With Every Year, Kaleidocast Finds More Ways to Connect to Brooklyn
Brooklyn Speculative Fiction Writers is all about helping its members become professional writers. Kaleidocast was created to be a showcase and market for stories from the perspective of New Yorkers, but especially Brooklynites. The Octavia Project uses speculative fiction as a lens through which to help girls and nonbinary youth from Brooklyn envision new futures and greater possibilities for our world. Looking back, I can't believe the idea to combine our forces didn't occur to me earlier.
The Meeting
I met with Meghan McNamara, Octavia Project's co-founder and executive director, in front of the Brooklyn Museum. We'd met years before when I attended one of their first fundraisers in DUMBO. As soon as I told her what I was planning, she came to the same conclusion I had: why hadn't we done this earlier! The goals of both organizations are different rails on the same track.
Kaleidocast will do three things:
Offer Octavia Project alumni a path to professional publication on the Kaleidocast.
Offer mentorship to select alumni to help them along this path.
Donate a months worth of our income to the Octavia Project once our Patreon hits 100 subscribers.
The Collaboration is Already in the Works
We can't wait for the day we get to publish these rising stars next to the best speculative fiction writers working today, like N.K. Jemisin, Phenderson Djéli Clark, and Zin E. Rocklyn!
We've already gotten to work making this dream into a reality. There is a lot of coordination going on in the background. Expect to hear more about the work we're doing as we move into the new year. But please, don't wait to donate! The sooner we get to 100 subscribers, the sooner we make our donation. So please, subscribe to our Patreon.