Garden of Literacy – Sci-Fi Writing Workshop – Harriet Beecher Stowe Center

Making the Impossible Possible: The Art of Social Justice Speculative Fiction

Writing Workshop

April 20, 2024

Making the Impossible Possible: The Art of Social Justice Speculative Fiction

Saturday, April 20th

1:00 pm – 4:00 pm *

* This workshop will miss the Inheriting Freedom Children’s Tour starting at 3:00 pm

Max limit: 12 people | REGISTRATION REQUIRED

Cost: $35 per person

Though fantasy, horror, and science fiction are all distinct genres, they are united under the umbrella of “speculative fiction:” stories where the impossible suddenly becomes possible.

Works of speculative fiction often make predictions about the future or immerse their readers in entirely new worlds. But speculative fiction has also been used by many authors to comment on the social and political realities of the present. Writers have used speculative stories to consider ethical problems, to confront fears about social and technological change, and to critique systems of inequality such as classism, sexism, racism, colonialism, homophobia, and ableism.

In this 3-hour writing workshop, we will explore how we can use elements of speculative fiction to craft engaging, emotionally powerful stories that also function as thought-provoking social commentary. We will begin by discussing the short fiction of speculative writers such as Octavia Butler, Ray Bradbury, and Ken Liu. We will also work to craft our own original “novum,” or a fantastical story element that places a narrative outside the limits of strict realism. We will then learn the art of “mind mapping” stories, a process that allows us to anchor a novum in an engaging setting with rich characters and a compelling plot. Throughout our time together we will also discuss the power of fiction to help us build a better, more just world. As the writer and activist Walidah Imarisha once said: “Any time we try to envision a different world – without poverty, prisons, capitalism, war – we are engaging in science fiction.”

MORE WORKSHOP DETAILS

Location Stowe House Twins Room

Doors Open 1:00 pm

Program 1:00 - 4:00 pm

School Group Interest Form

School Group Interest Form 2023

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Adult Group Interest Form

Group Tour Interest Form 2022

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Yes

Isabella Beecher Hooker

Isabella Holmes Beecher Hooker (1822-1907)
An ardent member of the woman’s suffrage movement, Isabella Holmes Beecher Hooker joined in the cause along with Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony.

Isabella was the first child of Lyman Beecher and his second wife, Harriet Porter Beecher.

Isabella began her education at Catharine Beecher’s Hartford Female Seminary and lived with her sister Mary Perkins. In 1841 she married John Hooker, a descendant of Thomas Hooker, the founder of Hartford. John Hooker was a lawyer and an abolitionist.

In the early 1860s Isabella got involved in the woman’s suffrage movement. Isabella joined Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony as a member of the National Woman’s Suffrage Association in 1869. She was a founding member of the Connecticut Woman’s Suffrage Association. Isabella’s ideas of equality were influenced by John Stuart Mills’ On Liberty and the Subjection of Women.

In 1871, Isabella organized the annual convention of the National Woman’s Suffrage Association in Washington D.C. and presented her argument before the Committee on the Judiciary of the United States Senate. Her husband, John Hooker, believed in his wife and supported her activities. He helped Isabella draft a bill to the Connecticut Legislature giving married women the same property rights as their husbands. The bill passed in 1877. Isabella annually submitted a bill granting women the right to vote, but it did not pass in her lifetime.