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Category Archives: ICFA

Extended deadline for Graduate Student Writing Workshop

Hello ICFA 37 Graduate Student Attendees!

I have extended the deadline to sign up for this year’s Graduate Student Writing Workshop to February 27th! If you are interested in signing up for the workshop, this is your last chance!

For the past few years, the Student Caucus has hosted a Graduate Student Writing Workshop, and it is time to sign up for this year’s session with Brian Attebery. This year’s workshop will be held on Friday, March 18th from 4:15-5:45.
The workshop is limited to 15 participants, and you must sign up in advance to attend. Please make sure to check the schedule to ensure you do not have any conflicts, and be aware that you will be expected to bring a 2 page writing sample with you to the workshop.

If you would like to be considered for this year’s workshop, please e-mail the following information to me at scervone@fau.edu:

-your name

-your preferred email address

-your institutional affiliation and adviser

-what stage you’re at in your program

-your dissertation or thesis topic (1-2 sentences)

-the issues or problems in your writing you’d most like to address (1-2 sentences)

-What personal stake do you have in writing academic prose, other than completing requirements for a degree?

Please send me this information no later than February 27th. Be aware that participants will be selected in the order in which they sign up, so you will want to get this information to me as soon as possible.

Best,
Skye

ICFA Accessibility Policy

ICFA is committed to being an accessible conference that supports the varied needs of our members. We understand how important it is for our attendees and panelists to feel comfortable and welcome.

The conference is held at the Orlando Marriott Lakeside Hotel. Members should be aware of the following:

  1. The hotel has a number of mobility accessible rooms, which include full deaf alert systems. Members can select rooms with roll-in showers or handle-grip tubs (please note that the tubs are generally available only with rooms with single king sized beds.) Most of the mobility accessible rooms are not equipped with refrigerators; if you have medication that needs to be refrigerated, please contact the hotel in advance to arrange for a refrigerator in your room, or contact ICFA staff for assistance.

The main hotel registration desk is not fully accessible.

Please note that mobility accessible rooms are limited and may sell out. All nearby hotels contain at least eight mobility accessible rooms per hotel.

  1. Following Florida law, service animals are allowed for guests with disabilities.
  1. The hotel does not have a disabled accessible restroom on the second floor, where some panels are held.  Two elevators provide access to the disabled accessible restrooms on the ground level.  Many panels are held in in the hotel’s ballroom event area, which has fully accessible restrooms.
  1. The hotel’s lunchtime restaurant/bar area is divided by stairs. Members can reach the ground floor area directly, or reach the top area through a long access ramp off to the side of the bar.
  1. The hotel’s complimentary shuttle service is not wheelchair accessible. Boarding this service requires climbing three steps.
  1. The Orange County Lynx Bus service and all theme park buses are wheelchair accessible. Most services will require wheelchair users to use the complimentary seatbelts/straps.  Many Orlando taxis offer roll in wheelchair service; please alert the taxi service when making your reservation.  The Marriott hotel will be able to assist you with finding accessible taxi services.

Please note that ACCESS Lynx is not available at this time to out of state residents.

  1. Although a sidewalk does lead away from the hotel, it does not fully connect to other sidewalks offering access to local restaurants and overflow hotels. The curb cut from this sidewalk to the street is tilted and may cause issues for heavy power chairs and mobility scooters.  The curb cut from the main guest parking lot into the hotel is narrow and may cause issues for heavy power chairs and mobility scooters. The curb cut from the parking lot by the main ballroom area is fully accessible; that, and the main lobby entrance, are recommended entrances for wheelchair users.
  1. The hotel pool has a lift; although labeled self-operating, guests will need the assistance of hotel staff to use it.
  1. The Marriott hotel currently uses fluorescent lighting in most of its meeting rooms. The restaurant and bar area use a mix of LED and fluorescent lighting.
  1. Our banquet menus have been selected to offer a broad variety of foods, including clearly labeled vegan, vegetarian, gluten-free, and dairy-free options.
  1. At this time, financial restrictions preclude us from offering ASL interpreters or captioning. We welcome any suggestions on how we can improve accessibility for members in this area.

