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Category Archives: IAFA

IAFA Election for IAFA President and 1st Vice President Open

Voting for the next IAFA President and 1st Vice President is now open.  Please click the following link to read the candidate’s statements and place your vote.  Elections will close on January 10, 2016 and the winners will be announced shortly thereafter.

Vote Here

CfP: IAFA GRADUATE STUDENT AWARD

The International Association for the Fantastic in the Arts presents an annual award and stipend to the graduate student submitting the most outstanding paper at the Association’s conference. The award, and a check for $250, will be presented to the winner at the Awards Banquet on Saturday evening. Students must submit their completed paper (3500 words, excluding bibliography) and verification of student status by February 1.

CRITERIA & INSTRUCTIONS

  1. The student will have had a paper accepted for presentation at the Conference. The paper submitted for the competition should be essentially the same as that presented at the conference. The maximum length for entries is 3500 words (about 2 pages over the recommended reading length of 8-9 pages).  Students should be aware that funds are limited and that only one award will be given. The paper selected will be published in the Journal of the Fantastic in the Arts, and therefore must not have been previously published or submitted for publication elsewhere. Please note that acceptance of a paper for the Conference does not guarantee an award.
  1. It is the responsibility of the student to send a copy of the paper by 1 February 2016 to the 1st VP Dale Knickerbocker (knickerbockerd@ecu.edu), as well as a copy of the letter of acceptance and verification of student status. Submissions may be in Word, RTF or PDF format.
  1.  The committee is looking for clear, coherent, and interesting writing. Essays should be solidly grounded in scholarly tradition, showing awareness of previous studies and of historical and theoretical contexts.  Essays may use any suitable method of analysis, including historical and sociological approaches as well as those that originate in literary theory.  Essays will be evaluated for their originality and quality of insight into the text.

The judges for the 2016 award will be:

Mary Pharr, Florida Southern College

Sherryl Vint, University of California-Riverside

Taylor Evans, University of California-Riverside

Call for Nominations – IAFA President and 1st VP by October 30th

Call for Nominations – IAFA President and 1st VP by October 30th

Download this call as a file from Dropbox here.

The International Association for the Fantastic in the Arts announces a Call for Nominations for the elected Executive Board positions of President and First Vice-President. Any IAFA member in good standing is invited to run for the position of First Vice-President; to be eligible for the office of President, a member must be in good standing and have served either as an IAFA Division Head or as a member of the IAFA Executive Board. Those interested in running for either position should send a nomination to both IAFA Immediate Past-President Jim Casey at <caseyj AT arcadia.edu> and IAFA Chief Technical Officer Michael Smith at <anarresti AT gmail.com> no later than October 30th, 2015 (self-nominations welcome). Candidates eligible for the offices to which they have been nominated and willing to run for those offices will be asked to submit position statements by November 20th, 2015. The Election Committee will distribute position statements and ballots to the membership on or about December 10th, 2015, and ballots will be counted by the Election Committee after January 10th, 2016. For those elected, the term will begin immediately following the conclusion of ICFA 37 in March 2016 and will last for three years. Duties of each position are listed below, along with additional information regarding IAFA elections procedures. Please contact Jim Casey if you have any questions. We look forward to hearing from you!

Duties of the President

The President is the chief executive officer, responsible for directing and coordinating all functions of the organization, including the annual conference, the quarterly journal, other sponsored publications, the Awards Program, and public relations of all kinds. The President sets the agenda for, and presides at, all meetings of the Executive Board and the annual Business meeting at the ICFA. The President is also the chief planning officer, responsible for setting agendas in all Association projects. The President oversees the work of the other officers, recruits special guests, seeks institutional support, confirms non-elected Board members, etc. The President is elected by majority vote of the membership of IAFA.

