Going back to the country’s independence in 1816, Argentina has been a rich source of genre and genre-adjacent fiction. Most will be aware of Jorge Luis Borges – the father of magical realism – but there’s also Silvina Ocampo, Carlos Gardini, and Angélica Gorodischer, whose 1979 mosaic novel
Trafalgar was finally translated into English in 2013 thanks to Small Beer Press. The last few years have seen a resurgence in contemporary Argentine speculative fiction, with writers such as Cesar Aira, Martin Felipe Castagnet, Pola Oloixarac, Mariana Enriquez, Agustina Bazterrica, and Samanta Schweblin producing a slew of critically acclaimed novels and short fiction. This month I can add two more writers to that list: Guillermo Saccomanno and Dolores Reyes.
Washington STEAM Multilingual Academy (WSMA) in Pasadena CA announced a new science fiction writing contest named in honor of alumnus Octavia E. Butler. Last year, the school renamed its library after Butler as well. Librarian Natalie Daily said,
It’s the idea of [Butler] representing a very, unique way of integrating science and the arts, and bringing that to the world and her award-winning writing. And we want to inspire our students to have a love of reading and writing as she had, and kind of spur that type of connection to reading and writing and STEAM throughout our school.
Alix E. Harrow was born November 9, 1989 in Idaho and grew up in Colorado and Kentucky. She went to Berea College at age 16, graduating in 2009 with a degree in history. She worked various jobs, including as a research assistant, cashier, housekeeper, instructional designer, and migrant farmworker, before earning a master’s in history at the University of Vermont. She taught history at Eastern Kentucky University before becoming a full-time writer. Harrow lives in Kentucky with her husband and two children.
She began publishing with story “A Whisper in the Weld” in Shimmer (2014) and won a Hugo Award for short story “A Witch’s Guide to Escape: A Practical Compendium of Portal Fantasies” (2018), also a World Fantasy and Nebula Award finalist. “Do Not Look Back, My Lion” (2019) was a Hugo Award finalist, too.
Taron Johnson picked off Lamar Jackson and returned it for a 101-yard touchdown as the Buffalo Bills cashed in on a third-quarter collapse from the Baltimore Ravens to book a place in their first AFC Championship game since the 1993-94 season with a 17-3 victory.