Michi Trota Resigns as SFWA Editor-in-Chief

Michi Trota, right, at the 2017 Hugo ceremony.

The Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America announced today that Michi Trota has resigned SFWA Editor-in-Chief.

Trota took the job in December 2019, and for the last year-and-a-half has built up SFWA’s Publications department, defining many of the roles and processes that will enable the SFWA staff to continue producing The Bulletin, the annual Nebula Showcase Anthology, the monthly member newsletter The Singularity, and the bimonthly New Releases Newsletter.

Trota shared the following statement at the SFWA Blog

It has been a pleasure and an honor to serve as SFWA Editor-in-Chief. Being the first person of color to step into this role at SFWA was an opportunity I had never envisioned for myself, and I can’t thank former president Mary Robinette Kowal, current president Jeffe Kennedy, and both recent and current board members for providing the support, resources, and autonomy necessary for me to succeed in this role. Their actions have set a gold standard for what I will look for in future roles with other organizations, and I’m excited to apply what I’ve learned with SFWA to my ever-expanding editorial role at the BIPOC-led news organization Prism

I’m sad to leave, but beyond proud of the work that I was able to accomplish during my time at SFWA. I have the utmost faith and trust in the SFWA publications team—Managing Editor Kevin Wabaunsee, Art Director Lauren Raye Snow, Blog Editor C.L. Clark, Communications Manager Rebecca Gomez Farrell, as well as our incredible volunteers—to continue evolving and building SFWA Publications into more than I could imagine. Thank you to everyone who made my time with SFWA such a wonderful experience. I can’t wait to see what’s next.

The SFWA Board said the remaining publications team team and SFWA’s executive staff will continue working on all existing projects. This includes The Bulletin’s 2021 Winter/Spring double issue, which has been delayed but is now expected to be released in August. Guest editors Sascha Stronach and Yilin Wang will be in charge of curating its next two issues, as previously announced.

They anticipate releasing Nebula Showcase #55 in August, and aim to release #56 by the end of the year. They also said their newsletters have come out on a mostly regular schedule for the past year, and they expect that to continue. 

Michi Trota is a multiple Hugo Award winner, British Fantasy Award winner, and the first Filipina to win a Hugo Award. She also has over 25 years of editorial and production experience in publishing and communications. She served as Uncanny: A Magazine of Science Fiction and Fantasy’s Managing Editor (2014-2019) and Nonfiction Editor (2019). Her nonfiction has been published in The Book SmugglersInvisible: An Anthology of Representation in SF/F, and Chicago Magazine, and she was the exhibit text writer of Worlds Beyond Here: Expanding the Universe of APA Science Fiction (2018-2019) at the Wing Luke Museum in Seattle, WA. She is shortlisted for the 2021 Ignyte Awards’ Ember Award for unsung contributions to genre.