First Vice-President

The First Vice-President coordinates the ICFA Program, overseeing the work of the Division Heads and scheduling paper sessions, and the Annual Conference Program. The First Vice- President also consults with the President concerning appearances by special guests in panels, readings, and lectures, and with the Conference Chair about physical arrangements such as AV equipment, room assignments, etc. The First Vice-President substitutes for the President when necessary. The First Vice-President also oversees the IAFA Graduate Student Award: advertising the award, organizing and chairing the prize committee, and collecting and forwarding submissions to the committee for a blind reading process. The First Vice-President is elected by majority vote of the membership of the IAFA.

Election Procedures (from the IAFA Constitution):

The Election Committee for the IAFA will be chaired by the Immediate Past President and will include two other members chosen from the Executive Board by the Executive Board.

The election process will typically span several months, from the summer preceding the voting period through to the announcement of the results at the annual business meeting in the spring of the election year.

All notifications, announcements, and ballots will be distributed primarily through electronic means (via the Internet via e-mail or secure web-site), though print and surface mail distribution will be employed where necessary.

The Election Committee will announce upcoming elections with a call for nominations, including self-nominations. The opening date for nominations will be on 30 September. The closing date for nominations will be on 30 October of the year preceding the actual vote.
The Election Committee will notify each nominee of his or her nomination and will provide each with the names of everyone else nominated during that election cycle.

Candidates declining nomination must notify the Elections Committee immediately upon notification of their nomination.

Candidates eligible for the offices to which they have been nominated and willing to run for those offices will be asked to submit position statements by 20 November of the year preceding the vote.

The Election Committee will distribute position statements and ballots to the membership on or about 10 December, and ballots must be returned by 10 January of the election year.

The Election Committee will count the ballots immediately after the 10 January deadline, and if no candidate has a clear majority (51% or more), a run-off election will be held between the two candidates who have received the most votes. The run-off election will be conducted promptly, with appropriate announcements, and with ballots being distributed by 10 February, and with a final vote deadline of 1 March of the election year.

The Election Committee will announce results of the election at the IAFA business meeting during the annual conference of the election year, with additional announcements in appropriate IAFA venues thereafter.

The elections’ calendar described here serves as a guideline rather than as a table of fixed deadlines: when circumstances require it, the Elections Committee will adjust the calendar for the elections process as needed to insure an orderly, open, and fair process.

CfP: ICFA 37 – Wonder Tales

Please join us for ICFA 37, March 16-20, 2016, when our theme will be Wonder Tales.

Folklorists often use this term to refer to the stories commonly known as “fairy tales” due to the genre’s emphasis on the marvelous and its invocation of wonder, but what is wonder and where can it be found? Many events, characters, or objects generate a response of wonder—transformations and resurrections—but wonder also may be generated in technological advances and from the “sense of wonder” in science fiction. Papers might explore wonder tales and their modern incarnations, readers’ responses of wonder to fantastic texts, uses of wonder within fantastic texts, how wonder is invoked across media and genres, and the relationship between wondering (marveling) and wondering (questioning).

We welcome papers on the work of our guests: Guest of Honor Terri Windling, Guest of Honor Holly Black, and Guest Scholar Cristina Bacchilega. We also welcome proposals for individual papers and for academic sessions and panels on any aspect of the fantastic in any media.

The deadline for proposals is October 31, 2015. We encourage work from institutionally affiliated scholars, independent scholars, international scholars who work in languages other than English, and graduate students.

Join us in Orlando in 2016.  We will add your intellectual and creative distinctiveness to our own.  Resistance is futile.

For more information on the IAFA and its conference, the ICFA, see http://www.fantastic-arts.org/.

