Leonard Pung (b.1961) died on September 3 from complications with leukemia. Pung attended the Clarion Writers Workshop in 2009. He had taught middle school English and was trying to start a freelance writing career. Clarion has established a scholarship fund in his name.
Kevin Standlee reports that René Walling has resigned as the chairman of the Hugo Award Marketing Committee. With an earlier resignation by Kate Kligman, this leaves the committee at three members with Standlee serving as acting president. Standlee invites anyone interested in serving on the committee in the future to contact him and plan on attending the meeting of the Mark Protection Committee at Chicon 7 on Thursday August 30 at 6:00 in the Wright Room.
Swedish authors Karin Tidbeck and Nene Ormes have been named the recipients of the World SF Travel Fund, which will permit the two women to travel to Toronto, Canada to attend this year’s World Fantasy Convention, with additional assistance from Cheeky Frawg Books, run by Ann and Jeff VanderMeer. The selection board was comprised of Lauren Beukes, Aliette de Bodard, Nnedi Okorafor, Ekaterina Sedia, and Charles Tan. Lavie Tidhar and Sean Wallace administer the fund.
Fan Fred Lerner has donated his collection of science fiction and fantasy publications to the Columbia University Libraries. Lerner attended Columbia College and received his doctorate from Columbia’s former School of Library Service, where he wrote the dissertation Modern science fiction and its reception by the American literary and educational communities, 1926-1970. His donation is the first such donation made to Columbia and contained nearly complete runs of several science fiction magazines.
The Speculative Literature Foundation has announced that it will be extending the application period for its Older Writers’ Grant a second time due to an e-mail glitch that caused most of the e-mail received during the original application period to be lost. They are accepting applications through May 31 and invite anyone who previously submitted to resubmit. The winner is expected to be announced on July 15.
Sage Hill has announced a Writing Workshop for up to six participants to be held from July 23-August 2. The workshop will be taught by Hugo and Nebula Award winning author Spider Robinson. The workshop is targeted at authors who have acquired and moved beyond basic skills in science fiction and speculative writing.The application deadline is April 30.
The University of Iowa Library has announced the donation of Rusty Hevelin’s collection of pulp magazines, fanzines, and science fiction books. Hevelin began collecting pulps in 1930 and his collection includes acquisitions up until his death in 2011. Iowa’s collection already includes the Horvat Collection of Science Fiction Fanzines, the Ming Wathne Fanzine Archive Collection, and a growing body of materials resulting from the Fan Culture Preservation Project.
Author Jim C. Hines, who has often blogged about gender issues and rape awareness, is holding a fundraiser during April, Rape Awareness Month, to raise funds to support RAINN or local rape crisis centers. Anyone who makes a donation will be entered in a raffle to win a large selection of prizes which have been donated.
The Locus Science Fiction Foundation has announced a Kickstarter program to raise funds to help preserve, protect, digitize, and make available to the public materials collected over the years by Charles N. Brown. The Foundation’s initial goal is to raise $9,500 in 35 days.
The Speculative Literature Foundation has announced that e-mail problems between February 23 and March 8 caused numerous applications and submissions for the SLF Older Writers Grant to bounce. They apologize and invite applicants to resubmit. A grant of $750 is available to any writer of speculative literature older than 50 who is just beginning to work professionally in the field. Applications are due on March 31 with the winner announced on June 1.