People

Pat Cadigan - President

Renowned SFF author Pat Cadigan is the author of myriad of novels and short stories, and considered a formative voice within cyberpunk in particular. Long-serving Vice President of the BSFA, Pat became our President in 2020.

Tade Thompson - Vice President

Tade Thompson writes books, short stories and screenplays. He's a south London boy who now lives in Hampshire.

He is no longer sure if he's a doctor who moonlights as a writer, or a writer who daylights as a doctor.

Lecturer at Coventry University. He worked on the computer games Elite Dangerous (2014), Chaos Reborn (2016) and Phoenix Point (2019), developing world backgrounds, plot and fiction. He has written short stories, novels and music. His new science fiction novel, Fearless came out in September 2020.

Farah Mendlesohn - Treasurer

Farah has lost track of all the things Farah has done, but most recently they included securing a PGDip in Charity Accounting. Although the BSFA is not a charity, this seemed a reasonable qualification for taking on the role of Treasurer.

Andre Garzia - Membership Officer

Andre is a writer and software developer. He’s a hybrid author but favours self-publishing because owning your own platform is important, also he secretly enjoys tinkering with ePubs. Andre has written multiple non-fiction books and been featured in two Brazilian short story anthologies. If the procrastination gods smile upon his fate, he hopes to publish his first novella in 2023.

Francis Gene-Rowe is an sf scholar who works on Philip K. Dick, William Blake, Ursula K. Le Guin, tabletop gaming, ecocriticism, sf poetry and goblin futures. He codirects the London Science Fiction Research Community and is one of the Science Fiction Research Association's UK Representatives. He also serves on the editorial board of Palgrave Science Fiction and Fantasy's A New Canon series. In his spare time he plays, writes and sometimes designs tabletop games.

Eugen Bacon (you-gin) - Councillor

The artist sometimes known as Eugen Bacon is non-android, full-blooded with two masters degrees and a doctorate in computing and writing respectively. The said qualifications do not endear this artist to editors any more than other artists. With much grovelling, repeat submissions, and sometimes fierceness, the artist has managed to secure publications in literary, scholarly and speculative fiction journals or magazines worldwide. Her novella Ivory’s Story was shortlisted in the 2020 British Science Fiction Association (BSFA) Awards.

Gene Rowe - Councillor

Gene Rowe should not be confused with fellow councillor, Francis Gene-Rowe, who is an entirely different human being with a freakishly similar name. This Gene is an academic who has published many 'worthy' non-fiction articles, but is most proud of his first sci-fi novel (The Greater Game, White Cat Publications, 2021). He has co-edited the BSFA's 'Fission' anthology with Eugen Bacon since 2022. When not scribbling, Gene can usually be found propped against a bar, nursing a pint of IPA.

Emily Inkpen  - Social Media Officer

Emily spends her working hours copywriting for Marmalade Game Studio, and the rest of her time writing for herself. Her debut novel is repped and being submitted to publishers, her audio drama series is about to launch, and her twitter following just keeps growing. When not writing, Emily can be found in her garden, or venturing through Skyrim.

Stewart Hotston - Councillor

Stewart is an author who spends his days working in finance and his weekends running LARP events. When not busy fencing or running or making ice cream he's also to be found writing criticism of popular culture and, basically, loves being a nerd.

Shayna Newham-Joynes  - Diversity Officer

Shayna is a Creative with a background in Events Production and is an aspiring Screenwriter. As a member of the Chronic illness Community she knows too well the difficulties she and other disabled folk face and hopes to bring that knowledge and experience to BSFA.

Awards Officer  Elizabeth Lutgendorff

Liz works in tech, but not-so-secretly has a PhD in 20th century history. She loves cycling, video games, comics and of course reading science fiction.

Polina Levontin - Vector Managing Editor

Polina has co-edited Vector, the critical journal of the BSFA, since 2018. She is also a science researcher in environmental policy, with particular interests in communicating risk and improving decision-making in complex multi-stakeholder situations.

Phoenix Alexander - Vector Editor in Chief

Phoenix Alexander (he/him) is the Jay Kay and Doris Klein Librarian for Science Fiction and Fantasy at the University of California, Riverside, where he curates one of the world’s largest collections of catalogued science fiction.

Susan Oke - The BSFA Review Editor

Susan Oke is a science fiction novelist and short story writer. Website. Twitter: @sueoke

Dev Agarwal - Focus Editor

Dev is a science fiction and fantasy writer, living in London. He is editor of Focus and also contributes to the other BSFA publications, Vector and The BSFA Review.

Mark Bilsborough - Writing Groups Officer

Mark Bilsborough is a writer and editor from Sheffield currently living in Maidenhead. He has numerous short science fiction and fantasy stories in various magazines, is the editor of Wyldblood Magazine and other Wyldblood Press titles, reviews for SF Concatenation and co-ordinates the BSFA’s Orbit novel groups. He teaches, amongst other things, creative writing, which he studied at Brunel University.  He’s an Odyssey graduate. 

Sam Fleming - Writing Groups Officer

Sam Fleming is a Scottish specfic writer living in north-east Scotland whose writing mantra is, "Nothing unnecessarily unbelievable." Their work can be found in anthologies including the Best of Apex Magazine Volume 1, Clockwork Phoenix 5, and the Reinvented Heart. By day, Sam works in the environmental sector. Find more about Sam at https://www.ravenbait.com.

Dave Lally - International Officer

A frequent presence at SF conventions in the UK and beyond, Dave is the BSFA's International Officer. Dave is also Director and Joint Co-Secretary of the BSFA, and was  Membership Officer from 2014-2020.

Shellie Horst -  Events Officer (Hull)

Shellie is a speculative fiction writer and critic. Website. Twitter: @millymollymo

Robyn Moore - Events Officer

Robyn is an avid reader, game player and sometimes forgets that we don’t already live on other planets.

Works in London as a project manager during the day.

Joined the BSFA as an events officer in 2023.

Shana Worthen -  Events Officer (BSFA Lecture)

Shana is an academic whose research interests include Medieval and Early Modern technologies. Shana organises the annual BSFA lecture, which takes place most years at Eastercon.

Alex Bardy - Designer (The BSFA Review)

As well as working with Sue on our digital reviews zine The BSFA Review, Alex did the layout and design for all our prestigious BSFA Awards booklets from 2012-2019, is a games designer, and the editor of Tabletop SPIRIT Magazine. Alex also edited the BSFA publication Through the Decades: Sixty Years of the BSFA: 1958-2018.

Seth Thomas's passion for literature is something that stems back to his earliest years. He's currently working towards a doctorate in German Studies at Cornell University, where his research focuses on violence, terror and the state -- themes that SF has always loved to explore. In addition to his academic work, he also enjoys art of bookmaking. Whether it is the actual act of binding the pages, or simply creating a layout in inDesign, it's all fun for Seth.