Join the Kelly Writers House for an evening with speculative fiction writers Elwin Cotman (Dance on Saturday, Weird Black Girls), Alex Smith (Arkdust, Black Vans) and Margaret Killjoy (The Sapling Cage, We Won't Be Here Tomorrow). Each author will share their work and join in conversation on the role of the literature of the imagination--fantasy, science fiction, Afrofuturism, magical realism--in speaking urgent truths and holding up a mirror to society. As Ursula LeGuin said, "I think hard times are coming when we will be wanting the voices of writers who can see alternatives to how we live now -- the realists of a larger reality." The evening is hosted by Abbey Mei Otis, Penn Artist-in-Residence and author of Alien Virus Love Disaster.
ELWIN COTMAN is a storyteller from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. He is the author of four speculative story collections and one poetry collection. He is a winner of the 2025 Whiting Award in Fiction. His debut novel,The Age of Ignorance, is scheduled for publication in 2027.
MARGARET KILLJOY is a transfeminine author, podcaster, and musician. She is the host of the radical history podcast Cool People Who Did Cool Stuff, the lead songwriter for the feminist black metal band Feminazgûl, and the author of numerous books including the Danielle Cain series and The Sapling Cage, the latter of which was shortlisted for the 2025 Ursula Le Guin Prize for Fiction. She spends most of her time in Appalachia, hanging out with her dog.
ALEX SMITH is a speculative fiction writer, collage artist, and vocalist, keyboardist, and lyricist in avant-garde punk bands Rainbow Crimes and Solarized. He draws from influences like science fiction, Dadaism, and comic art, bending their conventions to frame the creativity, survival, and hopefulness of queer and Black people. He curates two recurring series: a queer sci-fi reading series titled Laser Life, which he also founded, and what Smith describes as a “retro-futurist electro mash-up art-jam,” Chrome City. Smith has lectured and held workshops on the practical application of Afrofuturism and sci-fi and fantasy tropes in art at Moogfest, Moore College of Art & Design, the Tyler School of Art and Architecture at Temple University, Vox Populi, and Swarthmore College.