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It's been a busy few weeks for the Foundation, as it always is at this time of year. The SFF usually has a significant presence at Eastercon, the UK's annual national science fiction convention, but at this year's event, Concussion, we were especially heavily involved. Not only were many SFF staff and committee involved in participating in the programme and helping to run the convention as a whole, but we put on two major events. For the seventh year running the SFF presented the George Hay Memorial Lecture, given this year by Alice Jenkins of Glasgow University. Alice spoke to a packed audience on her research into the depiction of science in nineteenth-century literature; our thanks go to her for a fascinating and well-received talk. We also held the formal launch party for Parietal Games, our collection of critical writings by and on M John Harrison. Mike was the principle Guest of Honour for Concussion and it was a great pleasure to be able to host him at the launch party.
Eastercon was followed swiftly by the Arthur C Clarke Awards, presented this year at the Apollo Cinema in conjunction with the 2006 Sci-Fi London film festival. The SFF has supported the Clarke Award from the outset, nominating two judges and in recent years providing financial assistance to help keep the Award going. We would like to offer our congratulations to Geoff Ryman, author of winning novel Air, as well as to the other five shortlisted writers. We would also like to thank Paul Kincaid, who has stepped down after a lengthy and very busy stint as Award administrator; our best wishes go to Paul, and to his successor as chair of the judging panel, Paul Billinger.
Coming up next: our joint AGM Event at Conway Hall, London, on Saturday 13th May. As well as our respective AGMs, the day will feature guest speakers including Bruce Sterling, Juliet McKenna and Stephen Baxter. The event is free and open to all; more details here.
Simon Bradshaw
SFF Chair