Sign Ups for the 2026 Writing SF & Fantasy Workshop are Open!
Support the SLF During Our Membership Drive!
(July 10 - August 10)
We at the SLF rely on the support of the wonderful writing community. Over the next month, our membership drive is a great way to support our mission. Our theme “Being an Artist in Difficult Times” allows us to help give back at a time when so much in the world is working against artists. If you join as a new member, reactivate an old membership, or upgrade during the drive, you will get access to panels relating to our overall theme. They will be announced over as our drive continues. We will also be unveiling a course that all new members will gain access to for free!
- New members at the Atom or Proton levels will receive access to all four.
- New members at the Quark level will receive access to three.
- New members at the Electron level will receive access to two.
- New members at the Photon level will receive access to one.
The SLF Will Be at the Nebulas this Year!
Join us June 3 – 7 for the Nebula Awards Conference this year in Chicago! We at the SLF are very excited and honored to be a part of this prestigious conference and we hope to see you all there. Make sure to stop by our club table to say hi or grab some of our merchandise!
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!
Speculative fiction is an umbrella term for any literature with a speculative or fantastical element, anything that isn’t strictly realist, such as science fiction, fantasy, folklore, fairy tales, ghost stories, 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!
2026 Illustration of the Year: "Cosmic Allure" by Santiago Rosas
“The idea for this piece came to a friend and me as we were talking about our mutual admiration for moths and butterflies. I have a Luna moth tattooed on my arm, so we went into thinking what if moths were actually selenites. What if there were a whole universe of winged beings beyond the cosmos?“
– Santiago Rosas
Video Playlist from May Deep Dish Uploaded
Check out our readers from our Deep Dish reading event from May 2025. Our featured readers were Fannie Price and Beth Kander with rapid-fire readings by Richard Chwedyk, James Kennedy, Philip Janowski, and more!
The Diverse Writers & Diverse Worlds Grants Are Open!
Awards: $500 USD
Submissions: July 1 - July 31
Winner Announced: September
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.
Ep. 75 of MRAH Out Now: "Fireside Chat with V.V. Ganeshananthan"
Hey Humans! In this episode of Mohanraj and Rosenbaum are Humans, Mary Anne and Benjamin sit down for a chat with V.V. Ganeshananthan. They talk about her novel “Brotherless Night”, her life and larger body of work, and the differences in literary processes between the three of them.
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.
Deep Dish Monthly Spotlight: Fannie Price
In her childhood, Fannie Price developed a passion for writing and creature
features. By the mid-90s, she stumbled upon urban fantasy novels and quickly fell in love with the genre. Noticing a lack of diversity in the female heroines, Fannie decided to craft the stories she wanted to see in the genre she loves. Fannie’s writing style blends elements of magic and mystery with doses of darkness and romance, all taking place in realistic settings, within her supernatural world. Her attention to detail and talent for crafting complex and flawed characters adds depth and authenticity to her stories.
Our Latest Blog Posts
SLF’s 2026 A.C. Bose Grant Shortlist
Here is our shortlist for our 2026 A.C. Bose Grant! Both of these talented writers were selected by one of our jurors to be a
Announcing the Winner of the 2026 A.C. Bose Grant
Announcing the Winner of the 2026 A.C. Bose Grant The Speculative Literature Foundation is pleased to announce that Shahriar Shaams 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, Sue Bedry, and she’ll be happy to assist you. We encourage you to apply for matching funds from your employer if possible!
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