Institute Co-Sponsors DIAD Speculative Fiction Project

Dartmouth College, through the Design Initiative at Dartmouth (DIAD), is pleased to announce "Speculation by Design: The Dartmouth Speculative Fiction Project." This groundbreaking interdisciplinary collaboration brings to the Dartmouth campus eight celebrated science fiction, fantasy, and horror writers to collaborate with a team of Dartmouth faculty members from diverse disciplines in order to create an anthology of short stories that ask questions and explore the future of humanity. The project is co-lead by faculty members Solomon Diamond (Engineering, DIAD) and Rebecca Clark (English) along with Paula Olson (DIAD), Hugo-Award winning editor Liz Gorinsky, and Dartmouth/Thayer alumnus Sharang Biswas.

Speculation by Design will be conducted in three phases. From April 13-16, authors will visit the Dartmouth campus for a series of events with the faculty team. The author/faculty pairs will participate in activities using design methods and mindsets to stimulate cross-disciplinary explorations of the professors' research. As part of this visit, authors and professors will conduct public readings and panel-discussions about speculative fiction today. Following the April visit, authors will remain in close correspondence with faculty as they write and refine the story. Finally, authors will participate in a symposium at Dartmouth in June to share their works-in-progress. Dartmouth students will also be invited to submit stories, with up to four student stories selected for inclusion in the anthology. Final publication of the anthology is expected in 2024.

"Speculation By Design'' features authors Bo Bolander (The Only Harmless Great Thing), Max Gladstone (This Is How You Lose the Time War), Sam J. Miller (The Art of Starving), Alice Sola Kim ("Mothers, Lock Up Your Daughters Because They Are Terrifying"), Andrea Kriz ("Learning to Hate Yourself as a Self-Defense Mechanism"), Nibedita Sen ("Ten Excerpts from an Annotated Bibliography on the Cannibal Women of Ratnabar Island"), and K. M. Szpara (First, Become Ashes), as well as professors Miles Blencowe (Physics & Astronomy), Jane Henderson (Geography), Kathryn Lively (Sociology), Alberto Quattrini Li (Computer Science), Hélène Seroussi (Engineering), Devin Singh (Religion), Adedoyin Teriba (Art History), and Peter Tse (Psychological and Brain Sciences). The anthology will be published by Lightspeed Magazine.

The project is made possible by leadership support from DIAD and the generosity of The Arthur L. Irving Institute for Energy and Society, The Dartmouth Department of English and Creative Writing, The Dartmouth Ethics Institute, The Leslie Center For Humanities, The Neukom Institute for Computational Science, The Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers Association, and The Society of Fellows at Dartmouth.

The Dartmouth Speculative Fiction Project: April Events

Please RSVP to the following events if you plan to attend! 

April 13, 2023
Collis Center Common Grounds with Still North Books & Bar, 5:30 - 6:45 p.m.
Join Professor Rebecca Clark, Hugo Award-winning editor Liz Gorinsky, and author and alumnus Sharang Biswas (D'12 Th'13) as well as Still North Books & Bar and Spare Rib, Dartmouth student intersectional feminist zine, for an evening of science fiction, fantasy and horror stories featuring works by Bo Bolander, Max Gladstone, Sam J. Miller, Alice Sola Kim, Andrea Kriz, Nibedita Sen, and K. M. Szpara. Professor Solomon Diamond, project faculty co-lead, will deliver opening remarks and the authors will sign previous works. Still North Books & Bar will provide books for purchase throughout the event.

April 14, 2023
Engineering and Computer Science Center Atrium, 10:00 - 4:15 p.m.
The Design Initiative at Dartmouth welcomes a cross-disciplinary group of professors to present a series of micro-talks about their research and how it pertains to the future of humanity. This event is part of the Dartmouth Speculative Fiction Project, which brings together a group of celebrated science fiction, fantasy, and horror writers to create new works that explore research by Dartmouth Faculty. Stop by anytime to catch a faculty research micro-talk! The micro-talks include professors Miles Blencowe (Physics & Astronomy), Jane Henderson (Geography), Kathryn Lively (Sociology), Alberto Quattrini Li (Computer Science), Hélène Seroussi (Engineering), Devin Singh (Religion), Adedoyin Teriba (Art History), and Peter Tse (Psychological and Brain Sciences).

April 15, 2023
Sawtooth Kitchen, 4:00 - 5:30 p.m.
Join a panel of celebrated science fiction, fantasy, and horror authors, along with Professor Rebecca Clark, Hugo-Award-winning editor Liz Gorinsky, and author and alumnus Sharang Biswas (D'12 Th'13), to discuss how the genre of speculative fiction informs literature, our lives, and the future of humanity. Food and drinks available for individual purchase before and after the panel. This event is part of the Dartmouth Speculative Fiction Project, which has invited authors Bo Bolander (The Only Harmless Great Thing), Max Gladstone (This Is How You Lose the Time War), Sam J. Miller (The Art of Starving), Alice Sola Kim ("Mothers, Lock Up Your Daughters Because They Are Terrifying"), Andrea Kriz ("Learning to Hate Yourself as a Self-Defense Mechanism"), Nibedita Sen ("Ten Excerpts from an Annotated Bibliography on the Cannibal Women of Ratnabar Island"), and K. M. Szpara (First, Become Ashes).