Welcome to the Speculative Literature Foundation!
The Speculative Literature Foundation is a non-profit organization dedicated to promoting literary quality in speculative fiction. We encourage promising new writers, assist established writers, facilitate the work of quality magazines and small presses in the genre, and work to promote a greater public appreciation of speculative fiction. Our mission is to promote literary quality in speculative fiction through our grants, programming, and more!
The SLF serves the speculative literature community through support from people like you. We’re a 501(c)3, and all donations are tax-deductible in the U.S. You can make a one time donation or become a member to receive cool perks like discounts for our courses and events, access to our bi-monthly writer’s encouragement letter, yearly anthology, and more!
The Diverse Worlds and Writers Grants Are Open for Submissions!
Each award: $500 USD
Submissions: July 1 - July 31, 2024
Winner Announced: September 15, 2024
Since 2014, the SLF has offered two diversity-centered grants intended to foster the creation of speculative fiction work rich in diversity. Writers may apply for either or both grants.
Video Playlist from May Deep Dish Uploaded
Check out our readers from our Deep Dish reading event earlier this month! Our featured readers were Alex Kingsley and Tina Jenkins Bell, with rapid-fire readers Jared Dennis, Gary Henderson, Jeremiah John, Allison Manley, Connor Nevitt, Darius Vinesar, and John Weagly
Deep Dish Weekly Spotlight: Jim Cherry
Jim Cherry grew up in Chicago in the 60’s. It was a time of cool, blue splash-downs and revolution was in the air. Although, he missed out on all the cool things. He spent my time reading his grandmother’s collection of first editions of Twain, Dickens, Conrad, Conan-Doyle and having backyard adventures of his own. At 12 he decided he wanted to be a writer. In college he went to school for filmmaking but realized it was just an excuse to write. In his 20’s he sought out experience and adventures, he lived in Los Angeles, visited New Orleans, Mexico, France, and Germany, usually when he didn’t have the money. All the while writing. He’s written the novels Becoming Angel, The Last Stage, a book of short stories, Stranger Souls, and he did some time as a rock journalist which resulted in the compilation of articles The Doors Examined.
Ep. 63 of MRAH Out Now: "OKPsyche with Anya Johanna DeNiro"
Joining Mary Anne and Ben on this episode is Anya Johanna DeNiro, a trans woman and writer who recently published her novel, OKPsyche. The book follows the story of an unnamed trans woman on an epic journey to find the place where she belongs. Mary Anne and Ben discuss DeNiro’s inspirations for OkPsyche, its genre-bending elements, and the second-person POV.
New Portolan Project Addition: K. Tempest Bradford
“They were essentially recreating the day [September 11th] because they started at whatever time in the morning everything kicked off…and I was like whoa, y’all are doing some heavy ritual magic here. So, I started thinking about that and I started thinking about ways to get into that, the thinking around rituals around death and how we deal with it, especially when it’s a mass death event…”
– K. Tempest Bradford
We recently charted an interview we had with Bradford, an award-winning teacher and media critic who writes speculative fiction steeped in Black Girl Magic. She’s the author of the Nebula nominated Ruby Finley vs. the Interstellar Invasion and over a dozen short stories.
Check out our Deep Dive with Bradford on ritual magic, grief, memory, structure, travel research, and more.
Our Latest Blog Posts
New Deep Dive: Richard J. Chwedyk on the Five Elements of Short Stories
New Deep Dive: Richard J. Chwedyk on the Five Elements of Short Stories Check out our most recent Deep Dive interview with writer and educator,
Announcing the Winner of the 2024 A.C. Bose Grant The Speculative Literature Foundation is pleased to announce that Vineetha Mokkil is the winner of the
Donate
Our mission is to promote literary quality in speculative fiction through our grants, programming, and more.
The SLF is made possible by the kind contributions of those who believe in our mission—people like you. We’re a 501(c)3, and all donations are tax-deductible in the U.S.
For gifts over $1,000, gifts of stock, or to explore funding a grant, please contact our Development Director, Margaret Frey, and she’ll be happy to assist you. We encourage you to apply for matching funds from your employer if possible!
If you’d prefer not to use PayPal, we can also accept donations through our local community foundation.
SLF Newsletter
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