Carl Brandon Society

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The Carl Brandon Society is a group originating within the science fiction community. Their mission "is to increase racial and ethnic diversity in the production of and audience for speculative fiction."[1] Their vision is "a world in which speculative fiction, about complex and diverse cultures from writers of all backgrounds, is used to understand the present and model possible futures; and where people of color are full citizens in the community of imagination and progress."[1]

The Society was founded in 1997 following discussions at the feminist science fiction convention WisCon 23 in Madison, Wisconsin.[2] It was named after "Carl Brandon", a fictional black fan writer created in the mid-1950s by Terry Carr and Pete Graham.[2] This also alludes to the James Tiptree, Jr. Award, named after the fictional male persona used by the writer long known as "James Tiptree, Jr.".[3]

The Society maintains annuals lists of fantastical works published by writers of color.

CBS Parallax and Kindred Awards[edit]

Source:[4]

Inaugurated in 2005, the Carl Brandon Parallax Award is a juried award given to works of speculative fiction created by a self-identified person of color.[5] The 2005 Parallax, the first to be awarded, went to Walter Mosley for his young adult novel 47.[5]

Inaugurated in 2005, the Carl Brandon Kindred Award is a juried award given to any work of speculative fiction dealing with issues of race and ethnicity; nominees may be of any racial or ethnic group.[5] The 2005 Kindred Award went to Susan Vaught for her young adult novel, Stormwitch.[5]

The awards were not given for years from 2012 to 2018, but resumed with awards for 2019.

Carl Brandon Parallax Award Shortlist for 2006

Carl Brandon Kindred Award Shortlist for 2006

  • Tobias Buckell: "Toy Planes" (Nature, Oct. 13, 2005)
  • Octavia E. Butler: Fledgling (Seven Stories Press)
  • Daliso Chaponda: "Trees of Bone" (Apex Science Fiction and Horror Digest, #3)
  • Marg Gilks: "Before the Altar on The Feast of All Souls" (Tesseracts 9)
  • Walter Mosley: 47 (Little, Brown)
  • Nnedi Okorafor-Mbachu: Zahrah the Windseeker (Houghton Mifflin)
  • Liz Williams: "La Gran Muerte" (Asimov's Science Fiction, April 2005)

The 2006 Carl Brandon Society Awards were presented during a ceremony at WisCon 30.

Carl Brandon Parallax Award Shortlist for 2007

  • Nnedi Okorafor-Mbachu: "The Shadow Speaker"

Carl Brandon Kindred Award Shortlist for 2007

Carl Brandon Parallax Award Shortlist for 2008

Carl Brandon Kindred Award Shortlist for 2008

Carl Brandon Parallax Award Shortlist for 2009

Carl Brandon Kindred Award Shortlist for 2009

Carl Brandon Parallax Award Shortlist for 2010

Carl Brandon Kindred Award Shortlist for 2010

  • Nnedi Okorafor-Mbachu: "Who Fears Death"

Honor Shortlist for 2010

Carl Brandon Parallax Award Shortlist for 2011

Carl Brandon Kindred Award Shortlist for 2011

Honor Shortlist for 2011

The 2011 Carl Brandon Awards were presented at Arisia, January 17–20, in Boston MA, USA.

Through 2012–2018, the Carl Brandon Award ceremonies went on hiatus.

Carl Brandon Parallax Award Shortlist for 2019

Carl Brandon Kindred Award Shortlist for 2019

Parallax Honor Shortlist for 2019

Octavia E. Butler Memorial Scholarship[edit]

The Octavia E. Butler Memorial Scholarship was established in Butler's memory in 2006 by the Society.[6] Its goal is to provide an annual scholarship to enable writers of color to attend one of the Clarion writing workshops where Butler got her start. The first scholarship was awarded in 2007.[6]

References[edit]

  1. ^ a b "About the Carl Brandon Society". Carl Brandon Society. 2015-01-25. Retrieved 2023-02-21.
  2. ^ a b History of the Carl Brandon hoax
  3. ^ The Carl Brandon Society
  4. ^ "Carl Brandon website award list".
  5. ^ a b c d "Carl Brandon Society Awards". Carl Brandon Society. 2015-01-25. Retrieved 2023-02-21.
  6. ^ a b "The Octavia E. Butler Memorial Scholarship". Carl Brandon Society. 2015-01-25. Retrieved 2023-02-21.

External links[edit]