We have two pieces of great news to share with you:

The table of contents for The Best Science Fiction & Fantasy of the Year Volume 12, edited by Jonathan Strahan, has been released and includes “Concessions” by PodCastle’s co-editor Khaalidah Muhammad-Ali. Well done, Khaalidah!

We also caught up with Erin Roberts, associate editor at Escape Pod and winner of BOTH the Speculative Literature Foundation‘s Diverse Worlds Grant and the Diverse Writers Grant, to learn more about her amazing accomplishment.

The grants that I won are the Speculative Literature Foundation’s Diverse Worlds Grant and Diverse Writers Grant – they are intended to, in the SLF’s words, “foster the creation of speculative fiction work rich in diversity.”

Specifically, the Diverse Writers grant is for new and emerging writers from underrepresented and underprivileged groups (writers of color, women, queer writers, disabled writers, working-class writers, etc.) whose identities may present additional obstacles in writing/publishing. The Diverse Worlds grant is for work that presents a diverse world, regardless of the writer’s background.

I’m extremely proud to have been selected for both – my experiences as a black woman have deeply impacted the stories that I am drawn to and able to tell, and I love filling the worlds that I put on the page with people as diverse as the ones who fill my own world with laughter and love and life.

As for what I plan to do next, both grants from the Speculative Literature Foundation are intended for works in progress, and I am using them to give myself more time and energy to go beyond the bounds of the short story and work on some novella-length projects, all of which feature women of color making an impact on the world around them.

By the way, the Speculative Literature Foundation is on Drip if you’d like to support their work in encouraging promising new writers, assisting established writers, facilitating the work of quality magazines and small presses, and developing a greater public appreciation of speculative fiction.

Congratulations to Khaalidah and Erin!