ADMISSION & CAMPUS ACCESS:
Admission is free. Reservations are required. Campus access is limited to registered guests and USC students, staff, and faculty with current USC ID. 

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DESCRIPTION:
Join science-fiction authors Ryka Aoki, Micaiah Johnson, and Brent Lambert for readings and a conversation that delve into the fascinating world of science fiction and its intersection with queer narratives. The authors will share their journeys of how they became interested in sci-fi and why this genre became a channel for their creative process, and explore how it sparks imagination, defies conventions, and inspires visions of tomorrow. The conversation will be moderated by Dr. Phoenix Alexander, a sci-fi writer and Jay Kay and Doris Klein Librarian for Science Fiction and Fantasy at the University of California, Riverside.

Following the conversation, attendees are invited to enjoy a reception, book signings, and the galleries of the USC Fisher Museum of Art. This event is presented in conjunction with the PST ART exhibition Sci-Fi, Magick, Queer L.A.: Sexual Science and the Imagi-Nation (August 22–November 23, 2024).

Bios:

Ryka Aoki is a poet, composer, teacher, and novelist. Her latest novel, Light From Uncommon Stars, was an Alex, SCKA, and Otherwise award winner, and was also a finalist for the Hugo, Locus, and Ignyte awards. She is a two-time Lambda Literary Award finalist for her collections Seasonal Velocities and Why Dust Shall Never Settle Upon This Soul. Her first novel, He Mele a Hilo, was called one of the “10 Best Books Set in Hawaii” by Book Riot. Aoki has been recognized by the California State Senate for “extraordinary commitment to the visibility and well-being of Transgender people,” and her work has appeared or been recognized in publications including Vogue, Elle, Bustle, Autostraddle, PopSugar, and Buzzfeed, as well as the Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center.

Micaiah Johnson is the Compton Crook Award–winning author of The Space Between Worlds and Those Beyond the Wall. Her debut novel was a Sunday Times best seller, an Editors’ Choice at the New York Times, and named one of best books of 2020 and one of the best science fiction books of the last decade by NPR. She was raised in California's Mojave Desert surrounded by trees named Joshua and women who told stories. She studies at Vanderbilt University, where she focuses on critical race theory and automatons.

Brent Lambert is a Black, queer man who heavily believes in the transformative power of speculative fiction across media formats. As a founding member of FIYAH Literary Magazine, he turned that belief into action and became part of its Hugo Award–winning team. He resides in San Diego but spent a lot of time moving around as a military brat. His family roots are in the Cajun country of Louisiana. Currently, he has a novella, A Necessry Chaos, out on Neon Hemlock and is part of the cyberpunk/solarpunk anthology Fighting for the Future and Black horror anthology All These Sunken Souls. He has upcoming fiction appearing in the anthologies I Want That Twink Obliterated and Beating Hearts & Battle-Axes. 

Dr. Phoenix Alexander (moderator) 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 cataloged science fiction. Alexander is also a queer, Greek-Cypriot scholar and writer of science fiction whose work has appeared in The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, Beneath Ceaseless Skies, Escape Pod, and Science Fiction Studies, among others. He is a full member of the Science Fiction Writers Association (SFWA) and the Horror Writers Association (HWA).

Presented by USC Visions and Voices. Organized by the USC Fisher Museum of Art and ONE Archives at the USC Libraries.

Art: Grace Talbert, Vomaiden, cover of Voice of the Imagi-Nation no. 19, November 1941. 14 x 8.5 in. (35.6 x 21.6 cm). ONE Archives at the USC Libraries.