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Category Archives: ICFA

Samatar Wins 2014 Crawford Award

 The winner of the 2014 Crawford Memorial Award, presented annually by the International Association for the Fantastic in the Arts for an outstanding first fantasy book, is Sofia Samatar for A Stranger in Olondria (Small Beer Press).

According to award administrator Gary K. Wolfe, the novel won broad support from the nominating committee.  The other books included on this year’s Crawford shortlist are Yoon Ha Lee’s story collection Conservation of Shadows (Prime Books), Helene Wecker’s novel The Golem and the Jinni (Harper), and N.A. Sulway’s novel Rupetta (Tartarus Press).

Participating in this year’s nomination and selection process were Farah Mendlesohn, Cheryl Morgan, Ellen Klages, Graham Sleight, Liza Groen Trombi, Stacie Hanes, Karen Burnham, Candas Jane Dorsey, Jedediah Berry, and Jonathan Strahan.  The award will be presented on March 22 during the International Conference on the Fantastic in the Arts in Orlando, Florida.  The IAFA’s Distinguished Scholarship Award will be presented to Istvan Csicsery-Ronay, Jr., and Vera Cuntz-Leng will receive the Jamie Bishop Memorial Award for a work of scholarship written in a language other than English.

 

Book Hotel Accommodations Now

Dear IAFA Members,

The Board would like to remind everyone that the hotel block is often booked well in advance of the conference, and if you haven’t secured a reservation you should do so as soon as possible.

Here’s a link to the website to help with that: http://fantastic-arts.org/annual-conference/the-hotel/ See you in March!

Stacie

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. You can find a list of past winners of the Graduate Student Award by following this link: http://fantastic-arts.org/awards/iafa-graduate-student-award/

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 2014 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.

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 2014 award will be:

Cassandra Bausman, University of Iowa

Neil Easterbrook, Texas Christian University

Farah Mendlesohn, Anglia Ruskin University

ICFA 35 acceptance letters have gone out

Conference acceptance letters were sent out on or before November 17th, 2013.  If you have not heard anything yet, please check your spam filter, then contact the appropriate Division Head. Thank you.

Call for Submissions: ICFA Poetry

Words and words. Dear all, it’s time to think of offering a fantastic/scifi/horror poetry (no prose please!!) reading at the conference! As usual, we have two sessions, 1 hr and 1 1/2 hours, so aim to be able to have a maximum of twelve to fifteen people reading. This always fills up fast, so please let me know if you want to read.

Contact g.wisker@brighton.ac.uk.

See you there!

Gina Wisker

CfP: ICFA 35 “Fantastic Empires”

35th International Conference on the Fantastic in the Arts

Empire

March 19-23, 2014

Marriott Orlando Airport Hotel

The deadline for submitting proposals is October 31.

Guest of Honor: Nnedi Okorafor

Guest of Honor: Ian McDonald

Guest Scholar: Istvan Csicsery-Ronay, Jr.

Special Guest Emeritus: Brian Aldiss

From space operas to medieval tales to seminal works of fantasy, imaginative fiction abounds in fabulous empires. ICFA 35 will investigate the widest range of topics relating to empire, including discussions of particular texts, analyses of the hegemonic and counterhegemonic forces of empire, evaluations of individual resistances to imperialism (and of empires striking back), and assays into various other aspects of the theme. We welcome proposals for scholarly papers and panels that seek to examine, interrogate, and expand any research related to empire and the fantastic.

 

In addition to essays examining our honored Guests’ work, conference papers might consider specific fantastic empires, imaginative imperial fantasies, the semiotics of empire, fantastic diasporas and migrations, margins and liminal space(s), media empires, technologies of empire, speculative post-nationalism, fantastic Others, myth and empire, geographical/ideological mapping, transnational trauma, the construction/constriction of identity, or the multiple metaphors of empire. Panels might discuss various theories of empire, postcolonialism and the fantastic, language and imperialism, cosmopolitanism in the actual cosmos, Orientalism in classic texts, horrific hordes in film, dystopian empires, or postmodern theory and empire.

Please join us in Orlando in 2014.  We will add your intellectual and creative distinctiveness to our own.  Resistance is futile.

Download the Call for Papers here.

See you at the Pool!

Things are starting to wind down to the big banquet tonight! Are you out at the pool yet??

Conference Update

The conference is already off to a GREAT start!! Here are some updates. In addition to Brie’s update, the super final conference schedule is posted on the site!

Meals

  • Thursday Lunch is Sold Out
  • Friday Lunch is Closed. If you did not request a ticket, but would like to attend, we will form a line near registration and accommodate anyone we can after all ticketed guests have been seated. There is no guarantee that we will be able to seat you.
  • Banquet- If you would still like to purchase a meal ticket for yourself or a guest to attend the Awards Banquet, please do so when you register today. Banquet tickets purchased onsite will be $60. Thank you for your cooperation.

Registration

Conference Registration (Main Floor) will now open at 2PM on Wednesday.

Book Exhibit and Sales

The book room and auction, including Charles Vess’ original art, will open for business on Wednesday afternoon.

Volunteering

Make sure to check the schedule when you register. When you show up for your shift, make sure to sign in, so that we can keep track of your hours. If you have not signed up, but are interested in volunteering, please ask about open shifts when you register.

Limited Edition Charles Vess Shirts & Canvas Totes – printed with Charles Vess’ Neil Gaiman inspired design.

A limited selection of standard and fitted t-shirts/totes is still available. All shirts/totes will be distributed/sold from Thursday forward–while supplies last. Both shirt styles and the book tote are priced at $20.

Conviviality

* Pre-Opening Refreshment – Wednesday 3-20 from 2:30-3:15pm- Ballrom Foyer

* Newcomer Meet-up – Wednesday 3-20 from 8-8:30 – Captiva A/B

* Opening Reception – Wednesday 3-20 from 8:30-11pm – Capri – open to all

Excursion

This year’s Sunday excursion to Disney’s Hollywood Studios is SOLD OUT.

* This link provides local dining, shopping, and tourism discounts: http://www.orlandoconventionaid.com/directory_view.php?dir_id=2346

* An indoor/outdoor pool, fitness center, and jogging trail are also available to hotel guests.

If there is anything else that you need before you arrive, please respond to this message or e-mail me at <iafareg_at_gmail.com> and let me know how I can help. Messages come to my phone, which should afford a quick response. After the conference is in full swing, visit the Registration Desk (Main Floor) or the Information Desk (2nd floor) for answers.

Bridgid P. Shannon
International Association for the Fantastic in the Arts(IAFA)
Membership & Registration Coordinator

Original Vess Art Added to Auction

Charles Vess has very generously donated the long version of the t-shirt/tote and program  art for ICFA 34: Fantastic Transformations, Adaptations, and Audiences to the silent auction. Funds generated by the auction support the scholar’s honorarium and the conference in general.

The original black and white art on heavy Strathmore Britsol Board, measuring 12.5” x 22”, will be available for bid in the auction room with a minimum of $800. A low resolution version of the image appears here.

Make sure to stop by the Bookroom and Auction in Augusta A/B for this and other amazing finds.

* Limited Edition T-Shirts and Book Totes with the same design are still available: http://fantastic-arts.org/2013onlinepmt/

Final program updated

Final part 2! Updates have been completed and uploaded with and without abstracts.