The Ad Astra Institute for Science Fiction & the Speculative Imagination is a nonprofit organization dedicated to mentoring spec-fic creators and educators and helping you reach your dreams. Though our directors have served as university professors for decades (or perhaps because of that), we've always believed that seeking a university education is seldom the best path toward publication or a professional career in the SF world. When asked for advice about pursuing an MFA (or especially a PhD) in creative writing as a path toward a writing career, we always first ask why the person asking hopes to pursue a degree - university graduate programs are primarily designed to produce college professors, not professional writers, and they very much aren't designed for fans and educators outside of college academia. Plus - even if a grad program is willing to work with speculative-fiction writers (and very few are, as many literature professors and critics "regularly mistake the file drawer labeled 'science fiction' for a urinal," per Vonnegut) - almost no university programs offer real mentorship with SF authors or other professionals in the field (and if so, they usually have just one on staff).
Our growing Ad Astra Universe-ity program provides a deep, broad, and comprehensive education for people of all ages seeking to learn about spec-fic as well as to write and teach it - essentially, we're designing the optimal program we would have wanted for ourselves when we first began our journey into the SF universe. Unlike graduate university programs, we'll help you build the create skills and understanding needed to publish rather than just land a teaching job in an ever-shrinking college market. So unless you require an MFA or PhD to start the parth toward tenure at a university, save yourself the time, stress, and ever-growing expense of attending an expensive college and consider our offerings!
We see this program as a more-effective alternative to traditional university education, tailored for those who want to understand SF and work creatively in the field. It is not currently university-accredited or affiliated, precisely because of the long history of the Humanities urinating all over SF and its experts - surprisingly even in the birthplace of SF studies, the University of Kansas (where our mentor, James Gunn, founded his SF Center and where our directors long taught). Traditional (accredited) MFAs or creative PhDs seldom help you land a job, anyhow, except in academia. But that market is shrinking drastically, and in today's socio-political climate universities are becoming less focused on students every day.
To find success in the creative arts, you need to put in the time, effort, and hard work needed to master your art and become a professional.
That's what we offer: Guided progress and mentorship through everything you need to embark upon your professional or just-for-love journey into the speculative fiction field. We'll even track your progress online if you wish to share your efforts with potential employers, publishers, or even your parents who want to know what you're doing with your life.
Our program is as rigorous (or more so) than any parallel program offered through a university, without having to deal with the prejudice against SF inherent in the traditional humanities. Similar to Shawnta Grimes' "1000-Day MFA" and most closely paralleling the Goddard College low-residency MFA, Ad Astra Universe-ity is way more fun than a traditional university program while offering more variety of educational programming. It also joins "The Two Cultures" in a way universities consistently fail to - and without the endless hassles of attending one, or the high cost and all-consuming time demands. Do it on your own time, for as long as you need, when you can, and participate in whichever events most appeal to you or are most useful for your creative interests - including remotely, through online interfaces that enable you to participate in live discussions from afar, perhaps in your pajamas at home.
Full details on our program coming soon, but here's the quick overview:
Check out our growing list of new and ongoing classes, workshops, and more to choose from, offered by a diversity of authors and educators. Beyond creative and literary studies, we also plan to offer STEM education and other events and workshops especially suited to worldbuilding. Much of what we offer will be available to read, watch, or listen to at your own pace, online. We even plan to create a list of university-based offerings taught by our affiliates who are willing to let not-for-credit attendees sit in ("audit") their relevant classes.
Every participant of our workshops, courses, masterclasses, talks, and other events earns AdAstranaut Credits that accumulate, tracking progress toward your creative goals:
Once you've journeyed through significant stages of the program (earned credits paralleling an MFA or, later, a PhD), you'll have the opportunity to participate in capstone thesis and dissertation workshops:
But even that isn't the end of your journey - mastery never rests. You're welcome to continue tracking your progress on our interactive AdAstranaut Journey map of the Solar System (and beyond) - watch your avatar launch from the ground to orbit, reach the Moon, the other planets, and finally begin your journey across the Milky Way and beyond. You can also turn in AdAstranaut Credits for free swag, discounts on upcoming Ad Astra workshops, and more. We'll also present certificates of completion for reaching milestones and host participant profiles to help you reach a wider audience and support the rest of your cohort.
Join Ad Astra Universe-ity and begin your creative journey to the stars!
Each of our class pages details enrollment costs and if scholarship funds are available for them. In general, the more class tuition costs, the more it's likely to have scholarship funds available to help defray that cost.
Many of the most promising writers, scholars, and educators don't enjoy the same privileges as others. We strive to level the playing field so everyone - regardless of age, culture, ethnicity, gender identity or expression, income, nationality or immigrant status, physical ability, neurodiversity or mental-health status, race, religion, sex, sexual orientation, or marital, parental, and veteran status - has equal opportunity for admission to our educational programs, and equal access to our activities. We actively encourage students and scholars from diverse backgrounds to study. We especially encourage people from historically under-represented groups to apply for our courses and scholarships - unlike most colleges, we don't receive any federal funding, so we are free to promote diversity and inclusivity in our programming. The world is a diverse place.
