Learn
Community
Sirens is a community as much as it is a conference. Only through communal engagement, learning, and caretaking can we seek to build the blueprints for better worlds that progressive speculative fiction has dreamed. But communities are a shared experience—and shared experiences require care, work, and intentional, respectful engagement from all members.
At its best, Sirens will offer you space in which to learn and grow, and we very much hope that you engage with those opportunities. We must all acknowledge, however, that shared experiences are not always equal experiences; communities require that you give, sometimes more than you receive. We are providing you space in which to grow and presenters who will help you do so. But we simultaneously require that you respect others’ space—and their hope, joy, and respite. To help us all contribute thoughtfully to the Sirens community, we have created Community Guidelines.
Even as Sirens is a more protected space for people of marginalized genders, we seek to create even more protected spaces for the following communities: BIPOC people, LGBTQIA+ people, and a coalition of disabled, neurodivergent, and chronically ill people. We have created affinity groups by and for these communities ahead of Sirens—you can join on our Discord—and we will have special programming by these communities for only these communities at Sirens.
Teach at Sirens
Every Sirens attendee is a reader of speculative fiction—whether your love is science fiction, fantasy, horror, dystopia, fabulism, or something else—and every Sirens attendee’s voice, as a reader, is a valid and valuable part of our community. Many attendees are also accomplished in other relevant fields, such as academia, criticism, education, library science, publishing, bookselling, activism, community-building, creative writing, fandom, cosplay, and crafts, among other arenas.
The Sirens community is a deliberately egalitarian gathering of lifelong learners with common interests—and we save space at Sirens for our attendees to teach the community as well. You might present on your insights as a reader; data gathered as an educator, librarian, academic, or bookseller; or practical tools that you’ve used to build progressive communities. We do hope that, whether you are new to Sirens, new to your field, or even new to speculative fiction, that you believe that your thoughts are a worthy addition to the Sirens community—and consider applying to teach at Sirens. Please go here to learn more about how to do so:
