned phrase. Where do poetry and prose overlap, and how do they differ—most importantly, what can these writers learn from each other?
Join Moderator Vanessa MacLaren-Wray and Panelists Gwynne Garfinkle, Jordan Kurella, and Geoffreyjen Edwards for a cross-pollination extravaganza across SFF forms!
Description: Join 41st Damon Knight Memorial Grand Master Nicola Griffith, in conversation with the one who knows her best, wife and fellow writer Kelley Eskridge, for a 90-minute love letter to SFF and the wild ride of a career that’s still evolving. Come listen, laugh, and AMA—in person or online—about the importance of figuring out who you are and what you want, how to get there, and the joy of finding your people.
1:30 P.M. – 2:30 P.M. – Writing in the Evolving Genre of Sci-Fi (In-Person)
As scientific breakthroughs and social shifts redefine what’s possible, today’s speculative writers are reimagining how we craft stories and futures that feel both visionary and grounded, generating bold new ideas while honoring the legacies of those who came before. This panel explores some of the most urgent questions at the heart of modern sci-fi: When does getting the science right enhance a story, and when does it weigh it down? What legal or ethical issues should sci-fi writers consider today? And how can the genre help us prepare for, or even shape, the world ahead?
Moderator Michael Solis and Panelists Mark D. Owen, Mark W. Tiedemann, and Mary G. Thompson will chart a course through these tough technical and social waters.
2:30 P.M. – 3:00 P.M. –Meet & Greets! (In-Person)
Join Curtis Chen, Brian C. E. Buhl, J.H. Fleming, Barbara E. Hill, Erin Roberts, and Michelle C. Leigh for a celebration of their work and delightful banter about the genre!
Urban Fantasy is the best genre ever! What are you even talking about? Space Opera forever! Pfft. You’re both wrong. Romance holds the largest share of the publishing market for a reason! Whatever. Epic Fantasy all the—STOP! We all have our personal preferences, both as readers and as writers. But what if instead of genre knockouts we explored genre mashups? This panel will explore the rich and vibrant spaces between genres and effective strategies for creating subgenre mashups that are greater than simply the sum of their parts. Moderator Joyce Reynolds-Ward and Panelists Bert-Oliver Boehmer, A.D. Sui, and Suzan Palumbo take us for a high-flying ride with this first of two rich conversations on the theme. (See: Saturday, for the In-Person Round Two!)
3:00 P.M. – 4:00 P.M. – Innovating Interaction: Indie Design and Player Choice (In-Person)
The core of any game is interaction design: how the players interact with the game to cause change. Indie game developers push the envelope, challenging expectations around mechanics and narrative choices to offer players a richer, deeper engagement with the text. In this panel, game developers discuss innovative approaches to player choice and agency, how those approaches affect narrative, and how broadening the possibilities of interaction can have real-world impacts.
Join Moderator Erin Roberts and Panelists Remy Siu, Tony Howard-Arias, Benjamin Rosenbaum, and Paul Dean for a dynamic conversation!
“The Longevity Blueprint: Building a Career That Lasts”
Description: When you look into the future of your author career, what do you see? Do you see glistening highways paved with NYT#1 tags and dollar signs? Or do you see fans clamoring for the next book? Or do you see nothing, or worse than nothing? Plot twist. Each author has an individual pathway to a sustainable author career, and in this workshop, Becca Syme, author success coach and alignment expert, will illustrate different pathways to an author career for life, and the action steps to keep yourself in the game. No matter what’s coming.
Bio: Becca Syme (MATL) is a Gallup-Certified Strengths Coach and has individually coached more than 6000 authors at all levels. She is the author of the Quitbooks for Writers series and the popular Write Better-Faster course, and the host of the Quitcast for Writers podcast and YouTube channel. She also writes mystery novels and lives on one of the thousand lakes in Minnesota.
4:00 P.M. – 4:30 P.M.Meet & Greets! (In-Person)
Join William Ledbetter, Greg Leunig, Steven D. Brewer, and Michael Capobianco for some hearty late-afternoon discourse about their work in the genre!
4:00 P.M. – 5:00 P.M. Collaboration and Building a Publishing Community (Online)
So often, we can feel alone on our publishing journeys. How do we make friends? Where do we find help and support? Let’s talk about beginnings: How and where do we find our people, especially when we may be battling distances, introversion, and/or imposter syndrome? What are the best ways to reach out to and work with each other?
Moderator CJ Lavigne and Panelists Kristin Osani, Kate Heartfield, Wen Wen Yang, and Christiane Knight stand ready to take you on a journey in community for the hour!
