Welcome to the Clarion blog at blog.ucsd.edu/clarion. This is NOT a chronicle of the Clarion Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers’ Workshop that occurs every summer (since 2007) here on the UCSD campus. This is rather a place to chat about ways that Clarion can build out to the larger community of sf and fantasy readers and writers, and to start a dialogue around Clarionish stuff. Things like:

  • Clarion and the Cons. What’s the best way to participate in and with the Cons to the benefit of Clarion, its students and alumni, and the fan base?
  • Clarion, sf and fantasy, and K-12 education. For many young readers, sf and fantasy are the fields that provide their ‘first contact’ with literature. For many techies and scientists, sf was the field that kindled their interest in science or math. How does Clarion play a role in both those fields?
  • Clarion and the YA market: the young adult fiction market is booming, but Clarion isn’t a name in that arena. Should we be? How?
  • Clarion, UCSD’s Literature Department and UC overall. The Clarion Workshop is a significant opportunity for UCSD’s Literature Department; and UCSD and UC’s resources in this area — the Eaton Science Fiction Collection at UC Riverside, Darkstar at UCSD — are strong, but how to leverage them? Should we leverage them?