To submit a proposal, go to http://www.fantastic-arts.org/icfa-submissions/

Download the CfP for ICFA 37 from Dropbox

How to propose a paper

Call for Applicants: Head of the Science Fiction and International Fantastic Divisions

The International Association for the Fantastic in the Arts is accepting applications for two positions: Head of the Science Fiction and International Fantastic Divisions. Those interested in applying must send a cover letter explaining their interest in and qualifications for the position, and a current CV, to the First Vice-President, Dale Knickerbocker (knickerbockerd@ecu.edu), no later than 15 May 2015. Division Heads are appointed by the President, on the recommendation of the First Vice-President, who chairs the Council of Division Heads, after formal discussion and majority vote of the Board. The three-year term will begin immediately following the 37th ICFA, so the people selected will be able to observe the outgoing Head the year before beginning their duties.

Each Division Head organizes and supervises all conference activity within a subdivision of fantastic scholarship. Division Heads work under the guidance of the First Vice-President. Division Heads are responsible for recruiting session proposals and papers and are responsible for formatting these to the requirements of the First Vice-President. Division Heads are responsible for forwarding all information to the First Vice-President in a timely fashion. Division Heads have the responsibility to check the draft program for accuracy and AV needs. Division Heads are expected to liaise with other Division Heads and the First Vice-President. The First Vice-President is the final arbiter of the program under the aegis of the Executive Board. At the conference the Division Heads oversee sessions in their respective Divisions and collect suggestions for future topics, special guests, etc.

Submission Deadline Extended to Monday, November 10

ICFA attendees:

If you missed the October 31 deadline for conference paper or panel submission, or were considering submitting a paper or panel but the deadline slid by–be of good cheer.

The deadline has been extended and the submission portal will remain open until Monday, November 10.

Please send us your papers and panels.

CfP: The 36th ICFA: The Scientific Imagination

Thirty-Sixth International Conference
on the Fantastic in the Arts

The Scientific Imagination

March 18-22, 2015
Marriott Orlando Airport Hotel

The Scientific Imagination will be the theme for ICFA 36. Join us as we explore the possibilities and intersections of science and imagination—from Faust and Frankenstein, through the Golden Age and the New Wave, to steampunk and mash-ups—in all their guises, including fiction, film, television, music, theater, comics, visual art, and social media. Papers might explore topics such as rationalism vs. belief, science for good and ill, alternate and speculative technologies and biologies, futurism, imaginary sciences, time travel, and the tensions inherent in discovery, among other topics. We welcome papers on the work of our guests: Guest of Honor James Morrow (winner of the Sturgeon Award, the World Fantasy Award, and two Nebula Awards), Guest of Honor Joan Slonczewski (winner of two Campbell Awards), and Guest Scholar Colin Milburn (author of Nanovision: Engineering the Future). We also welcome proposals for individual papers and for academic sessions and panels on any aspect of the fantastic in any media. The deadline for proposals is October 31, 2014. We encourage work from institutionally affiliated scholars, independent scholars, international scholars who work in languages other than English, and graduate students.

Guest of Honor
James Morrow

James Morrow is a science fiction writer and author of the Godhead Trilogy, which includes the novels Towing Jehovah, Blameless in Abaddon, and The Eternal Footman. He has won the Theodore Sturgeon award for Shambling Towards Hiroshima, the World Fantasy Award for Only Begotten Daughter, and Nebula Awards for “City of Truth” and “Bible Stories for Adults, No. 17: The Deluge.” A self-described “scientific humanist,” he is widely recognized as one of our premiere satirists of religion, philosophy, and human belief systems. He is also a playwright. His most recent novels are The Philosopher’s Apprentice and Shambling Towards Hiroshima.

Guest of Honor
Joan Slonczewski

Joan Slonczewski is a Professor of Microbiology at Kenyon College and an award-winning science fiction writer. She holds a Ph.D. in Molecular Biophysics and Biochemistry from Yale University and teaches courses including Microbiology, Virology, and Biology in Science Fiction at Kenyon, in addition to mentoring students conducting research in Kenyon’s Bacterial pH Laboratory. She has won grants for her research from the National Institutes of Health, the National Science Foundation, and other major donors. She has twice received the John W. Campbell Award for best science fiction novel, for The Highest Frontier and A Door Into Ocean.

