The Science of Story Experience

Clarion Science Fiction and Fantasy Writer’s Masterclass — Now Free with RSVP!

We’re thrilled to offer a limited number of FREE spots for the Clarion Science Fiction and Fantasy Writer’s Masterclass at UC San Diego — an immersive, day-long experience exploring the craft and power of speculative fiction. Whether you’re a writer, reader, or simply curious about how science, imagination, and storytelling collide, this is a unique opportunity to learn from acclaimed authors and artists.

👉 Spots are limited — RSVP by Sunday, July 20th to claim your place!

In the Clarion Science Fiction and Fantasy Writer’s Masterclass events, attendees will have a chance to learn the fundamentals of speculative fiction from faculty and recent alumni of the selective Clarion Writers’ Workshop. Since 1968 Clarion has been the premier proving ground for writers of science, fiction, fantasy and horror, and now the public will have access to these instructors, their keen approaches to craft, their rich knowledge of the field, and their understanding of the traditions that have fed into the strong legacy Clarion has built over the years.

Clarion instructors include: M.M. (Mara) Olivas (Sundown in San Ojuela), Sage Hoffman Nadeau (Meet Me Under the Molokhia), Zoe Young (United in Motherhood podcast, Nature’s Future is Our Future, head of Creative Content at The Nature Conservancy in California), Sanjana Sekhar (Expedition Reclamation, Cabbage Koora: A Prognostic Autobiography, Founder of GARMI), with Keynote Speaker & Afternoon Panel Moderator Annalee Newitz (author of Autonomous and The Terraformers; founder of io9; co-host of the Hugo Award–winning podcast Our Opinions Are Correct).

Admission: FREE

Includes:

• Breakfast and Lunch
• Morning masterclass session
• Lunch Key Note speaker
• Afternoon Panel
• Tickets to two events at the Epstein Family Amphitheater: Michael Giacchino’s Exotic Themes for the Silver Screen Live (July 22) and A conversation with Michael Giacchino and Pixar’s Pete Docter (July 23)

Sign Up

Event Schedule – Tuesday, July 22, 2025

Location: The Loft at UC San Diego 

Morning Session: Craft Seminar with M.M. Olivas
The Monstrous Queer, and Where We Go From Here
Explore Xicanxfuturism, horror genres, and cross-genre storytelling centered on queer indigeneity and diasporic experiences. Learn how to subvert genre tropes and translate visual storytelling techniques into unique prose.

Lunch Keynote: Annalee Newitz
The Science in Fiction
Science journalist and bestselling sci-fi author Annalee Newitz delves into how scientific ideas shape fiction, fantasy, horror, and even propaganda — through storytelling that bridges science and imagination.

Afternoon Panel: Grist Imagine 2200 Climate Fiction
Moderated by Annalee Newitz, this panel features recent winners of the Grist Imagine 2200 Prize — Sage Hoffman Nadeau, Zoe Young, and Sanjana Sekhar — discussing how climate fiction can inspire visions for an equitable, sustainable future. Imagine 2200 is Grist’s climate fiction initiative, engaging writers across the globe in envisioning the next 180 years of climate progress. Whether built on abundance or adaptation, reform or a new understanding of survival, the stories included in this project serve as a springboard for exploring how fiction can help us build toward a better reality. This panel discussion, hosted by Imagine 2200 prize judge Analee Newitz, and including recent winners Sage Hoffman-Nadea, Sanjana Sekhar and Zoe Young, will focus on literary genres that uplift equitable climate solutions and continued service to one’s community, even in the face of despair.

Analee Newitz – Keynote Speaker – The Science in Fiction – How scientific ideas get expressed in fantasy, horror, SF, and propaganda hallucinations. Annalee Newitz is a science journalist who also writes science fiction. They are the author of several bestselling books, including The Terraformers, which was nominated for the Nebula Award, and Four Lost Cities: A Secret History of the Urban Age. They have a monthly column in New Scientist magazine, and are the co-host of the Hugo-winning podcast Our Opinions Are Correct. Their forthcoming novella is Automatic Noodle, which drops in August 2025.

M.M. Olivas – Craft Seminar – The Monstrous Queer, and Where we go from Here: A craft seminar on Xicanxfuturism and horror genres as modalities that center queer indigeneity and diasporic experiences, with the intention of opening avenues to more diverse, cross-genre narratives. This seminar will focus on engaging with genre tropes, how to utilize the symbolism of them, their short hands, and how to subvert them. Olivas will also discuss her practice in translating the languages of other mediums into her fiction, such as the visual storytelling of cinema, to create unique ways to approach prose and voice. M. M. Olivas is an alumna of the Clarion Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers’ Workshop and the Lambda Literary Workshop. As a trans, first-generation Chicana, she explores the intersection of queer and diasporic experiences in her fiction. Her debut novel, Sundown in San Ojuela, won acclaim for portraying how indigenous and colonial pasts haunt the present.

Sanjana Sekhar is an author, filmmaker, and narrative strategist. Her work crafts “thrutopian” stories aimed at making climate action the hottest place to be, with a focus on reclaiming and healing extractive narratives to instead build a healthy human future on Earth. She’s been featured in Grist’s Imagine 2200 Climate Fiction anthology, the Hollywood Climate Summit, Tedx Climate AcrosstheAmericas, and the Webby Honorees, and she’s worked with organizations such as the Center for Cultural Power, Visit California, and The Washington Post. As the founder of creative studio GARMI, she is currently bringing her climate communication to auto-ethnographic newsletters, speculative fiction, music, and digital communications. Sanjana is based in Los Angeles on Tongva land.

Zoe Young is a San Francisco writer. You can read her work in McSweeney’s Quarterly Concern, Grist, Identity Theory Magazine, Anthropocene, Downbeat Magazine, and on multiple bathroom walls. Her dramatic works have been produced at Berkeley Rep and at venues throughout San Francisco. She holds an MFA from California College of the Arts, teaches Playwriting and Screenwriting at Berkeley City College, and served as Head of Creative Content for The Nature Conservancy in California. Zoe fronts a Bay Area punk band called The Furious Tits.