May 2014 - Epiphany 2.0

Small Acknowledgements

May 29, 2014 / 13 Comments / Thinkythoughts / By nkjemisin

I miss WisCon. One of the reasons it’s been one of my favorite conventions — during the years I wasn’t personally boycotting it, anyway (it’s a love-hate thing) — is that I learn so much, often despite myself, and that kind of learning is always a pleasure. (So many mind blown moments.) But that said, it’s a 1000-person con, and while I’m a very functional introvert, I am an introvert; I need space and silence to recharge and reflect. So I’ve been doing a lot of that in the slightly-more-than-24-hours since I got home. In particular I’ve been reflecting on […]

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A note on my Wiscon speech

May 27, 2014 / 18 Comments / Natter / By nkjemisin

Some friends asked me about a part of the speech that bothered them — namely the quote that I included from Delany’s 1998 essay, this line in particular: As long as there are only one, two, or a handful of us, however, I presume in a field such as science fiction, where many of its writers come out of the liberal-Jewish tradition, prejudice will most likely remain a slight force—until, say, black writers start to number thirteen, fifteen, twenty percent of the total. At that point, where the competition might be perceived as having some economic heft, chances are we

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Wiscon 38 Guest of Honor Speech

May 25, 2014 / 3 Comments / Conventions and Workshops / By nkjemisin

[ETA 3/28/14: Added markup; text is still the same. Also, please note a discussion here about a line in the Delany quote that concerned some people.] Thanks to all the WisCon volunteers, members, and other supporters, who have given me the opportunity to speak to you now. Trigger warning: I’m going to refer to rape, harassment, racism, and other forms of bigotry and abuse in this speech. Also, profanity warning. That’s sort of standard with me. I’m going to start this off with a quote from Chip Delany, writing in the essay “Racism and Science Fiction” which was published in

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