By BRYAN THAO WORRA
AAP Contributing Writer
SAN FRANCISCO (Sept. 24, 2020) — The Science Fiction and Fantasy Poetry Association has announced the winners of the 2020 Elgin Awards for Book and Chapbook of the Year.
Poet Franny Choi received First Place for the collection “Soft Science.”
Mary Soon Lee received Second Place for “Elemental Haiku.”
Third Place was a tie between “The Comfort Zone of Screams,” by Gary O. Clark, and “The Demeter Diaries,” by Marge Simon and Bryan Dietrich.
In the Chapbook category, First Place went to “The Book of Fly,” by John Philip Johnson.
Christina Olson’s “The Last Mastodon” received Second Place.
Herb Kauderer’s “Fragments From the Book of the After-Dead” received Third Place.
Colleen Anderson was this year’s chair. The Canadian author writing fiction and poetry has had over 170 poems published in such venues as Grievous Angel, Polu Texni, The Future Fire, HWA Poetry Showcase and many others. She is a member of HWA and SFPA and a Canada Council grant recipient for writing. She has performed her work before audiences in the US, UK and Canada. Find out more about Anderson at colleenanderson.wordpress.com.
The Elgin Awards, named for SFPA founder Suzette Haden Elgin, are presented annually by SFPA for books published in the preceding two years in two categories, Chapbook and Book. Chapbooks must contain 10 to 39 pages of poetry and books must contain 40 or more pages of poetry.
E-books are eligible, as well as print. 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. SFPA membership is represented by over 350 active members in 19 nations. This year, 42 full-length collections were nominated for consideration and 13 chapbooks were nominated.
Find out more about the Elgin Awards at https://www.sfpoetry.com/elgin.html.
