The March Genesis Membership Drive is over. On the one hand, I’m glad that we have 50 new members – welcome, everyone! Lovely to have you join us!

I started the SLF (Speculative Literature Foundation) back in 2004, when I was in a creative writing Ph.D. program (having completed an MFA). I was seeing my classmates applying for grants and residencies, and I was glad poets, fiction, and creative nonfiction writers had the option of that kind of support, in a world that where big publishing can be so random in what it deems worthy. The intention of the SLF initially was to set up some grants that would be specifically for genre writers, to encourage them to apply. A travel grant, an older writers’ grant, diversity grants, a working class writers’ grant, even a specifically South Asian speculative fiction grant. We’ve been giving out those grants for 18 years, and if I totaled it all up, it must be getting close to $100,000 at this point, in direct support to writers. We’re proud of that.

We want to bring back the small press co-op, the mentorship program, the short fiction award. We want to start local chapters, and offer online panels with prominent fiction writers, editors, agents. We want to start a podcast where we could talk to more of those people, shine a spotlight on their work, share their experience and wisdom with the world. We want to teach workshops, both online and in person. We want to do SO MUCH. I realized that to have the SLF be truly sustainable, we’d need paid staff. So that’s what we’re working on now. A few generous donors put in initial funds so that we could hire a few bright young interns as paid part-time staff. Now we’re trying to build our membership numbers – that’s what will really make us sustainable, if we have a broad base of community support, rather than relying on individual donors.

So thank you, everyone, for your support of the SLF over the past month. We’re really looking forward to what we have planned next.

Join us here: https://speculativeliterature.org/genesis-membership-drive/

Make one-time donations here: Same link! https://speculativeliterature.org/genesis-membership-drive/

..and don’t forget to apply for your company’s matching funds, if they offer them!

– Mary Anne, SLF Director

(Pictured: the active staff of the SLF!)