Seattle Worldcon 2025Hello, fellow travelers!
If you haven’t heard the news yet, the Hugo nomination period soon approaches! Let this week’s installment of Con-Verse be your reminder that if you haven’t gotten your WSFS Membership by the end of January, you will not be able to nominate works for the Hugo Awards when nominations open. And if you already have your membership, look out for more news about nominations soon!
When we started this Con-Verse-ation, we invited several standout poets to answer the pressing question of how to define and identify speculative poetry. Now that we’ve gotten that out of the way, we figured it was only fair to ask some poets some other, less philosophical but no less important questions about their work, what brought them into speculative poetry, and how they’ve been promoting the craft to the world. Today, we’re chatting with multiple-award-winning poet and SFPA Grand Master Mary Soon Lee!
Photo courtesy of Mary Soon Lee.Mary Soon Lee was born and raised in London, but has lived in Pittsburgh for thirty years. She is a Grand Master of the Science Fiction & Fantasy Poetry Association, and a three-time winner of both the AnLab Readers’ Award and the Rhysling Award. Her latest books are from opposite shores of the poetry ocean: How to Navigate Our Universe, containing how-to astronomy poems, and The Sign of the Dragon, a novel-length epic fantasy and winner of the 2021 Elgin Full-Length Book Award. Learn more about Mary’s work at marysoonlee.com.
How did you get into writing speculative poetry?
I used to run an in-person SFF writers’ workshop called the Pittsburgh Worldwrights. One of the members, Timons Esaias, started bringing in occasional poems. This led to me deciding to try my hand at speculative poetry.
What about speculative poetry do you enjoy?
Speculative poetry sits at the intersection of two things that I like: science fiction/fantasy and poetry. From the time, age 7 or 8, that I first read Alfred Lord Tennyson’s long poem “The Lady of Shalott,” I’ve loved speculative poetry.
You recently served on the poetry committee of the Science Fiction & Fantasy Writers Association, which just announced that there is a poetry award category for the Nebula Awards! What do you think is the importance of rewarding genre poetry in these award spaces?
I think awards acknowledge the worth of the endeavour and will hopefully bring more recognition to speculative poetry. With luck and fair winds, that may lead to more readers, more writers, [and] more openings for speculative poetry.
Your latest collection, The Sign of the Dragon, won the 2021 Elgin Full-Length Book Award, and its opening poem “Interregnum” won the 2014 Rhysling Award for Best Long Poem. Can you tell us more about this collection?
I wrote that opening poem, “Interregnum,” 11 and a bit years ago, intending it to be a stand-alone piece. But the boy in the poem stayed with me, and, a few weeks later, I wrote a second poem about him, and then I couldn’t stop! The Sign of the Dragon grew out of that first poem, and out of my own mixed heritage, and out of my love of fantasy. It’s an epic fantasy that tells the story of King Xau, chosen (spoiler warning!) by a dragon to be king. There are monsters, demons, wars, [and] horse magic; Chinese, Celtic, and Mongolian elements; fire, flood, [and] earthquake; plus a hero whom my family warned me might be too perfect.
An ebook edition of The Sign of the Dragon appeared early in the pandemic, and last week the first print edition was published, which contains, to my delight, 40 extraordinary illustrations by Gary McCluskey.
What is your favourite poem you’ve read recently?
“Robin’s Rest” by Lisa Timpf, which may be read online in the Outlaws issue of Eye to the Telescope.
You can read Mary’s poem “Interregnum” here.
That’s all for today, but look out for more interviews with other stunning poets in the future, interspersed with poetry breakdowns and much more.
Once again—don’t forget to get your membership for this year’s Worldcon if you have yet to renew or join! Not only will it allow you to nominate for the Hugos, including the 2025 Best Speculative Poem, a special award, but it will also allow you to vote on the winner once the ballot of finalists is prepared closer to the event. Plus, with an attending membership, you will get to enjoy all the lovely live poetry content that we plan to offer for you in Seattle!
Until next time, may tomorrow and your good days always rhyme!
https://seattlein2025.org/2025/01/27/con-verse-chatting-with-mary-soon-lee/
Seattle Worldcon 2025
Wendy Van Camp
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