Looking Back on 2020 in Speculative Poetry

It was a big year for speculative poetry!

Even with the pandemic going on, most speculative literature journals have continued to include poetry among their offerings. Here’s a look at some of the awards and other news that happened in 2020.

In April, the Horror Writers Association announced the annual Bram Stoker Awards, and the winner of the Superior Achievement in a Poetry Collection was The Place of Broken Things by Linda D. Addison and Alessandro Manzetti (Crystal Lake Publishing). The Science Fiction and Fantasy Poetry Association (SFPA) Elgin Awards recognized Soft Science by Franny Choi (Alice James Books) as the best full-length collection of the year, and the award for chapbook of the year went to The Book of Fly by John Philip Johnson (Graphic Poetry Press).

Crystal Lake Publishing, Alice James Books, Graphic Poetry Press

In July, the 2020 Rhysling Awards for individual speculative poems of the year went to Jessica J. Horowitz for the short poem “Taking, Keeping” (Apparition Literature 5) and to Rebecca Buchanan was recognized for the long poem “Heliobacterium daphnephilum”(Star*Line 42.3). The Rhysling Awards have been conferred by the SFPA since 1978, and this year 126 poems from 67 publications were nominated from around the world. The Dwarf Stars Award, established in 2006 and recognizing short-form speculative poetry, went to “Standing Up” by John C. Mannone (Nadwah: Poetry in Translation, December 2019). And The Alchemy of Stars II, released during the final weeks of 2019, gathered Rhysling Award winners from 2005 to 2019, including Sonya Taafe, Neil Gaiman, Amal El-Motar, and other distinguished poets from across the globe, edited by Sandra J. Lindow.

October 2020 saw the inaugural Ignyte Awards conferred during FIYAHCON, with a category for speculative poetry. This year’s winner was “A Conversation Between the Embalmed Heads of Lampião and Maria Bonita on Public Display at the Baiano State Forensic Institute, Circa Mid-20th Century” by Woody Dismukes (Strange Horizons, September 30, 2019). The Ignyte Awards “seek to celebrate the vibrancy and diversity of the current and future landscapes of science fiction, fantasy, and horror by recognizing incredible feats in storytelling and outstanding efforts toward inclusivity of the genre.”

The simply named Speculative Poetry emerged during the pandemic as a promising new reading series that is free to the public via Facebook Live and connects readers and writers across the world from the comfort of their homes. Readings take place once a month at 7:00 p.m. Eastern, typically hosted by Akua Lezli Hope.

The 2020 Science Fiction and Fantasy Poetry Association Speculative Poetry Contest announced winners in three categories. First place in the Dwarf Form category went to “Where Do We Go From Here?” by Ojo Taiye. F. J. Bergmann won first place in both Short Form, for “Skylarking,” and Long Form, for “Which Is Which.” This year’s contest judge was Neil Aitken, with all entries presented via anonymized submission.

Science Fiction and Fantasy Poetry Association

Star*Line is the official print journal of the SFPA, established in 1978. This year, Melanie Stormm served as the guest editor of issue 43.4 and presented a historic all-Black issue. Poets in this issue included Hawona Sullivan Janzen, Francis Wesley Alexander, Sheree Renée Thomas, Akua Lezli Hope, Bryant O’Hara, Woody Dismukes, Solomon Uhiara, and many others.

Also this year, the SFPA membership considered four nominees for the 9th Grand Master award: Linda D. Addison, F. J. Bergmann, Geoffrey A. Landis, and John Grey, all distinguished figures in the field of speculative poetry. In December, the distinction was ultimately conferred upon Addison. She joins Ann K. Schwader (2018), David C. Kopaska-Merkel (2017), Marge Simon and Steve Sneyd (2015), Jane Yolen (2010), Ray Bradbury (2008), Robert Frazier (2005), and Bruce Boston (1999).

Linda D. Addison is the award-winning author of five collections, including The Place of Broken Things (written with Alessandro Manzetti) and How to Recognize a Demon Has Become Your Friend, and a recipient of the HWA Lifetime Achievement Award. She is the first African American recipient of the HWA Bram Stoker Award; coeditor of Sycorax’s Daughters, an anthology of horror fiction and poetry by Black women; poetry editor of Space and Time magazine since 2000; and editor of the 2018 Rhysling Anthology and 2019 HWA StokerCon Anthology. Her work has made frequent appearances over the years on the honorable mention list for the Year’s Best anthology, and she is a founding member of the writer’s group Circles in the Hair (CITH) and a member of the Horror Writers Association, Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America, and the Science Fiction and Fantasy Poetry Association. Addison has a BS in mathematics from Carnegie-Mellon University and currently lives in Arizona.

What other news in speculative poetry should we recognize? Share it in the comments!