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Science Fiction and Fantasy Poetry Association Awards for 2021

By January 7, 2022No Comments8 min read

The Science Fiction and Fantasy Poetry Association has concluded its 2021 awards and publication season.

Established in 1978 by Suzette Haden-Elgin, the organization has an international membership representing over 19 nations and cultures including United States, Italy, Canada, Brazil, United Kingdom, Ireland, Romania, Poland, Denmark, Germany, France, Spain, Israel, South Africa, Singapore, Thailand, Laos, South Korea, Australia, and New Zealand. The Science Fiction and Fantasy Poetry Association publishes two journals: Star*Line and Eye to the Telescope. It oversees three major literary awards for poetry: The Rhyslings, the Dwarf Stars, and the Elgin Awards. They also conduct an annual science fiction poetry contest and other special events and gatherings. Additionally, they provide resources for emerging and established poets seeking professional publication and networking opportunities.

In 2021 there were four issues of Eye to the Telescope with the themes of Travel, the Weird West, Indigenous Futurisms, and The Sea. These were edited by Alicia Cole, Gary Every, Tiffany Morris, and Akua Lezli Hope. Jean-Paul Garnier, the owner of Space Cowboy Books, assumed the editorial mantle of Star*Line as of issue 44.3. Angela Yuriko Smith oversaw this year’s Halloween readings.

The 2021 Rhysling Award winners represented a diverse range of style. In the short poem category, First Place went to “Summer Time(lessness)” by Linda D. Addison, which first appeared in Star*Line 43.4. Second Place went to “Why did white people conquer the world for spices and then never use them?” by R. Thursday, which first appeared in Drunk Monkeys, November 16. Third Place went to “Darning” by Sandra J. Lindow, first published in Asimov’s Science Fiction, May/June 2020.

In the Long Poem Category, the Rhysling Awards First Place went to “Eleven Exhibits in a Better Natural History Museum, London” by Jenny Blackford, first featured in Strange Horizons, 14 September, 2020. Second Place was awarded to “A Song from Bedlam (with apologies to Christopher Smart)” by Nike Sulway, appearing first in Liminality 23. The Third Place award went to “Devilish Incarnations” by Bruce Boston, first published in Star*Line 43.1. Alessandro Manzetti served as the 2021 Chair.

The 2021 Dwarf Stars First Place award went to “Yes, Antimatter Is Real” by Holly Lyn Walrath, first printed in Analog Science Fiction and Fact, September/October 2020. The Second Place award went to “The Softness of Impossible Fossils” by Robert Borski in Asimov’s Science Fiction, July/August 2020. Third Place went to “Frozen Hurricanes” by Herb Kauderer featured in Minimalism: A Handbook of Minimalist Genre Poetic Forms, ed. Teri Santitoro (Hiraeth Press). Charles Christian served as the 2021 Chair.

This year’s speculative poetry contest was judged by Sheree Renée Thomas. Josh Brown served as the 2021 Chair. In the dwarf form category “Strings” by Deborah L. Davitt received First Place. “The Health Benefits of Gardening” by Jerri Hardesty received Second Place. “Restitution” by Morgan L. Ventura received Third Place. In the short form category “We, Dust” by Blaize Kelly Strothers received First Place. Second Place went to “Double-Slit Experiment” by Bradley Earle Hoge. Third Place went to “engagement party” by Aiesha Muhammad. In the long form category “The Last Special Day by Donald Raymond received First Place. Second Place went to “Docking on Phobos” by Clarabelle Miray Fields. Third Place went to “Fireflies in Retrograde,” also by Clarabelle Miray Fields.

Finally, the 2021 Elgin Awards saw several exciting entries presented to the members of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Poetry Association. In the chapbook category Otherwheres by Akua Lezli Hope (ArtFarm Press, 2020) received First Place. Second place went to Twelve by Andrea Blythe (Interstellar Flight Press, 2020). Third place went to Manifest by Terese Mason Pierre (Gap Riot Press, 2020).

