About SFPA
The Science Fiction & Fantasy Poetry Association was founded as the Science Fiction Poetry Association in 1978 to bring together poets and readers interested in speculative poetry. Members voted to rename the organization in 2017. What is sf/f poetry? Everybody has a unique definition. To be sure, it is poetry (we'll leave that definition to you), but it’s poetry with some element of speculation—usually
science fiction, fantasy, or horror, though some include surrealism, some
straight science. SFPA’s founder, Suzette Haden Elgin, shared her thoughts on sf poetry
in the aptly titled “About
Science Fiction Poetry.”
Examples of speculative poetry abound. Editor's Choice poems are linked on the Star*Line archive. Our Promotions page offers .pdf samplers. The Halloween page features the annual SFPA poetry podcast. Visit SFPA's Markets to find magazines specializing in genre poetry and the Links for individual sf poets’ websites. Our Speculative Poetry Books lists speculative poetry collections and links to booksellers. SFPA’s official journal, Star*Line, publishes speculative poetry and is a wonderful way to begin your poetic journey to the stars.
As well as an annual open contest, SFPA offers yearly awards for speculative poetry: the Rhysling Awards for individual poems, the Dwarf Stars Award for short-short poems, and the Elgin Awards for genre poetry books and chapbooks, named for the SFPA founder.
SFPA also publishes the yearly Rhysling Anthology, comprised of works nominated for the Rhysling Awards for Best Poems of the Year, and the Dwarf Stars anthology for short-short speculative poems. Visit the Rhysling and Dwarf Stars pages to order copies. Don’t miss this unique compilation of verse from some of the finest poets working in the fields of science-fiction, fantasy, and horror poetry!
The anthology The Alchemy of Stars features the Rhysling Award-winning poems from 1978 to 2004, an introduction by Jane Yolen, and an afterword by Suzette Haden Elgin. See the Alchemy page for ordering information.
The Rhysling Archive contains cover images, tables of contents, and editorial information for all the Rhysling Awards and Rhysling Anthologies since 1978.
SPECIAL NOTE TO AUTHORS: Inclusion in the Rhysling Anthology is by member nomination only. Do not submit your poems to this anthology. Membership in the SFPA is not required for work to be nominated.
