John Scalzi is running for President of SFWA. His announcement on Whatever lists changes he wants to lead the writers’ organization to make. They sound good to me, although I’ve never been part of the conversation to know whether they’re popular suggestions or why the changes haven’t already been made.
John outlines his career as a professional writer in case anyone is unfamiliar with it, which seems possible only if the person has been living under a rock for the past 5 years. It’s quite a remarkable record. In fact, John must have felt he needed to tone it down because he uncharacteristically hides his light under a bushel when it comes to the Hugo Awards:
In the genre my work has been nominated for seven Hugo Awards, including three Best Novel nominations (in 2006, 2008 and 2009). I have been awarded two Hugos.
Two Hugos, absolutely true: the 2009 Best Related Book Hugo, and the 2007 Best Fan Writer Hugo. Think about it. When was the last time SFWA elected a Hugo-winning fanwriter to run the organization? Exactly, never. This could be history in the making.
Not that I want to cheat former SFWA President Robert Silverberg (1967-1968) of any credit he deserves in this line, but his 1951 Retro Hugo for Best Fanwriter was voted to him more than three decades after he left office. He didn’t have the award on his resume when SFWA members chose him to lead them.
And if Jo Walton has her way I’ll eventually have to qualify this bit of science fictional trivia with a second note. Jo recently told readers of her LiveJournal that she’s nominating another past President of SFWA, Fred Pohl, as Best Fan Writer:
James Nicoll just pointed out that Fred Pohl’s awesome blog which I’ve mentioned here before would be eligible to be nominated for the fan writer Hugo. Yes, it would. And I’m so going to nominate it.
Isn’t that special?