Guest Scholar
Colin Milburn

Colin Milburn holds the Gary Snyder Chair in Science and the Humanities at UC Davis, where he is an Associate Professor of English and Director of the UC Davis Humanities Innovation Lab. His research focuses on the intersections of science, literature, and media technologies, and he is affiliated with programs in Cinema and Technocultural Studies, Performance Studies, Cultural Studies, and Critical Theory, as well as the W. M. Keck Center for Active Visualization in the Earth and the Center for Science & Innovation Studies. His books include Nanovision: Engineering the Future and Mondo Nano: Fun and Games in the World of Digital Matter, forthcoming in 2014.

Our submissions portal, will open Sep. 15 to receive proposals!

 http://www.fantastic-arts.org/annual-conference/submissions/

Download the Call for Papers Here!

Vote for Student Caucus Representatives

Dear IAFA Student Caucus,

It’s time to VOTE! We have four lovely candidates for your next Student Caucus Representative: Stina Attebery, Skye Cervone, Daniel Creed, and Kiersty Lemon. Please read their attached bios/statements, and make your selections.

To vote: please rank the candidates 1-4 in an email to me (elizabeth-lundberg@uiowa.edu) by Friday, 5/2. If there are no ties, the person with the most votes will be the new Rep and the runner up will be the Vice-Rep. In the event of a tie, I will use instant runoff voting to determine the Rep and Vice-Rep. If you would be so kind, please include your own name and institutional affiliation in your email, so I can confirm that you’re a student.

Thanks, and good luck to the candidates!

Liz Lundberg

Student Co-Representative to the Executive Board

International Association for the Fantastic in the Arts

Student Caucus Representative Election Deadline Extended

Dear Graduate Students of IAFA,

I’m extending the deadline for sending in bios to run for Student Caucus Representative. We haven’t received enough submissions to hold an election yet, so now you have until the end of the day Friday, April 18. If you know someone who would be good at this job, poke them until they agree to run. If you have questions about what the job entails, feel free to email me (elizabeth-lundberg@uiowa.edu). I’m pasting below my original email, and I hope to hear from you soon!

Liz

—————

It’s that time again: we need to hold elections for the next Student Caucus Representative to the Executive Board. If you are interested in running, please send Liz Lundberg a short bio/statement for circulation to the caucus. These statements will be how the voters decide among candidates, so include any qualifications you have for the position, as well as any ideas for the caucus or for conference programming. Please also send a small headshot with your bio/statement. Send your statement and headshot to Liz at elizabeth-lundberg@uiowa.edu by the end of the day Friday, April 18.

More information about the election: Liz Lundberg will collect all bios and circulate a ballot the week of April 14. She will then collect all ballots and tally the votes. Voters will be asked to rank candidates, and in the event of a tie, Liz will apply instant runoff voting rules to the ballots to arrive at a winner. The runner up will be the Vice-Representative.

More information about the positions: Both the Representative and the Vice-Representative serve two-year terms (August 1, 2014 to July 31, 2016), so if you want to run, you should plan on being a student for at least two more years. Below are the official job descriptions for both positions. If you have any questions about either position, please contact Liz at elizabeth-lundberg@uiowa.edu.

Thank you, and I hope to hear from some of you soon!

Liz (and Daryl)

Job Description: Student Caucus Representative

Formal titles: Representative of the Student Caucus of the International Conference for the Fantastic in the Arts (SCIAFA)/ SCIAFA Representative to the Executive Board of the International Conference of the Fantastic in the Arts (IAFA)

The SCIAFA Representative is elected by the student body of the IAFA. During the two year term, the Representative is responsible for addressing and advocating for the needs of student members of IAFA. This responsibility includes representing student membership on the Executive Board of the IAFA (the SCIAFA Representative is serves on the Executive Board). The Representative must attend biannual board meetings during their term and participate in the Board’s online discussion list. At the conference, the Representative will run SCIAFA programming, including the SCIAFA Mentorship Program. The Representative is expected to attend all IAFA business meetings, as well as most Board-sponsored events. The SCIAFA Representative should remain visible and accessible for the duration of the conference both to assist and guide fellow students as well as to assist fellow Board members, organizers, and volunteers.