5:00 P.M. – 8:00 P.M. Save the universe? Or maybe explore the downtown core! Your On-Site Conference Booklet will have a great run-down of tasty eats and nearby sites to get you started.
Set course for an evening with the stars, open to the general public! Connect and network with this year’s Nebula Award Finalists, as we celebrate their achievements in the genre, and meet a ton of other storied writers in the field!
We have a terrific roster of SFF writers converging on the space together. Don’t miss your chance to touch pen to paper with…
Chris Arnone Steven D. Brewer Brian Buhl Michael Capobianco Curtis Chen R. R. Corvi Phillip Drayer Duncan Scott Edelman J. H. Fleming Joe Haldeman Christine Hanolsy Jennifer Hudak William Ledbetter Gregory Leunig Josh Mendoza Ray Nayler Karen Osborne Mark D. Owen Jennifer Povey A. W. Prihandita Kate Ristau Benjamin Rosenbaum Charles Schaefer Michael Solis Rachel Swirsky Mary G Thompson Shannon Thompson Kagan Turner
…all of whom are up for autographs or just good chats about great reads in the genre!
We can’t wait to see you out!
Saturday, June 7
Our Hospitality Suite opens at 8:00 A.M. and runs until 2:00 P.M.
Our Registration Station / Help Desk runs from 9:00 A.M. to 2:00 P.M. This cut-off time provides guests with ample opportunity to settle into Airship Nebula, as it prepares for the next phase of its diamond-year voyage.
The Book Depot opens at 9:00 A.M. and runs until 11:00 P.M. If the books look a little hungry today, it’s because they’re champing at the bit for the big event this evening. They’ll probably settle down once they show up in your stack of great reads for purchase. Probably.
And don’t forget to get your bids in for the On-SiteSilent Art Auction before the 11 P.M. End-of-Ceremony cut-off!
9:00 A.M. – 10:30 A.M. Never Give Up! Never Surrender! (In-Person)
Perseverance. That’s the name of the game in publishing. The odds of “going viral” are akin to winning the lottery, and it often feels like agents and publishers only know the word “no.” Not to mention the options—so many options! Do I self-publish or query? What does writing to market even mean? Will changing genres mid-career be a game changer or a game over? Decision fatigue is real, but one thing is certain—if you want to “make it,” never give up, never surrender. It’s time to discuss perseverance in publishing and how to keep going when everything’s telling you to stop. Moderator Brian C. E. Buhl and Panelists Becca Syme, Brian C. E. Buhl, Scott Edelman, and Karen Osborne will help you keep the torch held high in your writing careers.
Here’s an opportunity for all you early birds to catch a worm! Grab a cup of coffee and join a group of experienced editors as they critique your and your colleagues stories! Conference attendees have the opportunity to submit up to two pages from a WIP for either developmental or line edits. During this workshop, the editors walk participants through the edits in small groups, answering questions and working through solutions. Don’t miss this opportunity to learn techniques from editors by working through examples.
Moderator Katelyn Brehm is joined by Cody Sisco, J.H. Fleming, Barbara Hill, Aimee Ogden, and Christine Hanolsy to craft this trip down editorial lane for in-person conference attendees!
Check out the author booths for Benjamin Rosenbaum, Mary G. Thompson, Michael Solis, Anthony Eichenlaub, Mark W. Tiedemann, and Mark D. Owen to snag some stimulating conversation and career celebration between panels!
11:00 A.M. – 12:00 P.M. Working with Editors (Online)
So, you’ve finished that story you’ve been working on for ages and… now what? What is the difference between revision and editing? What are the differences between developmental, line, and copy editing? How do you know when you’re done? How and when should you work with an editor, either on a short story in a magazine or anthology or on a book-length work? This panel aims to answer these questions and more!
Hash out all the fiddly bits with Moderator Mia V. Moss and Panelists Stewart C. Baker, Kerstin Hall, and Rachel Rosen.
Urban Fantasy is the best genre ever! What are you even talking about? Space Opera forever! Pfft. You’re both wrong. Romance holds the largest share of the publishing market for a reason! Whatever. Epic Fantasy all the—STOP! We all have our personal preferences, both as readers and as writers. But what if instead of genre knockouts we explored genre mashups? This panel will explore the rich and vibrant spaces between genres and effective strategies for creating subgenre mashups that are greater than simply the sum of their parts.
