Science Fiction News

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Campbell and Sturgeon Award Winners Announced

LAWRENCE, KS - July 9, 2008

The Center for the Study of Science Fiction at the University of Kansas has announced the winners of the John W. Campbell Memorial Award for best science fiction novel of 2007 and the Theodore Sturgeon Memorial Award for best short science fiction of 2007.

The awards will be presented at a ceremony on Friday, July 11, in conjunction with the center’s annual Campbell Conference and the annual meeting of the Science Fiction Research Association, which is taking place July 10-13 in Lawrence. This year the Campbell Conference offers “Teaching Science Fiction: A Portable Workshop.”

The Campbell Award will be presented to Kathleen Ann Goonan for In War Times. Second place goes to Michael Chabon’s Nebula Award-winning The Yiddish Policeman's Union, and third to Ken MacLeod for The Execution Channel.

For the first time, there are two winners of the Sturgeon Award: “Finistera,” by David R. Moles, and “Tidelines,” by Elizabeth Bear. Interestingly, second place for the Sturgeon Award was also a tie: Gene Wolfe’s “Memorare,” and Ian R. MacLeod’s “The Master Miller's Tale.”

The Campbell award is one of the three major annual awards for science fiction. The award was created to honor the late editor of Astounding Science Fiction magazine (now called Analog). Many writers and scholars call Campbell, who edited the magazine from 1937 until his death in 1971, the father of modern science fiction.

The Sturgeon award was established in 1987 by James Gunn, professor emeritus of English and director of the Center for the Study of Science Fiction, and the heirs of Theodore Sturgeon as a memorial to one of the great short-story writers in a field distinguished by its short fiction.

The Science Fiction Research Association is the oldest professional organization for the study of science fiction and fantasy literature and film. This year’s conference is titled “Creating, Reading and Teaching Science Fiction.” Notable guest speakers include Karen Joy Fowler, author of “The Jane Austen Book Club”; Paul Kincaid, author of “What We Do When We Read Science Fiction”; and Joan Slonczewski, a professor at Kenyon College who uses science fiction to help teach biology. Breakout sessions explore varied topics such as “Reimagining the Future of the Past in Science Fiction Film and Television”; “Aliens, Animals and Environmentalism in Science Fiction”; and “Playing the Universe: Reading and Teaching Science Fiction With Video Games.”

Science Fiction Research Association to Co-Host 2008 Conference with
the Center for the Study of Science Fiction's Campbell Conference

From Adam Frisch, SFRA President — November 15, 2007

GOOD NEWS !

Your SFRA Executive Committee has accepted the gracious invitation of the Campbell Conference to hold our 2008 annual meeting in conjunction with them on July 10-13 (Thurs. through Sun.) at the University of Kansas in Lawrence, Kansas.

The Campbell Conference is the concluding event of the Writers Workshop in Science Fiction, the Novel Writers Workshop in Science Fiction, and the beginning of the Intensive English Institute on the Teaching of Science Fiction. It has been held regularly at the University of Kansas since 1973, except for the special joint event in 2007 with SFRA and the Heinlein Centennial. This year our two organizations will be working together at a common site to provide quality academic panels, paper presentations and author discussions. During the coming weeks SFRA will be posting details about our part of the conference on this list-serve and on our website (www.sfra.org); also check out the Campbell Conference webpage.

Currently, SFRA’s tentative theme for this 2008 meeting is: "Teaching, Reading and Creating Science Fiction," which meshes well with both the Campbell Conference’s themes of "Teaching Science Fiction" plus "Current Trends in Science Fiction" and our own previously announced Dublin theme of "Good Writing in SF." "Creating SF" also encourages panels and paper analyzes of SF in non-literary media, a recent extension of SFRA’s traditional focuses that we have been encouraging. This announced theme sacrifices a certain amount of excitement for major inclusivity—it’s difficult for me at the moment to imagine what SF type of material it excludes—and thus it may be slightly tweaked when we designate our academic programmer for this conference. But when that person is appointed shortly, rush right in with whatever sort of presentation you may have been planning for Dublin, or come up with a new one!

Lawrence, Kansas, lies about 50 miles west of the Kansas City International airport. SFRA plans to work during the coming months to insure smooth and convenient transportation between Kansas City and Lawrence. Lodging promises to be very reasonable, as will be the conference registration fee at this new venue and the cost for whatever banquet / reception we hold. (And don’t forget that SFRA will be offering to the extent it can some travel remuneration for graduate students reading papers, especially overseas students who had planned on attending in Dublin.) SFRA will soon announce its guest list of invited SF authors and critics, and the Campbell Conference traditionally hosts local authors, institute instructors and the winners of the John W. Campbell and Theodore Sturgeon Memorial Awards. The eventual list of SF authors for this combined event promises to be absolutely awesome, as my students would say. Finally, the University of Kansas has always been an exciting college town to visit, even when its football teams were losing almost every game, and it’s the site of our SFRA archives for any workaholics out there.

SFRA hosted its annual convention in Lawrence in 1982, and absolutely everyone I’ve talked to remembers that 1982 meeting with fondness. 2008 promises to be even better! I sure hope most of you will find a way to come. We’ll lift a toast together to the Dublin conference that almost was, and celebrate the fine Lawrence conference that is happening.

James Gunn to be Honored as Science Fiction Grand Master

LAWRENCE, KS — November 22, 2006

During lunch at the University of Kansas student union today, SFWA President Robin Wayne Bailey surprised James Gunn and a small group of friends with the news that Gunn will be honored this Spring as the next Grand Master of science fiction.

The title "Damon Knight Memorial Grand Master" is bestowed upon a living author for a lifetime's achievement in science fiction and/or fantasy. Nominations for recognition as a Grand Master are made by the president of SFWA; the final selection must be approved by a majority of the SFWA officers and participating past presidents. Gunn was President of SFWA in 1971-72, though for obvious reasons they did not contact him about this potential honor.

While it is not a Nebula Award, the Grand Master honor is conferred as part of the Nebula Awards^® Banquet. This year's ceremony will take place on May 11-13, 2007, in New York City.

AboutSF Project Posts New Lessons

LAWRENCE, KS — November 12, 2006

In 2005, the Center – with donations from publishers, conventions, and notable people in the field – created a Volunteer Coordinator position at the University of Kansas to perform outreach with SF educators, librarians, and other SF people, and this project has shown fruit especially on the AboutSF.com website. Check out the new "Lessons Library" for educators and librarians here, including the Center's new on-line course.