These are the actions that SFWA is taking as first steps to clean our own house and work towards making our community safer for Black writers.
- For the month of June, 100{105b5945f2a7891a3dd860d3a09046b26c32f8a07d097b566642738deee8841e} of registrations for the Nebula Convention content will go directly to the Carl Brandon Society and the Black Speculative Fiction Society.
- We are creating a matching program for the Nebula convention so that each registration purchased this month creates a seat for a Black writer.
- For the next year, we are waiving fees for SFWA membership for Black writers.
- We are waiving registration fees for next year’s Nebula conference attendance for Black writers.
- We are creating a travel fund to help defer the costs of Black writers attending the Nebula conference
- We are committing to reaching out to Black-led science fiction and fantasy organizations about applying for the additional grant money that we have available.
And here I would have thought handing NK Jemisin the Best Novel Hugo for three straight years would have bought them a certain amount of protection. Apparently not. But wouldn’t it be more meaningful if Tor Books agreed to publish only black authors for the next ten years to make up for their past racism?
And, of course, it’s a given that they will name Ms Jemisin the 2020 SFWA Grandmaster. Anything less would be r-r-racist!