In the full length category, First Place went to The Sign of the Dragon by Mary Soon Lee (JABberwocky Literary Agency, 2020). Second Place went to A Collection of Dreamscapes by Christina Sng (Raw Dog Screaming Press, 2020). Third Place was a tie between Mary Shelley Makes a Monster by Octavia Cade (Aqueduct Press, 2019) and A Route Obscure and Lonely by LindaAnn LoSchiavo (The Wapshott Press, 2020). Jordan Hirsch served as the 2021 Chair.

19 chapbooks were nominated for the Elgin Awards this year:

  • 25 Trumbulls Road • Christopher Locke (Black Lawrence Press, 2020)

  • Alice Zero • Joshua Pantalleresco (2020)

  • Betelgeuse Dimming • Jean-Paul L. Garnier (Space Cowboy Books, 2020)

  • Borrowings of the Shan Van Vocht • Catherine Moore (Unsolicited Press, 2020)

  • Broken Nails • Susan Snyder (Madness Heart Press, 2020)

  • Coronations • Catherine Kyle (Ghost City Press, 2019)

  • Inverted Night • John W. Sexton (SurVision Books, 2019)

  • The Island of Amazonned Women • Sandra J. Lindow (Cyberwit, 2019)

  • Kola Superdeep Borehole • Joe Fletcher (Bateau Press, 2019)

  • Manifest • Terese Mason Pierre (Gap Riot Press, 2020)

  • Odes to Scientists / Us, Clone (audio) • Jean-Paul Garnier (Space Cowboy Books, 2019)

  • Otherwheres • Akua Lezli Hope (ArtFarm Press, 2020)

  • [re]construction of the necromancer • Hannah V Warren (Sundress Publications, 2020)

  • Space in Pieces • Juan Manuel Pérez (House of the Fighting Chupacabras Press, 2020)

  • Titania in Yellow • Dayna Patterson (Porkbelly Press, 2019)

  • Twelve • Andrea Blythe (Interstellar Flight Press, 2020)

  • The Undead • Luiza Flynn-Goodlett (Sixth Finch, 2020)

  • Visions at Templeglantine • John W. Sexton (Revival Press, 2020)

  • What the Gargoyle Sees • Gene Twaronite (Kelsay Books, 2020)

64 books of poetry were nominated this year:

  • Algorithmic Shapeshifting • Bogi Takács (Aqueduct Press, 2019)

  • Altars & Oubliettes • Angela Yuriko Smith (2020)

  • The Ambassador Takes One for the Team • David C. Kopaska-Merkel (Diminuendo Press, 2019)

  • The Apocalyptic Mannequin • Stephanie M. Wytovich (Raw Dog Screaming Press, 2019)

  • america, MINE • Sasha Bank (co-im-press, 2020)

  • Android Girl and Other Sentient Speculations • Michael H. Hanson (Three Ravens Publishing, 2020)

  • As The Seas Turn Red • Morgan Sylvia (2019)

  • Bad Jamie • Jessica Fordham Kidd (Anhinga Press, 2020)

  • Before We Remember We Dream • Bryan Thao Worra (Sahtu Press, 2020)

  • Black Flames & Gleaming Shadows • Frank Coffman (Bold Venture Press, 2020)

  • Burials • Jessica Drake-Thomas (CLASH Books, 2020)

  • Carpe Noctem • Robert Borski (Weird House Press, 2020)

  • The Ceremonial Armor of the Impostor • Gregory Kimbrell (Weasel Press, 2019)

  • Choking Back the Devil • Donna Lynch (Raw Dog Screaming Press, 2019)

  • A Collection of Dreamscapes • Christina Sng (Raw Dog Screaming Press, 2020)

  • A Complex Accident of Life • Jessica McHugh (Apokrupha Books, 2020)

  • The Configuration Discordant • John Baltisberger (Things in the Well, 2019)

  • Cradleland of Parasites • Sara Tantlinger (Strangehouse Books, 2020)

  • Cries to Kill the Corpse Flower • Ronald J. Murray (Bizarro Pulp Press, 2020)

