The 2008 Rhysling Winners

2008 Rhysling Award—Short Poem: F.J. Bergmann
F.J. Bergmann 2008 photoWinning poem: "Eating Light"

F.J. Bergmann joined SFPA recently, but is a widely published poet and has been a voracious SF reader for decades. She lives near Madison, WI, and tries to include specific wavelengths of the electromagnetic spectrum as a regular part of her diet.

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2008 Rhysling Award—Long Poem: Catherynne M. Valente
Winning poem: "The Seven Devils of Central California"

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Grand Master Award: Ray Bradbury
Ray Bradbury 2008 photoRay Bradbury has spent a lifetime, if not several by some standards, penning speculative poetry.

Unlike many speculative writers, Bradbury didn’t use poetry as a stepping-stone to fiction and then give it up. At 42, around the same time as Something Wicked This Way Comes first saw publication and a decade after other renowned works of fiction, The Martian Chronicles, The Illustrated Man, and Fahrenheit 451, all published in the early '50s, his first poem was published in Pro Football Magazine. His poetry collections were first published in the '70s.

Many editions of Bradbury’s verse have been published since the early 1970s, as well as two best-of collections, The Complete Poems of Ray Bradbury in 1981 and They Have Not Seen the Stars in 2001. His body of speculative poetry spans nearly 50 years.



2008 Rhysling Award Poetry Slan Participants
Andrea Hairston 2008 photo
Andrea Hairston. Photo by Elissa Malcohn.
Drew Morse 2008 photo
Drew Morse. Photo by Elissa Malcohn.
Erik Amundsen 2008 photo
Erik Amundsen. Photo by Elissa Malcohn.
Hildy Silverman 2008 photo
Hildy Silverman. Photo by Elissa Malcohn.
James Patrick Kelly 2008 photo
James Patrick Kelly. Photo by Elissa Malcohn.
JoSelle Vanderhooft 2008 photo
JoSelle Vanderhooft. Photo by Elissa Malcohn.
Joy Marchand 2008 photo
Joy Marchand. Photo by Elissa Malcohn.
Leah Bobet 2008 photo
Leah Bobet. Photo by Elissa Malcohn.
Mike Allen 2008 photo
Mike Allen. Photo by Elissa Malcohn.
Richard Chwedyk 2008 photo
Richard Chwedyk. Photo by Elissa Malcohn.
Sonya Taaffe 2008 photo
Sonya Taaffe. Photo by Elissa Malcohn.

Erik Amundsen 2008 photo
Erik Amundsen reads his poem "Crow Song & Earworm Ballad" from Goblin Fruit. Photo by Anita Allen.

Richard Chwedyk 2008 photo
Richard Chwedyk starts the reading; and managed to keep the crowd entertained with some impromptu clowning while ReaderCon staffers fixed a sound glitch. Photo by Anita Allen.

Joy Marchand 2008 photo
Joy Marchand reads her poem "Glass" from the anthology Poetry from the Trenches. Photo by Anita Allen.


Andrea Hairston 2008 photo
Andrea Hairston gives a dramatic performance of her surreal and poetic "Monster Streetlight" series. Photo by Anita Allen.
Drew Morse 2008 photo
Drew Morse reads his long poem nominee "First Light of Mars" before announcing the Rhysling winners. Photo by Anita Allen.
Elissa Malcohn 2008 photo
Elissa Malcohn reads her poem "First Contact in Appalachia." Photo by Anita Allen.
James Patrick Kelly 2008 photo
ReaderCon guest of honor Jim Kelly shares his poem "Lepidopteran." Photo by Anita Allen.
JoSelle Vanderhooft 2008 photo
JoSelle Vanderhooft reads from her collection The Handless Maiden. Photo by Anita Allen.
Andrea Hairston 2008 photo
Sonya Taaffe reads her epic and complex poem "Fasti," first published in Heliotrope. Photo by Anita Allen.

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