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!
Sign Ups for the Writing SF & Fantasy Workshop are Open!
The Gulliver Travel Grant is Open for Submissions!
Award: $1000 USD
Submissions: November 1 - November 30, 2024
Winner Announced: January 15, 2025
Since 2004, the Gulliver Travel Grant has been awarded annually to assist writers of speculative literature in their non-academic research. These funds are used to cover airfare, lodging, and other travel expenses. Travel may be domestic or international. You may apply for travel to take place at any point in the following year.
Video Playlist from November Deep Dish Uploaded
Check out our readers from our Deep Dish reading event this past November! Our featured readers were Jay Bonansinga and Eiren Caffall, with rapid-fire readers Tina L. Jens, Eliza Sullivan, Angeli Primlani, Rory Leahy, Sullivan Peterson-Quinn, Connor Nevitt, and Benjamin K. Herrington.
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
2025 Illustration of the Year Winner Flore Picard
2025 Illustration of the Year Winner Flore Picard Thank you Flore Picard, for your wonderful submission to the SLF’s 2025 Illustration of the Year, “Star
Announcing the Winner of the 2024 Gulliver’s Travel Grant
Announcing the Winner of the 2024 Gulliver’s Travel Grant The Speculative Literature Foundation is pleased to announce that Emma Burnett 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!
If you’d prefer not to use PayPal, we can also accept donations through our local community foundation.
SLF Newsletter
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