  • The Cyborg Anthology • Lindsay B-e (Brick Books, 2020)

  • DMMTHL • C.C Hannett (Spuyten Duyvil, 2019)

  • Dragonfly and Other Songs of Mourning • Michelle Scalise (Lycan Valley Press, 2019)

  • Dub • Alexis Pauline Gumbs (Duke University Press, 2020)

  • Easy Travel to the Stars • G.O Clark (Alban Lake Publishing, 2020)

  • Echoes From an Expired Earth • Allen Ashley (Demain Books, 2020)

  • The Gates of Never • Deborah L. Davitt (Finishing Line Press, 2019)

  • goodwill galaxy hunting • LeRoy Gorman (Urban Farmhouse Press, 2019)

  • The Golem and the Nazi • Anna Cates (Red Moon Press, 2019)

  • The High Alive: An Epic Hoodoo Diptych • Carlos Sirah (The 3rd Thing, 2020)

  • how to extricate yourself • Laura Theis (Demsey & Windle, 2020)

  • Into the Forest and All the Way Through • Cynthia Pelayo (Burial Day Books, 2020)

  • The Journey • Anna Cates (Resource Publications, 2020)

  • The Ladies of the Everlasting Lichen and Other Relics • Wade German (Mount Abraxas Press, 2019)

  • The Malevolent Volume • Justin Phillip Reed (Coffee House Press, 2020)

  • Many Restless Concerns • Gayle Brandeis (Black Lawrence Press, 2020)

  • Maps of a Hollowed World • TD Walker (Another New Calligraphy, 2020)

  • Mary Shelley Makes a Monster • Octavia Cade (Aqueduct Press, 2019)

  • Meaningless Cycles in a Vicious Glass Prison • Anton Cancre (The Dragon’s Roost Press 2020)

  • Monsters I Have Been • Kenji C. Liu (Alice James Books, 2019)

  • Monstrous• PS Cottier (Interactive Press, 2020)

  • Notes from the Last Age • José Chapa Valle (FlowerSong Press, 2020)

  • The Nurseryman • Arthur Allen (Kernpunkt Press, 2019)

  • The Octopus Museum • Brenda Shaughnessey (Knopf, 2019)

  • Past the Glad and Sunlit Season • K. A Opperman (Jackanapes Press, 2020)

  • The Planets • Wendy Van Camp (2019)

  • Poems that Could End the World • Ronald A. Busse (Turning Point, 2020)

  • A Refuge of Tales • Lynne Sargent (Renaissance Press, 2020)

  • A Route Obscure and Lonely • LindaAnn LoSchiavo (The Wapshott Press, 2020)

  • Sacred Summer • Cassandra Rose Clarke (Aqueduct Press 2020)

  • Sci-Ku: Explorations into the Poetry of Science • Jay Friedenberg (2020)

  • Shadow Abyss • Luna Nyx Frost (Enchanting Tales Publishing, 2020)

  • Shelter in Place • Catherine Kyle (Spuyten Duyvil, 2019)

  • The Sign of the Dragon • Mary Soon Lee (JABberwocky Literary Agency, 2020)

  • Small Waiting Objects • T. D. Walker (CW Books, 2019)

  • The State She’s In • Lesley Wheeler (Tinderbox Editions 2020)

  • Such Luck • Sara Backer (Flowstone Press, 2019)

  • The Sun Ships & Other Poems • Steven Withrow (2019)

  • Tea with Death • Abigail Wildes (Alban Lake Publishing, 2020)

  • Temporary Planets for Transitory Days • Albert Wendland (Dog Star Books, 2020)

  • Toxicon and Arachne • Joyelle McSweeney (Nightboat Books, 2020)

  • Whitechapel Rhapsody • Alessandro Manzetti (Independent Legions, 2020)

  • Witch Doctrine • Annah Browning (The University of Akron Press, 2020)

  • The Withering • Ashley Dioses (Jackanapes Press, 2020)

  • Zen Amen: A Collection of Abecedarians • Michael Kriesel (Pebblebrook Press, 2019)

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