Isis Asare Appointed SFWA’s Newest Executive Director

Asare, a seasoned literary arts executive, is committed to elevating the work of Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers 

San Francisco, CA | July 10, 2025 – On June 4, 2025, Isis Asare became the fifth Executive Director of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers Association, following in the footsteps of Kate Baker, Jane Jewell, and Sharon Lee over the organization’s dynamic history. Asare will work closely with current SFWA Board President Kate Ristau and Operations Director Russell Davis (the previous Interim Executive Director) to execute the strategic direction set by the SFWA Board of Directors. With her appointment, Asare becomes the first African-American Executive Director in SFWA’s sixty-year history. 

“Continuing the legacy of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers Association is a true honor,” says Isis Asare. “It was a privilege to present the Nebula Award for Best Novel to John Wiswell for Someone You Can Build a Nest In, and I cheered as A. W. Prihandita became the first Indonesian to win – or even be nominated for – the prestigious Nebula Award for Best Novelette, for ‘Negative Scholarship on the Fifth State of Being.’ It is a joy to celebrate the work of speculative fiction writers that inspire all readers to imagine futures beyond our wildest dreams.”

Since the Nebulas in Kansas City, Asare has been deeply engaged in active discussions with SFWA’s Board of Directors, staff, volunteers, industry peers, and the general SFF community. Just this past weekend, Isis held a fireside chat at BayCon, gathering feedback from broader speculative writers about what they need from SFWA in the way of education, outreach, advocacy, and defense going forward. “I had a great time connecting with Bay Area SFWA members and the broader science fiction and fantasy community!” says Isis. 

For Isis, this is only the beginning of a summer of engaged presence in our community. You can find Isis with SFWA’s team at Seattle Worldcon in August. Asare will also be attending and curating the SFWA stage at the Baltimore Book Festival in September. 

Together with the broader community at SFWA, plans have already coalesced around SFWA’s First Quasar Conference–an online continuation of the joy and professional excellence experienced by those who attended this year’s Nebula Conference, slated for November  2025. The conference is open to all, and focused on creatives seeking to develop tools to further their speculative fiction writing careers. In addition, SFWA’s dynamic volunteer committees are launching the Constellation Series, recurring virtual professional development events, happening in September and December.

The team behind the scenes is working to reinvigorate peer networks with other advocacy organizations, develop new membership benefits while enhancing existing opportunities for creator uplift, and form a more resilient front against industry excesses. We’re opening new chapters on critical discussions around defense against corporate overreach and unethical AI. But most of all, we’re listening: actively, curiously, and enthusiastically.

“After a year of change and transition, we are looking forward to shifting our gaze outward – to supporting our community and offering a way forward in the face of political and societal unrest,” says Kate Ristau. “We see the frustration, anger, pain, and desire of our community to work toward a brighter future, and we are here for it. We know we are stronger together, and with Isis’ leadership, we are ready to make SFWA a space where creators can dream more ambitiously about the world ahead.”

Isis Asare is a queer Afrofuturist, technology entrepreneur, Stanford, Harvard, and Columbia alum, and the CEO/Founder of Sistah Scifi, the first Black-owned bookstore focused on science fiction and fantasy in the United States (as validated by the American Booksellers Association). She was honored as Norwescon 47’s Special Guest of Honor. Isis comes to SFWA from a background of intersectional feminist practice, after serving as the Executive Director of Aunt Lute Books, a nonprofit press with a four-decade history of championing underrepresented authors.

This dynamic background, spanning a range of communication and conflict-resolution styles across industries, shapes her/their desire to cultivate a space at SFWA where more conversation can happen, and where consensus on next steps can be achieved through a thoughtful inclusion of different points of view. SFWA is home to both traditional and transformative forms of SFF, and that wide array of approaches to the genre is not a source of schism. Rather, it is the rich foundation of creative practice on which the next phase of our advocacy journey – and our community uplift – will unfold.

Follow @sfwa.bsky.social‬ or @sfwa_inc on Instagram for updates on where to find Isis and the rest of SFWA’s staff and volunteers at future events!

We look forward to listening and learning with you soon.