Science Fiction & Fantasy Poetry Association
Entry updated 21 June 2024. Tagged: Community.
The Science Fiction & Fantasy Poetry Association was founded in 1978 by Suzette Haden Elgin as The Science Fiction Poetry Association, to promote a wide range of Poetry (from sf to horror) through the publication of a bimonthly journal, Star*Line, currently edited by Jean-Paul L Garnier, and the annual presentation of the Rhysling Awards; Rhysling was the blind poet in "The Green Hills of Earth" (8 February 1947 Saturday Evening Post) by Robert A Heinlein. The SFPA has also presented the Dwarf Star Awards for best poems of ten lines or fewer since 2006; as with the Rhysling Awards, nominations appear in a yearly anthology. Eye to the Telescope was introduced in 2011 as the sister-publication to Star*Line. Issues appear online rather than in print, and are mostly edited by guest editors rather than SFPA staff.
Members of the SFPA receive issues of Star*Line and are able to vote on the Rhysling Awards in addition to the annual Elgin award, named after the SFPA founder, for best poetry book or chapbook of the previous two years. Ray Bradbury, Beth Cato, Joe Haldeman and Jane Yolen are among those to have participated.
Since 1999, the SFPA has bestowed Grand Master Awards upon living poets who have been active for longer than twenty years and whose poetry has been found to be exceptional by the executive committee. Bruce Boston was the first on whom this designation was conferred, after winning the Rhysling Award a record-breaking seven times. For the full list of SFPA Grand Masters, see Rhysling Awards.
Despite the name change in 2017 from The Science Fiction Poetry Association to The Science Fiction & Fantasy Poetry Association, the organization maintains its original acronym SFPA. Colleen Anderson is the current president. [JC/JM]
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