Moderator Curtis Chen and Panelists Kelsey Josephson, Nicola Griffith, and Ray Nayler guide us through this second of two rich conversations on the theme. (See: Friday, for the Online Round One!)
11:00 A.M. – 12:30 P.M. – Live Action Slush (In-Person)
Have you ever wondered what goes through the minds of slush readers? Why do some stories get picked up while others are passed over? What defines the moment that either makes or breaks a submission? In Live Action Slush, first pages are read aloud to a panel of experienced slush readers. Panelists raise their hand if and when they would pass on the piece and afterwards discuss their whys. Does your opening pack a punch? Will slush readers and agents stick with it until the end? Here’s your opportunity to find out what you can improve to make sure they keep reading. This workshop is for in-person conference attendees only.
Join Moderator Katelyn Brehm, Narrators Scott Edelman and Erin Roberts, and Panelists Erik Grove, Jennifer Hudak, Greg Leunig, and Chris Arnone for the highs and lows of the slush pile!
BREAK TIME TO FEED THE SPACE WOMBATS (and everybody else)
One last round of Meet & Greet before we gear up to the Nebula Awards Banquet. Join Becca Symeto share in love of the work!
1:00 P.M. – 2:00 P.M. – Cozy Horror: It’s Not an Oxymoron! (Online)
This panel is for everyone who’s ever wanted to cuddle up to the sharp teeth and the tentacles, or take solace in the whispering dark. There is no horror without comfort. What warmth can we find amid the nightmares; how is it evolving, and what does it mean? Join Moderator Nicole Luttrell and Panelists John Wiswell, Cat Girczyc, Eugenia Triantafyllou, and Angela Liu for a scary-ish good time deep-diving into this theme!
Writing for poetry or short story? Or are novelettes or novellas your passion? Join us to discuss the changing magazine market for these SFF forms. How do we stay up to date, strengthen our submissions, and support small publishers in shifting times?
Moderator Michelle C. Leigh (Christine Bothun) and Panelists William Ledbetter, John McNeil, A. W. Prihandita, and Rosemary Claire Smith are on hand to hash out the chewy bits of short fiction and poetry with us. (Only, please refrain from nibbling on your markets!)
Airship Nebula is on its way! Check your spaceware, stow your a-temporal devices, lubricate and pontificate with other guests where applicable, and get ready to board for the main event!
Guests are invited to gather in a 1-G environment for a mid-flight meal before we reach our diamond-year destination. (Yes, you may devour literature while you dine, but watch out for any books that bite back!)
Here there be dragons. Er. Award finalists. And then winners! But dragons can come, too. Check out your On-Site Conference Booklet for a full list of finalists, and your Ceremony Program for the event schedule tonight!
Sunday, June 8
8:00 A.M. – 9:30 A.M. Breakfast with the Presidents (In-Person)
Six past and present presidents will converge to share lore about SFWA’s sixty years, chat about genre today, and maybe get a bite in, too!
8:00 A.M. – 12:00 P.M. Fueling Station
Serving carbon-based lifeforms in our Hospitality Suite.
9:00 A.M. – 12:00 P.M. The Book Depot
Feed your book habit one last time before you go!
Winners of the On-Site Silent Auction: Collect your goodies, too!
Today’s the day to check out and beam away, full-to-bursting Nebula Conference Book Bags and all. Don’t forget to thank your Flight and Ground Crews for all the fish!
* More details forthcoming as our Universal Translator works out transmissions from Airship Nebula’s final destination! All in-person panels will be streamed for attendees on other worlds!
** The wibbly-wobbly hour, where time itself might disappear amid creative conversations. Or maybe your recharge pod is calling? User’s choice!
Do you have questions about the big event, or what to feed the space wombats? Write to office@sfwa.org with any and all relevant queries!
The Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers Association (SFWA) is excited to announce that acclaimed author Erin Roberts, will serve as toastmaster for the 60th Annual Nebula Awards® Ceremony! The ceremony will take place in Kansas City, Missouri on June 7, 2025, and stream live on YouTube so that our global audience can partake in the latest adventures of Airship Nebula.
Erin Roberts tells stories however and whenever she can. She’s written short stories published by magazines including Asimov’s, Clarkesworld, and The Dark; built worlds and designed adventures for over 50 tabletop roleplaying game projects, including Nebula finalist Journeys through the Radiant Citadel; offered players choices as an interactive fiction and video game writer; and given characters a voice in scripts for projects including Zombies, Run! and the Yoto interactive children’s adventure Forge Your Quest.
