About the Carl Brandon Society

The idea for the Society first came about at the feminist science fiction convention WisCon '99 in Madison, WI, when WisCon responded to a request from people of color in the community by scheduling more programming items that addressed race, and by having a focus group where people of color could meet and formulate strategies for increasing the awareness and representation of people of color in the genres and in the community. This request was incited by an article written by Samuel R. Delany: "Racism and Science Fiction" in the New York Review of Science Fiction (August 1998, volume 10 issue 12). This essay was recently republished in the anthology Dark Matter, edited by Sheree R. Thomas. It is available at most bookstores.

About Our Name

We named ourselves after the fictional black fan writer Carl Brandon in much the same way that the Tiptree Award named itself after the fictional male writer James Tiptree, Jr. Much as Alice Sheldon played with the concepts of gender in her writing as James Tiptree, Jr., so did Terry Carr and Peter Graham play with the concepts of race in their writing as Carl Brandon, Jr. We also feel that just as women can now write under their own names, so can people of color now write (and publish) our own stories. And just as the Tiptree Award creates a "shortlist" of the best fiction expanding gender boundries every year, so does the Carl Brandon Society publish lists of SF written by people of color. We've got further to go, for now - which is why we're also working to make fandom a more pleasant place for people of color.

Getting Involved

As the Carl Brandon Society continues to evolve, stay informed of our activities by subscribing to our mailing list: