Eileen Gunn interviews Nisi Shawl, first black winner of the James R. Tiptree Jr. award

I've been talking a little bit about this with Ted Chiang and some other people in a book discussion group I'm in, Tom Foster and Evan Cherniavsky. In light of that old "death of the author" idea. Is a story something I create to communicate ideas, or something I participate in with my readers? I'm always thrilled when someone gets out of a story what I was trying to put into it. And I'm also often thrilled when someone gets out of a story a totally other thing I didn't even know was up in there.

Nisi Shawl receives the Tiptree Award at WisCon

Carl Brandon Society co-founder and steering committee member Nisi Shawl received the James Tiptree, Jr Award for her story collection Filter House last night at the WisCon 33 Guest of Honor ceremonies.WisCon is special to the Carl Brandon Society as it's where the organization got its start. We're especially pleased that Mary Anne Mohanraj, also a co-founder of the Carl Brandon Society, and Nnedi Okorafor were announced as the Guests of Honor for WisCon 34!

We'll have more photos from last night soon.

Also, Think Galactic, a sister child-of-WisCon organization, will be holding its second convention June 26-28 at Roosevelt University in Chicago. Visit the Think Galacticon convention site for more information.

Nisi Shawl wins Tiptree Award

Nisi Shawl has won the James R. Tiptree Jr. Memorial Award for her short story collection Filter House (Aqueduct Press). The Tiptree is for science fiction and fantasy that expands or explores our understanding of gender. A work of art (different each year), $1000 USD, a chocolate typewriter, and the right to wear the fabulous Tiptree tiara, created by Elise Mattheson.