When not telling her own stories, Erin helps others tell theirs. She’s taught creative writing courses for the University of Texas at Austin, Surrey International Writers Conference, and Clarion West; talked about the craft of writing in conference panels, on cruise ships, and between karaoke numbers; and shares her thoughts in a weekly conversation about the business and craft of writing as one of the hosts of the Writing Excuses podcast.
She’s honored to have this opportunity to celebrate the power of story in all its forms, and SFWA is delighted to have her lend further shine to the brilliant writers who bring new worlds to life and make ours that much brighter.
Can you believe it’s been 50 years since our first Grand Master was announced?
The Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers Association (SFWA) is proud to celebrate the longevity of this distinguished title with Nicola Griffith, our 41st Damon Knight Memorial Grand Master.
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. Initially, the Grand Master wasn’t given out every year, but from 1975 to 2025 much has changed in our field, including the consistency with which we award this prestigious post.
This year, our Grand Master enters a role previously held by Peter S. Beagle, Connie Willis, Nalo Hopkinson, Ursula K. Le Guin, Ray Bradbury, Anne McCaffrey, Robin McKinley, Joe Haldeman, and other legends of genre fiction who have been granted this title.
Nicola Griffith, PhD, is a dual UK/US citizen and the author of nine novels, including Hild, Spear, and Ammonite. In addition to her fiction and nonfiction (New York Times, Guardian, Nature) she is known for her data-driven 2015 work on bias in the literary ecosystem; as founder and co-host, with Alice Wong, of #CripLit; and for her work on queering the Early Medieval. Awards include The Los Angeles Times Book Prize, Society of Authors ADCI Literary Prize, two Washington State Book Awards, the Premio Italia, Nebula, World Fantasy, and Tiptree (Otherwise) awards, the Outstanding Mid-Career Authors Prize, and six Lambda Literary Awards. In 2024 she was inducted into the Museum of Popular Culture’s Science Fiction + Fantasy Hall of Fame.
Griffith lives with her wife, writer Kelley Eskridge, in Seattle, where she takes enormous delight in everything. This latest title, SFWA’s 41st Grand Master, is no exception:
“I am thunderstruck,” said Griffith, after receiving the news. “Amazed and moved and brimming with joy. I might never stop smiling.”
Widely acclaimed and bestselling author Karen Joy Fowler has known for years how much of a gift Griffith is to the literary community: “Ever since I first read Ammonite–back in 1993 when the world was young–I’ve made it my business to follow Griffith wherever she goes. And I have loved every place she’s taken me. She’s a writer who stuns. Incisive yet lyrical, pragmatic yet sexy, generous yet scary, always brilliant and, best of all, never ever boring. Every book she writes is one more bit of luck for us readers.”
SFWA President Kate Ristau resoundingly agrees:
“It is SFWA’s honor to recognize and celebrate Nicola’s past achievements, while looking forward to her future triumphs. Her work continues to inspire and challenge me, and when asked to pick a Grand Master to lead us into our Diamond Year, I looked to Nicola for her stunning fiction, as well as her leadership and advocacy. She challenges us to reconsider the past and imagine a better, more inclusive future. She is the perfect Grand Master for our present moment, demonstrating through her life and work how to find one’s self, one’s purpose, and one’s community in complicated times, and to embrace those things joyfully and fully. 50 years after SFWA named its first Grand Master, we are thrilled to shine the spotlight on Nicola Griffith as our 41st.”
The title of 41st Damon Knight Memorial Grand Master will be formally presented to Griffith during our 60th Annual Nebula Awards Conference, held June 5–8, 2025 in Kansas City, Missouri. Registration for the conference is now open here, and details on her panels and appearances will be available shortly at events.sfwa.org. We hope you’ll join us this year in celebrating Griffith’s achievements, and help us to usher in the next chapter of SFWA’s story together.
SFWA is excited to announce that the 60th Annual Nebula Awards Conference will be held in-person and online from the Kansas City Marriott Country Club Plaza, in the beautifully transformed downtown core of Kansas City, Missouri.
SFWA recognizes that the current political climate in the United States may leave some people uncertain whether they are willing to travel to the US in general, or Missouri, in particular. Kansas City has made explicit commitments to diversity, equity, and inclusion. For example, the Kansas City Council approved a resolution designating Kansas City as a “sanctuary city” for LGBTQ+ people. In 2024, Kansas City received a perfect score on HRC’s Municipality Equality Index for the fourth year running – an index which measures support for LGBTQ+ individuals throughout daily life. SFWA will also have both volunteer and professional security available to actively prevent and resolve harassment. We believe that Kansas City is a welcoming place for all writers, and we look forward to celebrating our diamond anniversary with all of you!
