“Whenever we try to envision a world without war, without violence, without prisons, without capitalism,” writes Walidah Imarisha, “we are engaging in speculative fiction. All organizing is science fiction.” This panel seeks to bring together critics probing historical, present, and possible future relationships between speculative fiction and social justice. The emergent concept of “visionary fiction,” developed by Imarisha and adrienne maree brown, articulates radical and generative connections between speculation and social movement work. As Imarisha and brown describe it, visionary fiction is not only distinct from science fiction and utopia; it also offers novel understandings of the public functions of literature and traces vibrant links between literary imagination and political life. As such, visionary fiction may productively unsettle the norms and assumptions of literary criticism as it is practiced within the academy. This session hopes to work from this unsettling and undisciplining while taking up various works of visionary fiction and various associations among speculative fiction and social movements. In keeping with the conference themes of “solidarity,” “love,” “justice,” and “public life,” presentations that take seriously the way that visionary fiction names, calls for, or catalyzes public facing forms of inquiry, community, and knowledge production are especially welcome. Abstracts (~250 words) and C.V. or brief bio to evansr@southwestern.edu by January 20, 2023.