The best current site, without question, is that sponsored by the Center for the Study of Science Fiction at the University of Kansas. It contains a treasure of information and links to other resources. It is the one place to start for anyone seeking information about teaching science fiction.

- Dennis M. Kratz, ANATOMY OF WONDER

Mission
Welcome to the website for the Center for the Study of Science Fiction at the University of Kansas, a medium for information about the Center and its programs, data about science fiction, informed commentary, and news about SF in general. This website also provides links to other SF resources. We are working to save the world through science fiction! To help achieve this, we recently created a sister-site to host our outreach and education programs: AboutSF.

We regularly expand and improve these pages to serve the science fiction community, so let us know what we can do to enhance this as a resource for you... and to help save the world.

History
The Center was founded in 1982 as a focus for the SF programs created at the University beginning in 1970, with the first course taught by Professor James Gunn. That also was the year University Libraries made its first major acquisition in the field and the Science Fiction Lecture Series was begun; since then SF has become the fastest-growing special collection, mostly through gifts. Special Collections provided most of the illustrations for Gunn's Alternate Worlds: The Illustrated History of Science Fiction, published in 1975. That same year the University held its first Intensive English Institute on the Teaching of Science Fiction, and, in 1977, the Institute became an annual event. In 1979, the John W. Campbell Memorial Award for the best science fiction novel of the year was presented for the first time at the University as part of a weekend conference devoted to the teaching and writing of SF; the Theodore Sturgeon Memorial Award for the best short SF of the year was added in 1987, and the Hall of Fame, presented in cooperation with the Kansas City Society for Science Fiction and Fantasy, was added in 1996. In 1985, the first Writer's Workshop in Science Fiction was held and, in 1986, it became an annual event in its present form. From 1979 through 2003, the Campbell Conference format was round-table discussion, and in 2004, the Campbell Conference experimented with a paper-presentation format with much success. We will vary Conference formats as appropriate.

In 1991, Dr. Richard W. Gunn, a retired physician in Kansas City and Professor Gunn's brother, created an endowment for the Center, and it was renamed the J. Wayne and Elsie M. Gunn Center in honor of their parents. In 2007, the Center moved for the first time to a physical space at the University of Kansas.

Courses
The Center is associated with the English Department, and its courses in "Science Fiction" and "Studies in a Genre" are offered for undergraduate and graduate English credit. The Department offers a creative writing option at the undergraduate and graduate level, including work in SF. The Center also offers a course on "Science, Technology, and Society" during Spring semesters at KU, and two online continuing-education courses for educators.

The Center continues to offer, within a four-week period in July, a two-week intensive Writers Workshop for short-fiction writers, another two-week intensive Novel Writers Workshop, and a two-week intensive science-fiction literature course, offered on either side of the Campbell Conference and Awards dinner. To learn more about these activities, click the navigation links on this page.

Who
James Gunn, author, editor, scholar, and teacher of SF – and the newest SFWA Grand Master –has served as the Center's Director from its inception. In 2002, Kij Johnson and Chris McKitterick joined the Center as Associate Directors. In 2004, the Center formed a Board of Advisors which includes long-time friends of the Center and many of SF's leading lights. In 2005, the Center – with donations from publishers, conventions, and notable people in the field – created a Volunteer Coordinator position and established AboutSF.com. We invite you to be a part of the Center, as well - check out our list of "Volunteers Needed" over at AboutSF.com.

For more information about the Center or any of our programs, email Chris McKitterick at cmckit@ku.edu or James Gunn at jgunn@ku.edu, or send us a letter:

Center for the Study of Science Fiction
Department of English
University of Kansas
1445 Jayhawk Blvd.
3001 Wescoe Hall
Lawrence KS 66045

In the background and on the title banner:
An early science fiction woodcut depicts Cyrano de Bergerac being lifted
to the moon on bottles of dew.

This site last updated 6/30/2009. Check back for frequent updates.

This Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America Net Ring site is owned by James Gunn. Webmaster is Chris McKitterick.

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