Clarion

From 2010-2021, I served as Director of the Clarion Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers' Workshop at UCSD. Founded in 1968, Clarion moved to UCSD in 2007 and is now a part of the Arthur C. Clarke Center for Human Imagination.  In recognition of my service, I was honored to receive the Science Fiction Research Association’s 2023 Thomas D. Clareson Award, which is presented annually for “outstanding service activities--promotion of SF teaching and study, editing, reviewing, editorial writing, publishing, organizing meetings, mentoring, and leadership in SF/fantasy organizations.”

Clarion Class of 2018 starting front row and left to right moving back:: Senaa Ahmad, Ashlee Lhamon, Katherine Mead-Brewer, Daniela Tomova, Amanda Weiss, Silvia Park, Kathy Nguyen, Alanna Faelan, Mel Kassel, Ploi Pirapokin, Shelley Streeby (Clarion Faculty Director), Gavin J. Grant (anchor team instructor), Eliza Rose, D.M. Armstrong, Nicolas Anstett, Christian Opperman, Kelly Link (anchor team instructor), Beston Barnett, Katherine Hernandez, Audrey Hollis, Patrick Coleman (Clarion coordinator), and Shane Moring. Photo credit: Michelle Fredricks, Division of Physical Sciences, UC San Diego.

CLARION 2017

Back Row, left to right: Karen Osborne, Shelley Streeby, Luke Fredland, Amman Sabet, Ashley Mullins, Nina Niskanen, Amy Parker, Partrick Doerksen, Ted McCombs, Amanda Williams, Ren Arcamone

Front row: left to right: Margaret Jameson, Macky Cruz, Emily Lundgren, Jane Pinckard, Lucy Smith, Rachel Richardson, Sanjena Sathian, Ghislaine Lai, Rae Carson, Charlie Finlay

CLARION 2016

Row 1: Anchor Team Instructor Ellen Kushner, Anchor Team Instructor Delia Sherman, Giovanni De Feo, Jenn Grunigen, Jack Sullivan

Row 2: Mackenzie Smith, Benjamin Sloan, Emily Cataneo, Derek So, Grant Shephert

Row 3: Maggie Cooper, Faculty Director Shelley Streeby, Jen Julian, Kathleen Kayembe, Jaymee Goh

Row 4: Alan Lin, Marykate Jasper

Row 5: Kendra Fortmeyer, Sunil Patel, Jordy Rosenberg

CLARION 2014

Back row, left to right:: Manish Melwani, Nino Cipri, Amin Chehelnabi, Ryan Campbell, Ellie Rhymer, Harry Markov, Noah Keller, Jeff Vandermeer, Zack Lisabeth, Marian Womack

Middle row: Kiik Araki-Kawaguchi, Sarena Ulibarri, Kristen Roupanian, Shelley Streeby, Amanda Fitzwater, Tamara Vardomskaya, Ann Vandermeer, Kayla Whaley

Front row: Martin Cahill, Leena Likitalo, Vida Cruz

CLARION 2013

Back row from left to right: Andy Duncan (Instructor), Matt Schnarr, Christian Coleman, Sophia Echavarria, Thom Dunn, Will Kaufman, Patrick Ropp, Brandon Haller, Angus McIntyre

Front Row: Gabriela Santiago, Brandie Coonis, Jessica Cluess, Shelley Streeby (Faculty Director), Alyssa Wong, Marie Vibbert, Isabel Yap, Pieter Van Tatenhove, Eliza Rose

Missing: Kodiak Julian/Leah Hieber, Zach Grafton

CLARION 2012

Left to right: Lisa Bolekaja, Pierre Liebenberg, Deborah Bailey, Sam Mikker, Luke Pebler, Sadie Bruce, Emma Cosh, Dan Minn, Eliza Blair, Eric Esser, Shelley Streeby, Sarah Mack, Lara Donnelly, Danica Cummins, Joseph Kim, Jonathan Fortin, Christopher Kammerud, Jeff Ford, Carmen Machado, Ruby Obeyesekere

CLARION 2011

Left to Right: Nina Hoffman, Andy Stewart, Shelley Streeby, Timothy Susman, Mark Philps, Brooke Bolander, Todd Castillo, Jasmine Stairs, Rebecca Adams, James Worrad, Peta Freestone, Jacob Cholak, Brooke Wonders, Christopher Stabback, Gillian Daniels, Joshua Lewis, Jim Brady, Erin Stocks, Dennis Ginoza

Left to right: adrienne maree brown, Sara Saab, Dayna Smith, Shelley Streeby. Photo credit: James Patrick Kelly

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LINKS

Find out more about Clarion here on the Clarion website

Here is a link to the Clarion Workshop Archives at UCSD.

From Jeff Vandermeer's blog, here is a list of some of the best sentences written by each writer at Clarion 2014. 

Every brilliant piece of writing advice from Clarion 2012 by Sam Miller can be found here. 

Here is Haralambi Markov's "What Clarion Means to a Minority Writer"

Here is Lauren Naturale's "4 Reasons to Apply to Clarion Right Now"

"UC San Diego’s Clarion Workshop Teaches Promising Sci-Fi, Fantasy Talent," KPBS, 19 July 2017. 

Theodore McCombs, "A Clarion Field Report"