A two-day conference to be held online by the University of Liverpool, in partnership with the Science Fiction Foundation and the Arthur C. Clarke Award, 12-13 December 2026

Keynote Speaker: Andrew M. Butler (non-voting chair of the Arthur C. Clarke Award)

Roundtable discussion with Clarke Award-winning authors Anne Charnock, Adrian Tchaikovsky and Tade Thompson

The Arthur C. Clarke Award celebrates its fortieth anniversary in 2026. Since its first winner in 1987 (Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale), the Clarke Award has recorded the changing patterns in science fiction. Appearing at the height of cyberpunk, the Award has observed the rise of New Space Opera, steampunk, slipstream, the New Weird, the British Boom, cli-fi, world sf, and Indigenous sf. At the same time, the Award has seen the emergence of new presses and new publishing practices.

This conference will not dwell on past winners and shortlists, but draw upon the history of the Award to critically reflect on the current state of sf and look towards future possible developments. In doing so, the content of individual papers may be underscored by the following broad question: What kind of science fiction and what kind of science fiction prize will the Clarke Award represent on a future shortlist?

Topics may include (but are not limited to) the following:

• The growing prominence of women’s science fiction since 2010
• The shifting cultural and geographical centres of literary production
• The overdue recognition of science fiction by LGBT+ writers
• The closing borders between literary and science fiction
• The status of awards in shaping the development of the genre
• The role of awards in determining popular reading tastes
• The relationship between genre awards and the formation of canons
• The Clarke Award and data analysis – using the annual submissions list as a dataset
• The representation of Black and Asian authors within sf publishing
• The ecology of publishing: large-scale publishers, independent presses, self-publishing
• The role of the literary agent
• The mixed media of sf publishing – illustrated novels, mosaic novels, novels in verse
• The Clarke Award and YA science fiction
• Bright futures: the role of hope versus dystopian, apocalyptic, ‘grimdark’ futures
• Awards and pedagogy – sf and the curriculum in schools, colleges and universities
• ‘Honours dishonour’: awards and social capital

Please submit a 200-word abstract and 50-word bionote to the following Google Form by Monday 27 July 2026: https://forms.gle/1WVqg47cfh9GGb8A9

A selection of papers will be published in the autumn 2027 issue of Foundation. The conference will also raise funds for the Clarke Award and the Maureen K. Speller Travel Fund for independent scholars. Any questions or issues should be directed (in the first instance) to paulmarchrussell@gmail.com. A list of previous winners and shortlists can be found at https://www.clarkeaward.com/ while further details of the Award’s history can be found at https://www.sfadb.com/Arthur_C_Clarke_Award