Job Description: Student Caucus Vice-Representative

Formal title: Vice-Representative of the Student Caucus of the International Conference for the Fantastic in the Arts (SCIAFA) (formerly the Shadow Representative)

The SCIAFA Vice-Representative is an elected position. The Vice-Representative runs for the full SCIAFA Representative position—the Vice-Representative position is filled by the runner-up. The duty of the Vice-Representative is to assist the Representative, this includes stepping in for the Representative in the event of emergencies or scheduling conflicts. The Vice-Representative is expected to attend all SCIAFA and Board-Sponsored events at the annual conference, but does not attend the summer board meeting (though the Vice-Representative should be available to attend in the Representative’s place if needed).

Hello IAFA Graduate Student Caucus!

It’s that time again: we need to hold elections for the next Student Caucus Representative to the Executive Board. If you are interested in running, please send Liz Lundberg a short bio/statement for circulation to the caucus. These statements will be how the voters decide among candidates, so include any qualifications you have for the position, as well as any ideas for the caucus or for conference programming. Please also send a small headshot with your bio/statement. Send your statement and headshot to Liz at elizabeth-lundberg@uiowa.edu by the end of the day Monday, April 14.

More information about the election: Liz Lundberg will collect all bios and circulate a ballot the week of April 14. She will then collect all ballots and tally the votes. Voters will be asked to rank candidates, and in the event of a tie, Liz will apply instant runoff voting rules to the ballots to arrive at a winner. The runner up will be the Vice-Representative.

More information about the positions: Both the Representative and the Vice-Representative serve two-year terms (August 1, 2014 to July 31, 2016), so if you want to run, you should plan on being a student for at least two more years. Below are the official job descriptions for both positions. If you have any questions about either position, please contact Liz at elizabeth-lundberg@uiowa.edu.

Thank you, and I hope to hear from some of you soon!

Liz (and Daryl)

Job Description: Student Caucus Representative

Formal titles: Representative of the Student Caucus of the International Conference for the Fantastic in the Arts (SCIAFA)/ SCIAFA Representative to the Executive Board of the International Conference of the Fantastic in the Arts (IAFA)

The SCIAFA Representative is elected by the student body of the IAFA. During the two year term, the Representative is responsible for addressing and advocating for the needs of student members of IAFA. This responsibility includes representing student membership on the Executive Board of the IAFA (the SCIAFA Representative is serves on the Executive Board). The Representative must attend biannual board meetings during their term and participate in the Board’s online discussion list. At the conference, the Representative will run SCIAFA programming, including the SCIAFA Mentorship Program. The Representative is expected to attend all IAFA business meetings, as well as most Board-sponsored events. The SCIAFA Representative should remain visible and accessible for the duration of the conference both to assist and guide fellow students as well as to assist fellow Board members, organizers, and volunteers.

Job Description: Student Caucus Vice-Representative

Formal title: Vice-Representative of the Student Caucus of the International Conference for the Fantastic in the Arts (SCIAFA) (formerly the Shadow Representative)

The SCIAFA Vice-Representative is an elected position. The Vice-Representative runs for the full SCIAFA Representative position—the Vice-Representative position is filled by the runner-up. The duty of the Vice-Representative is to assist the Representative, this includes stepping in for the Representative in the event of emergencies or scheduling conflicts. The Vice-Representative is expected to attend all SCIAFA and Board-Sponsored events at the annual conference, but does not attend the summer board meeting (though the Vice-Representative should be available to attend in the Representative’s place if needed).