If you plan to join us in Kansas City, please use this link to book your room in the hotel block by Monday, May 19th: Book your group rate for SFWA Nebula Conference 2025. We encourage you to only book a hotel room after registering for the Nebula Conference. This courtesy to fellow attendees helps us to plan accurately for the big event, and keeps space open for those joining us in person.
In-person registration includes all online access. With every conference ticket, you can watch and listen to all recorded panels and presentations that took place over the weekend. We are looking forward to celebrating with our many members in other states and countries!
Our focus this year is to provide high level professional development, foster community and networking opportunities throughout the day and evening receptions, and of course, to celebrate our Nebula Award finalists and honorees throughout the weekend, especially at the Nebula Award ceremony.
Your online conference ticket helps support the programs and services that SFWA provides for not only its members but every SFF genre writer and industry professional. Thank you.
Accessibility accommodation requests can be communicated directly with accessibility@sfwa.org.
If you or someone you know needs a scholarship to participate in the conference, please email office@sfwa.org and we’ll get back to you with information as soon as possible.
March 12, 2025 – The Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers Association (SFWA) is pleased to announce the finalists for the 60th Annual Nebula Awards®! Our congratulations go out to each and every finalist for the recognition of their excellent works published in 2024.
The awards will be presented in a ceremony onSaturday, June 7,that will be streamed live as it is held in-person in Kansas City, MO as part of the 60th Annual Nebula Awards Conference.Winners in each category will be determined by the vote of Full, Associate, and Senior members of SFWA.
A Death in Hyperspace, Stewart C Baker, Phoebe Barton, James Beamon, Kate Heartfield, Isabel J. Kim, Sara S. Messenger, Jingjing Xiao, Natalia Theodoridou, M. Darusha Wehm, Merc Fenn Wolfmoor (Infomancy.net)
Slay the Princess — The Pristine Cut, Tony Howard-Arias, Abby Howard (Black Tabby Games)
Yazeba’s Bed & Breakfast, Jay Dragon, M Veselak, Mercedes Acosta, Lillie J. Harris (Possum Creek Games)
Ray Bradbury Nebula Award for Outstanding Dramatic Presentation
Doctor Who: “Dot and Bubble” by Russell T. Davies (BBC)
Dune: Part Two by Jon Spaihts, Denis Villeneuve (Warner Bros)
I Saw the TV Glow by Jane Schoenbrun (A24 Films LLC)
KAOS by Charlie Covell, Georgia Christou (Netflix)
Star Trek: Lower Decks Season 5 by Mike McMahan (Paramount+)
Wicked by Winnie Holzman, Dana Fox (Universal Pictures)
We look forward to celebrating all the finalists with aspiring and professional creators in the science fiction and fantasy genres at the 2025 Nebula Conference, June 5-8, 2025.
Questions about the awards or the upcoming conference may be directed to the SFWA Events Team atevents@sfwa.org.
About the Nebula Awards®
The Nebula Awards® are voted on and presented by Full, Associate, and Senior members of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers Association. Founded as the Science Fiction Writers of America in 1965 by Damon Knight, the organization began with a charter membership of 78 writers; it now has over 2,500 members, among them many of the leading writers of science fiction and fantasy.
Since 1965, the Nebula Awards® have been given each year for the best novel, novella, novelette, and short story eligible for that year’s award. The Andre Norton Nebula Award for Middle Grade and Young Adult Fiction was added in 2005, followed by the Ray Bradbury Nebula Award for Outstanding Dramatic Presentation in 2009, and the Nebula Award for Best Game Writing in 2018. An anthology including the winning pieces of short fiction and several runners-up is also published every year.
Join the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers Association on March 12, 2025 at 5 P.M. Pacific Daylight Time for this year’s 60th Nebula Awards Finalist Announcement, in which we will announce this year’s finalists for the Nebula Awards, as chosen by SFWA members.
Subscribe to our SFWA YouTube channel to get notification of the video’s launch, or simply join us at the direct link when the hour approaches. Oh, and don’t forget to share your excitement with others in the genre via our chat window on YouTube!
SFWA members will vote for this year’s winners in advance of our 60th Nebula Annual Nebula Awards Conference, which will be held in Kansas City, Missouri from June 5-8. Whether you’ll be there in person or joining us for more Nebula activities online, we’re thrilled to have you along for the ride.
Let’s celebrate some great science fiction and fantasy together soon!
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