SFWA, the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers Association, announced a welcome change this week: Poetry and translated fiction are now accepted as qualifying works for membership.
While previous referendums chose not to allow these works, full members of SFWA voted in April to include them, and the results were “overwhelmingly positive” according to a press release: 90% yes for poetry; 83% yes for translated works. In a statement, SFWA president Jeffe Kennedy said, “I love seeing SFWA embrace all the mediums creators employ to bring original SFF works into the world. Reversing this old, exclusionary decision was past due.”
Poets and translators can now join writers of prose, comics, game, graphic novel, and screenplays in SFWA, which was founded in 1965 by Damon Knight. The organization became a 501(c)(3) nonprofit in 2014, its purpose “to promote, advance, and support science fiction and fantasy writing in the United States and elsewhere, by educating and informing the general public and supporting and empowering science fiction and fantasy writers.” SFWA hosts the annual Nebula Conference and Nebula Awards, as well as maintaining an information center for new writers and Writer Beware, a resource that benefits writers at all levels.
The SFWA Bylaws do require that qualifying works be written in English. More information about joining SFWA is available at their website.