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!
Deep Dish Spotlight: Eden Robins
Eden Robins loves novels best, but they take forever so she also writes short stories and self-absorbed essays at places like Catapult, USA Today, LA Review of Books, Apex magazine, Shimmer, Kaleidotrope, and others. Her debut novel When Franny Stands Up was named a best book of 2022 by the Chicago Reader, a best queer book of 2022 by Autostraddle, and Best Book of the Month by Bustle and Buzzfeed. She co-hosts a science podcast called No Such Thing As Boring with an actual scientist and produces a monthly live lit show in Chicago called Tuesday Funk. Previously, she sold sex toys, wrote jokes for Big Pharma, and once did a stand-up comedy set to an audience who didn’t boo. She lives in Chicago, has been to the bottom of the ocean, and will never go to space.
The Gulliver Travel Research Grant Is Open for Submissions
Award: $1,000 USD
Submissions: Nov. 1 - Nov. 30, 2023
Winner Announced: January 15, 2024
This Gulliver Travel Research Grant is awarded annually to assist writers of speculative literature in their (non-academic) research. We are currently offering one $1000 travel grant annually, to be used to cover airfare, lodging, and/or other travel expenses. Learn more here.
Illustration of the Year
OPEN NOVEMBER 20 – DECEMBER 20, 2023
The Speculative Literature Foundation announces an open call for a piece of original artwork combining fantasy and science fiction themes to be featured as its Illustration of the Year.
Award: $750 USD.
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
2023 Working Class Writers Grant
The Speculative Literature Foundation is pleased to announce Deirra Clyburn as the winner of the 2023 Working Class Writers Grant. The Working Class Writers Grant
Announcing the Winner of the 2023 Older Writers Grant
The Speculative Literature Foundation is pleased to announce Jen OConnor as the winner of the 2023 Older Writers Grant. The Older Writers Grant intends to
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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