Imaginary worlds with their unique environments, species and cultures are often what draws readers to works of fantasy and science fiction. We wish to escape the mundane, but even the fantastic must allow readers to suspend disbelief. In this masterclass, award-winning fantasy and science fiction author and editor Nerine Dorman will take you on a journey to explore how you can create an entirely new world from the ground up, looking at everything from geography to the people and creatures who inhabit it. Will you flavour with magic or add speculative science as an extra spice in an otherwise realistic setting? Let’s talk world building, no matter how ‘out there’ your story is.
 

Nerine Dorman is an award-winning South African science fiction and fantasy author and editor based in Cape Town. Her novel Sing Down the Stars won the 2019 Sanlam Prize for Youth Literature (Gold) and the 2021 Percy FitzPatrick Award, while her novella The Firebird won the 2019 Nommo Award for Best Novella. She has contributed to numerous anthologies, including the award-winning Afro-Centered Futurism in Our Speculative Fiction. She also curates the South African Horrorfest Bloody Parchment event and short story competition and is a founding member of the SFF authors’ co-operative Skolion.