By making our offerings affordable to those who might not otherwise be able to attend, we hope to increase accessiblity for all while offering a broad, diverse set of writing instruction for attendees dedicated to growing their creative skills and STEM knowledge. We offer a safe space for the diversity of people who attend our events and educational programs.
We want everyone to enjoy the same opportunity to study the SF arts, and - if it's your goal - to learn how to become a professional speculative-fiction writer!
Generous supporters enable us to offer scholarships for those in need to attend our summer residential workshops, year-round "Science into Fiction" short workshops, masterclasses, residential workshops, seminars, and more designed for speculative-fiction writers, educators, and fans, led by our staff and a variety of other SF authors, editors, scholars, professors, and experts to provide participants with deeper understanding of SF and the vast array of human expertise necessary to stay on top of the ever-accelerating change that shapes human civilization - and even what it means to be human. We are deeply grateful to donors who help make our educational program available to worthy writers, educators, and scholars who might otherwise be unable to pursue their professional education - thank you!
Scholarships can range from $50 - $1000, with occasional full tuition scholarships. Listed costs for our workshops and other events are for those who can afford full price; those able to pay the full fees help support those who cannot. In order to be considered for a partial or full scholarship, you must request one when applying, and how much you might need in order to attend. By making our offerings affordable to those who might not otherwise be able to attend, we hope to increase accessiblity for all while offering a broad, diverse set of writing instruction for AdAstranauts dedicated to growing their creative skills and STEM knowledge.
If you'd like to support further scholarships for our attendees, let us know! Our goal is to offer our educational program to everyone, regardless of their financial status.
The Ad Astra Institute is a registered not-for-profit 501(c)3 educational, arts, and research organization chartered in Kansas, so your donation is fully tax-deductible. If you wish to support our activities by making a charitable donation to help others attend the workshops who might otherwise not be able to, or to support our educational outreach, contact McKitterick (cmckit.sf@gmail.com). We can accept checks or Zelle (use adastra.sf.institute@gmail.com to make a direct donation), and PayPal (which takes an additional fee).
We partner with Farbeyond Books - a fantastic spec-fic bookstore - which donates at least 50% of sales to Ad Astra, so check them out! If you have books you'd like to donate to support Ad Astra, let us know.
You can also support Ad Astra and scholarships for our attendees by using the patron of the arts tiers listed on Director McKitterick's Patreon, subscribing as either an "Ad Astra Supporter" for $10/month or "Ad Astra Star Patron" for $100/month; not only do Ad Astra patrons get to see patron-only posts, but you'll also get free swag as a thank you (when available). We'll soon create a dedicated Patreon and other means of supporting our mission.
If requested, we will provide a year-end receipt of your donations for tax preparation.
Thank you so much to our donors and supporters! You make all this possible.
Everyone enjoys equal access to our offerings, and we actively encourage students and scholars from diverse backgrounds to study. We especially encourage people from historically under-represented groups to apply for our courses and scholarships. Many of our other courses are available to be taken in hybrid format (if space is available) to help enable those who might not be able to attend in person to participate, and we happily make accommodations to enable everyone to enjoy the fullest experience. We also make accomodations for those who cannot attend in person.
At Ad Astra, we also believe that earning a creative education should not depend on financial privilege, so we offer several scholarships to enable everyone to participate. If you wish to help support others to enroll, please consider donating to our scholarship fund (the Ad Astra Institute is a not-for-profit organization). Many of the most promising writers don't enjoy the same privilege as those who do, so we strive to level the playing field so everyone regardless of age, culture, ethnicity, gender identity or expression, income, nationality or immigrant status, physical ability status, race, religion, sex, sexual orientation, or marital, parental, and veteran status has equal opportunity to participate in our educational programs, and equal access to our activities. We want everyone to enjoy the same opportunity to become a professional speculative-fiction writer! We work to be a safe space for those who come to our events and educational programs.
Click here to see our thoughts on diversity and inclusivity and our commitment to equity.
We believe strongly in the free sharing of information, so you'll find a lot of content - including course syllabi and many materials from our classes - on this and related sites and social networks as educational outreach. Feel free to use this content for independent study, or to adapt it for your own educational and nonprofit purposes; just please credit us and link back to this website. We'd also love to hear from you if you used our materials!
This site is associated with the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America (SFWA), the Science Fiction Research Association (SFRA), AboutSF, and other organizations, and its contents are copyright 1992-present Christopher McKitterick except where noted, and licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License: Feel free to use and adapt for non-profit purposes, with attribution. For publication or profit purposes, please contact McKitterick or other creators as noted.
This site does not use cookies and is free from tracking. We do not use or condone the use of machine-generated text or images for educational or creative purposes (except as satire), and do not accept student or teacher work manufactured by algorithms.
Works on this site are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
updated 1/26/2026