Center for the Study of Science Fiction

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The Center for the Study of Science Fiction is an educational institution, associated with the University of Kansas, that emerged out of the science-fiction (SF) programs that James Gunn created there beginning in 1970.

In 1975, its supporters held its first Intensive English Institute on the Teaching of Science Fiction, which as of 2006 has continued as an annual event. In 1979, the John W. Campbell Memorial Award for the best science fiction novel of the year was presented for the first time as part of the Campbell Conference, devoted to the teaching and writing of SF.

The Center was formally created in 1982. In 1985, the first Writer's Workshop in Science Fiction was held, likewise as of 2006 an annual event. The Theodore Sturgeon Memorial Award for the best short SF of the year was added in 1987.

In 1991, Gunn's brother, Richard W. Gunn, a retired physician in Kansas City, created an endowment for the Center, and it was ceremonially renamed the J. Wayne and Elsie M. Gunn Center in honor of their parents.

The Center presented the Science Fiction and Fantasy Hall of Fame in cooperation with the Kansas City Society for Science Fiction and Fantasy, from 1996 to 2004.

James Gunn is Director of the Center, and authors Kij Johnson and Christopher McKitterick are Associate Directors.