Online workshop “Letters I Never Sent: Yearning in Science Fiction” with Sherida Kuffour

A workshop musing through love letters of science fiction writers.

Science fiction literature, since its inception, has nurtured a reputation of complicated relationships with technology and is often perceived as a cold genre devoid of love, emotion, and sensuality. Trading scientific precision for vulnerability and forecasts for uncertainty, this workshop casts a glance at sci-fi authors who have centered in their works and personal correspondence letters of yearnings for home, self, and love.

The workshop is constructed of reading excerpts by writers such as Ama Josephine B. Johnston, Amal El-Mohtar, and Max Gladstone, as well as correspondence letters between Joanna Russ and James Tiptree Jr. To foster a truly multidisciplinary experience, sounds of science fiction will be regularly intercepted in between reading sessions.

Event language: English with captions

Sherida Kuffour (she/her) is an art director, design educator, and publisher. Her project Brave New Lit. and its imprint Fantastic and Imaginative Romances function as an interactive platform to bridge the gap between graphic design and science fiction, fostering immersive storytelling through cross-disciplinary dialogue that manifest as essays, interviews, and short stories. Sherida currently resides in Zürich, Switzerland, and leads the Thesis Editorial Design module for the MA Contextual Design program at Design Academy Eindhoven, Netherlands. Her teaching is underpinned by years of experience in the advertising and literary sectors of major European cities including London, Amsterdam, and Zürich. Deeply engaged with conversations about the in-betweens of design, Sherida is a frequent collaborator of cultural and literary institutions such as The Black Archives, D&AD Awards, Wim Crouwel Instituut, Writer’s Unlimited, IDFA, and Noorderlicht Photo Festival.

This is the registration for online participation. Do you want to participate on-site in Basel? Register here instead: https://www.tickettailor.com/events/futuress1/2359133

The Engaging Publics series

This event is part of the free hybrid Engaging Publics workshop series exploring community-based research from facilitation, process-documentation, engaged writing, and more.

Registrations will open a month ahead.

June 20, 2026 | 3:30–6:30 pm CEST | Workshop | online and at DOCK Basel
Practices of Regard: Images, Memories, Words
with Darcy Alexandra (she/her), Visual Anthropologist, Filmmaker & Poet

Sep 5, 2026 | 3:30–6:30 pm CEST | Workshop | online and at DOCK Basel
Public Fictions: Methods for (World)Building Different Futures
with Ann Mbuti (she/her), Independent Writer

Sep 19, 2026 | 3:30–6:30 pm CEST | Workshop | online and at DOCK Basel
Working with the Archive: Reflecting on Collective Research
With Hybrid Project Space, Interdisciplinary Collective

Oct 17, 2026 | 3:30–6:30 pm CEST | Workshop | online and at DOCK Basel
Letters I Never Sent: Yearning in Science Fiction
With Sherida Kuffour(she/her), Art Director, Design Educator & Publisher

Oct 31, 2026 | 3:30–6:30 pm CET | Workshop | online and at DOCK Basel
The Language of Art: Celebrating Connection Through Doing Art
With Habib Afsar (he/none), Expressive Arts Practitioner, Relational Artist & Public Health Physician

Nov 07, 2026 | 3:30–6:30 pm CET | Workshop | on-site only at DOCK Basel
Co-Producing Publics: Questioning, Performative Acts, and Temporary Interventions
With Circuit Sessions Collective
and Eva Chen (she/her) Scenographer & Art Educator

Except for the on-site-only workshop in November, all events can be accessed online via Zoom or on-site at DOCK cultural space in Basel, Switzerland.

This program is made possible thanks to generous grants from the Culture Department of the Kanton Basel-Stadt and the Swiss Arts Council Pro Helvetia.