Category: News

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Dear Friends of Carl Brandon

More than ever, the space and freedom to critique the past, re-envision the present, and dream of many futures is an act of resistance. Thank you for helping us amplify the work and experiences of creators and fans of color—that has been our focus since our inception.

As the year draws to a close, we ask the community to continue to support the work of the Carl Brandon Society. Your donations make possible our major programs, which include the Octavia E. Butler Memorial Scholarship for writers of color attending the Clarion and Clarion West writing workshops and an upcoming relaunch of our awards.

To date, CBS has funded 25 scholarships for students of color attending the Clarion and Clarion West workshops, presented 6 Kindred and 7 Parallax literary awards, and provided 19 years of representation and strategizing for People of Color involved in our field. All with the help of generous donors like you.

The Carl Brandon Society is a 501(c)3 organization, so your donation is tax-deductible in the U.S. We’ve received challenge pledges totaling $1,500 towards matching donations. If you’d like to issue a challenge grant, please let us know.

Throughout December, we’ll be posting essays by Butler scholars who will share what the scholarship has meant to them.

Thank you for your support of inclusive speculative fiction. Thank you for coloring all the worlds with us.

The Carl Brandon Society Steering Committee
Candra K. Gill, Victor J. Raymond, Kate Schaefer, Nisi Shawl, Lisa Bolekaja, K. Tempest Bradford, Annique Lennon

Mail donations to:
The Carl Brandon Society
PO Box 23336
Seattle, WA 98102
or donate via PayPal:




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Be Our New Treasurer

We are looking for a new treasurer.  We’re hoping to get them on board this fall; read on to learn more about the job.

The Carl Brandon Society’s mission is to increase racial and ethnic diversity in the production of and audience for speculative fiction.

The Society administers several awards, scholarships, and travel assistance funds. Its largest annual program is the Octavia E. Butler Memorial Scholarship, which enables writers of color to attend one of the Clarion writing workshops, where Octavia got her start. More than twenty writers of color have attended Clarion or Clarion West as Butler scholars since the scholarship was established in 2007.

The Carl Brandon Society has no paid employees; treasurer is a volunteer steering committee position. The budget is about $20,000 annually. Ideally, the treasurer would live in the Seattle area, since that’s where CBS’s post office box and bank are located, but a well-organized person in another location could make this work.

Treasurer’s duties:

  • create simple annual budget for steering committee approval
  • keep a general ledger
  • make bank deposits, including from PayPal, and write checks
  • send thank-you letters or emails to donors
  • file annual tax report (form 990 e-postcard for nonprofits with annual budget under $50,000) to IRS
  • report on Society’s financial position monthly, with formal treasurer’s report to annual meeting each May
  • with other board members, participate in fundraising activities

Regular treasurer’s bookkeeping duties generally take 3-5 hours per month. In addition, the treasurer attends monthly online steering committee meetings, which usually last about one-to-two hours.

Interested candidates should send email to treasurer@carlbrandon.org

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Our glorious 2018 Octavia E. Butler Scholar at Clarion West

On Friday, July 27, Nisi Shawl presented Dennis Staples with the Owl Pendant honoring his status as our Octavia E. Butler Scholar attending Clarion West’s 2018 Six-Week Workshop session.  As she has done since the award’s inception, Laurie Toby Edison provided a beautiful silver pendant cast from a design Octavia commissioned.  The accompanying photos show Nisi approaching Dennis, struggling with the clasp, and applauding his heartfelt speech of thanks, followed by a shot of him being mobbed by his classmates and well-wishers.  Thank you to everyone who made these moments possible.  Long live Octavia and her brood!

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(P.S.: And a huge bundle of thanks to Yang-Yang Wang for providing these photos.)