Peggy Rae Sapienza Named Kate Wilhelm Solstice Award Winner

Peggy Rae Sapienza. Photo by Moshe Feder.

Peggy Rae Sapienza. Photo by Moshe Feder.

The Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America has posthumously honored Peggy Rae Sapienza (1944-2015) with the Kate Wilhelm Solstice Award for her activities in support of science fiction and fantasy.

SFWA will announce a second recipient of the Kate Wilhelm Solstice Award on January 31.

Sapienza joins the ranks of previous Solstice Award winners, including Octavia Butler, James Tiptree, Jr., Tom Doherty, Carl Sagan, and Stanley Schmidt. The award will be presented at the 52nd Annual Nebula Conference and Awards in Pittsburgh, PA May 18th-21st, 2017.

If anyone was born into science fiction, it was Peggy Rae McKnight (1944-2015), whose father, Jack McKnight famously missed most of the 1953 Worldcon because he was creating the first Hugo Award trophies. She attended her first science fiction convention in 1956 and met her first husband, Bob Pavlat at her first Worldcon in 1960. Over the years, Sapienza was active in fanzine fandom as well as convention running. At Constellation in 1983, she and Pavlat received the Big Heart Award, shortly after Bob died. Science fiction wouldn’t release Peggy Rae. Active in local convention running, she also worked many Worldcon press offices and created the modern Worldcon fan concourse.

In 1998, she chaired Bucconeer, the Baltimore Worldcon, and the following year married John Sapienza. She was proud of her role in Nippon 2007, the first Japanese Worldcon. In 2012, Sapienza was named a Guest of Honor for Chicon 7, that year’s Worldcon. She also co-chaired the 2014 World Fantasy Convention before her death in January 2015. The Peggy Rae Sapienza Endowment at Northern Illinois University is named in her honor and helps support the SFWA Collection at the library.

During the 2000s, she became active in helping run events for SFWA, including the New York Reception and the Nebula Weekends. She co-chaired the 2010 Nebulas in Cocoa Beach and then chaired the Washington Nebulas in 2011 and 2012. She continued to help SFWA run its events and publish its magazine until shortly before her death.

The Nebula Awards will be presented during the annual SFWA Nebula Conference, which will run from May 18-21 and feature a series of seminars and panel discussions on the craft and business of writing, SFWA’s annual business meeting, and receptions. On May 19, a mass autograph session will take place at Pittsburgh Marriott City Center and is open to the public.

Visit nebulas.sfwa.org to find out more information and to register for the SFWA Nebula Conference.

[Based on SFWA’s press release.]

4 thoughts on “Peggy Rae Sapienza Named Kate Wilhelm Solstice Award Winner

  1. An excellent choice. Peggy Rae made people who she worked with do so much more than they thought they could.

  2. What a wonderful surprise, albeit more emotional than it might have been had I literally not just finished watching Arrival. Mom took so much joy from fandom, and gave so much to make sure everyone felt as included as she did. I’ll be there, and will encourage Eric and John to come as well. Thanks for posting, Mike!

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