The Gunn Center for the Study of Science Fiction will host the first annual Sturgeon Symposium, which will feature the presentation of the Theodore Sturgeon Memorial Award for best science fiction short story and a reading from this year’s winner. This hybrid in-person/online symposium will also feature panels, presentations, and roundtable discussions that highlight the diversity of Science Fiction, Fantasy, and the Speculative Arts

At CSSF, we celebrate the interconnected global communities of students, scholars, creators, and fans whose engagement with speculative modes enriches our understanding of the world we share and challenges our notions of what is possible. We hope to illuminate the array of SF-related work being done across disciplines, genres, media, and identities. For example, in her groundbreaking essay “Poetry Is Not a Luxury,” Audre Lorde identifies poetry as “not only dream and vision,” but as something that “lays the foundations for a future of change, a bridge across our fears of what has never been before” (Lorde, 38). In this way, poetry takes on a clearly speculative, generative aspect. Where/how else might we find other points of connection that broaden our conceptions of the field?

In-person registration: https://sfcenter.ku.edu/registration-2022-sturgeon-symposium

Online registration: https://kansas.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_JACo6JMpSAKry80GN-7_KA