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Monthly Archives: January 2009

IAFA Graduate Student Award

Information on the IAFA Graduate Student Award has now been posted at www.iafa.org. Click on “Awards” on the banner, then the link “More Information About the Graduate Student Award,” and finally a Rich Text Format version of the criteria (see #5) is available for download. Good luck to all applicants.

2009 Crawford Award Winner

Daryl Gregory Wins Crawford

The winner of the 2009 Crawford Award, for an outstanding new fantasy writer whose first book was published in 2008, is Daryl Gregory, for Pandemonium (Del Rey). The other authors on this year’s shortlist were Doug Dorst, Alive in Necropolis (Riverhead); David Schwartz, Superpowers (Three Rivers); Felix Gilman, Thunderer (Bantam Spectra); and J.M. McDermott, Last Dragon (Wizards of the Coast). Although technically published in late December 2007, the Gilman novel was deemed eligible for consideration because it appeared too late for consideration in 2008.

Sponsored by the International Association for the Fantastic in the Arts and administered by Gary K. Wolfe, the Crawford Award is now in its 25th year. Past winners include Charles de Lint (1985), Greer Gilman (1992), Susan Palwick (1993), Jonathan Lethem (1995), Candas Jane Dorsey (1997), Kij Johnson (2001), Alexander Irvine (2003), Joe Hill (2006), M. Rickert (2007), and Christopher Barzak (2008). This year’s panel of nominators included Graham Sleight, Paul Witcover, Farah Mendlesohn, Niall Harrison, Cheryl Morgan, and Kelly Link. The award will be presented at the International Conference on the Fantastic in the Arts, March 18-22, in Orlando, Florida. Details of the conference are at www.iafa.org.

ICFA: Bookroom Needs Your Help

An Appeal for Help
The ICFA bookroom needs help in setting up, maintaining and tearing down the bookroom. Here is the work schedule:

1. Sunday, March 15 – Moving the books from the storage facility to the hotel and arranging the unopened boxes into an approximate order for unpacking. This is a short term afternoon activity but does require strenuous physical activity.

2. Monday and Tuesday, March 16 and 17 – Unpacking books, arranging the room, pricing all new books in PENCIL, repricing the older books.We will working all day, both days.

3. Wednesday through Saturday, March 18 through 21. Two sessions each day approximately 8:15 AM to Noon and then approximately 2 PM to 6 PM. The room is open all day on Saturday. This is non-arduous work. Rearranging books, assisting shoppers and either repricing existing stock or pricing new books. If we have a separate auction room, we will also need someone to simply sit in the room.

4. Extra help is needed Thursday and Friday about 3/4 hr. before lunch and Saturday 3/4 hr. before the Banquet to place books at each place for the meal.

5. On the final Sunday, packing all remaining books under Peter Halasz’s direction (Yes, there is an art and science to this) and moving them to the storage facility.

The two intensive manpower needs are the two Sundays. Some years we have been very short of help on the last Sunday.

We provide rewards for assistance. We break the day into morning and
afternoon sessions. For three sessions of work we provide a membership to the conference that does not include any of the meals. Additional work sessions can earn meals. This includes help in setting up the conference prior to the opening sessions on Wednesday.

If possible email me at JTBerlant@AOL.com with the times you are available. We will also cheerfully welcome anyone stopping in to help. Work on the two Sundays is somewhat strenuous, moving boxes. The rest is reasonably non-strenuous.

Thanks for your assistance.

Joe Berlant, ICFA Bookroom Manager