2016 Crawford Award Announced

The winner of the 2016 Crawford Award, presented annually by the International Association for the Fantastic in the Arts for a first book of fantasy fiction, is Kai Ashante Wilson for The Sorcerer of the Wildeeps (Tor). The judges cited the novel’s “fresh and powerful voice,” “gorgeous language, great characters, and wonderfully imagined setting.”

The other books included on this year’s Crawford shortlist include

Natasha Pulley, The Watchmaker of Filigree Street (Bloomsbury); Ken Liu, The Grace of Kings (Saga Press); Indra Das, The Devourers (Penguin India); Seth Dickinson, The Traitor Baru Cormorant (Tor); and Adrienne Celt, The Daughters (Liveright).

Participating at various stages of this year’s nomination and selection process were previous Crawford winners Sofia Samatar, Jedediah Berry, and Candas Jane Dorsey, as well as Cheryl Morgan, Niall Harrison, Farah Mendlesohn, Ellen Klages, Graham Sleight, Karen Burnham, Jonathan Strahan, Liza Groen Trombi, and Stacie Hanes.  The award will be presented on March 19 during the 37th International Conference on the Fantastic in the Arts in Orlando, Florida.

Also at the conference, the IAFA’s Distinguished Scholarship Award will be presented to Cristina Bacchilega, and the Jamie Bishop Memorial Award for a work of scholarship written in a language other than English will go to Natacha Vas-Deyres and Patrick Bergeron.  The Walter James Miller Memorial Award, for a student paper on a work or works of the fantastic originally created in a language other than English, will be presented to Kristy Eager.  The IAFA’s general award for an outstanding student paper, formerly called the Graduate Student Award, has been rechristened the David G. Hartwell Emerging Scholar Award, in tribute to editor and long-time IAFA Board member and book room manager David Hartwell. The winner will be announced at a later date.

IAFA EMERGING SCHOLAR AWARD

Hello All –

The deadline for submitting a paper to be considered for the 2016 IAFAEmerging Scholar Award is quickly approaching! Papers must be submitted by February 1st. IAFA EMERGING SCHOLAR AWARD (formerly 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, 2016.

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.

2. 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 or PDF format.

3. 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

Overflow Hotel

Hello Everyone!

As you may or may not be aware, the Orlando Airport Marriott Lakeside Hotel is completely booked.

The good news is that we have secured an overflow hotel at an excellent group rate!

The overflow hotel is the Sheraton Suites Orlando Airport, 7550 Augusta National Drive. Orlando, FL 32822, United States. This hotel is next door to our hotel, so it will be easy to get to and from the events at the Marriott (It is about a five-seven minute walk).  

While we were unable to get the normal conference rate of $132 per night, we were able to negotiate an excellent rate of $149 per night, which is great deal and will likely be cheaper than any going rate in the area.  

We only have a limited block of rooms available for our group, so they will fill up fast.  If you do not yet have a room for the conference, I strongly suggest that you reserve your room today. 

To reserve your room, go the below link:

https://www.starwoodmeeting.com/StarGroupsWeb/res?id=1601155606&key=24875F08

If you have any questions at all, please email me at iafareg@gmail.com. 

See you all in March!

Your Faithful Registration Coordinator,

Valorie 

International Association for the Fantastic in the Arts (IAFA) 

Membership & Registration Coordinator

1279 W. Palmetto Park Road, #272285

Boca Raton, Florida 33427

iafareg@gmail.com

ICFA REGISTRATION

Dear ICFA Participants:

REDUCED PRICE REGISTRATION ENDS JAN. 14. after which it goes up from $110 to $135 ($165 after Jan. 31)–see prices and cutoff dates attached.

HOTEL: Last year, the reduced-price hotel rooms were sold out by Feb.1–given our increased attendance this year, we recommend booking by Jan. 15.

GRADUATE STUDENTS: Deadline for IAFA Emerging Scholar Award (formerly Graduate Student Award) Feb. 1 (see attached)

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.