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CfP: Growing Up with the Undead: Vampires in the 20th- and 21st-Century Literature, Films and Television for Young Children

  • April 20, 2016 – 2:37 pm
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Type:
Call for Papers
Date:
May 31, 2016
Subject Fields:
Childhood and Education, Popular Culture Studies, Literature, Film and Film History, Cultural History / Studies

Since Bram Stoker’s seminal vampire novel, Dracula, published in 1897, the figure of the vampire has been a persistent presence in Western popular culture. Though largely the remit of adult audiences since the 1970s, the vampire has become increasingly present in narratives (books/films/television) for younger children. In fact, in the 21st century, one might even venture to say it is a staple of the genre. During this time the meaning of the vampire itself has drastically changed from a symbol of otherness and potential danger to one that accepts difference and offers agency to all young readers. This shift within young children’s narratives is largely a reflection of the changing positioning of the undead within adult and young adult narratives that have seen an increasing romanticization of the vampire, which constructs it as both inspirational and aspirational within, or indeed outside of, an increasingly consumerist and globalized world. This volume will examine the continuing presence of vampires within children’s literary and visual narratives in relation to contemporaneous representations in popular narratives and the social environment that creates them.

 

Abstracts/proposals are invited for chapters that look at narratives featuring vampire characters, as either main protagonist or incidental role, in books, film, television, comics, toys, games, etc. aimed at children of 12 years old or younger (not YA). Chapters can be either an overview of a particular medium or focus on a few titles that example certain themes or topics.

 

Possible subjects include but are not limited to:

  • Child vampires, male/female vampires, animal vampires, non-human vampires
  • Scary vampires, stranger danger, warnings against non-normative behaviour
  • Queer vampires, individual identity positions, role models
  • Historical precedents from folk/fairy tales or classic children’s literature
  • Franchises that cover many media that feature vampires, Monster High, Mona the Vampire, Disney (characters such as Maleficent/Ursula etc)
  • Vampires in games, Lego, activity books, pop-up books etc
  • Vampires in children’s advertising/products such as Count Chocula, Oreo adverts, Kinder adverts etc.
  • Children’s vampires in relation to their YA and adult contemporaries
  • Any of the above in relation to gender, sexualities, minorities, ethnicity, class etc.
  • Non-bloodsucking vampires: veggie vamps and those that drink washing liquid, or energy etc.
  • Vampires that are not vampires, i.e. Scooby Doo, Araminta Spook etc.

 

Abstract of no more than 350 words with “Growing up with the Vampire” in the subject line,  should arrive by 31st May, 2016.

Final manuscripts of 5,000-8,000 will be expected by 28th August, 2016, manuscripts to be formatted MLA-style with a separate works cited page section, for publication by Universitas Press in Montreal (www.universitaspress.com) by the end of 2016/start 2017.

Abstracts and enquiries should be sent to Simon Bacon at: baconetti@googlemail.com

URL:
http://www.universitaspress.com

CfP: The Comics Work of Neil Gaiman: In Darkness, In Light, and In Shadow

Type:
Call for Papers
Date:
May 15, 2016
Location:
Kentucky, United States
Subject Fields:
Art, Art History & Visual Studies, British History / Studies, Childhood and Education, Cultural History / Studies, Women’s & Gender History / Studies
full name / name of organization:
Joseph Michael Sommers, CMU, and Kyle Eveleth, U-Kentucky
contact email:
sommerseveleth@gmail.com

Call for submissions to an edited collection requested by publisher

Since his seminal writing on The Sandman (1989-present) and long since before and after on works such as Batman, Miracleman, The Books of Magic, The Endless, Stardust, The Graveyard Book, etc. from adult graphic novels (Neverwhere) to voluminous amounts of children’s graphic novels and illustrated texts (Coraline, Chu’s Day, Fortunately, the Milk, Hansel and Gretel etc.), Neil Gaiman has established himself as one of the most prominent, if not prolific, writers in the medium of sequential art in the late twentieth and twenty-first century.

Interestingly enough, Gaiman’s work is oft classified along regularized perceptions (by age, by tone, etc.) while he himself resists that particular ideological breakdown proclaiming that his work is meant to be read and seen by everyone, muddying those clear constructs and bracketing of his work. This volume seeks to examine Gaiman’s broadly illustrated corpus (picture books, comics, graphic novels, video games, etc.) along those lines of the dark, the light, and those that are particularly difficult to classify and define by the fact that they are seemingly both—the shadowy genre-bending work. However an essayist for this collection might seek to interpret those constructs (optimism, pessimism, pragmatism, for example) or whether a writer would seek to only write on a particularly evident construct from the three (Chu’s Day doesn’t seem to possess many dark portents; however Blueberry Girl, by comparison, articulates a life far more complex than simple optimism) is open for discussion and welcomed.

This volume will investigate the comics and graphic novel work of Neil Gaiman broadly. Proposals are welcomed for critical essays that approach the subject from any of a variety of methodological/ theoretical perspectives such as: aesthetic or textual, historical, philosophical, cultural, psychoanalytic, semiotic, post-structural, post-colonial, gendered, feminist, etc.

Essays might include (but are by no means limited to) the following topics:

-Adaptation of Gaiman’s prose works to comics and comics to films and television
-Gaiman’s work in video games (Wayward Manor)
-Gaiman’s comics connection to music, greater literary movements, etc.
-Gaiman’s literary antecedents and referents in comics
-Gaiman’s work with regular artists (McKeon, Bachalo, Dringenberg, Riddell, Buckingham etc.)
-Historical comparisons and intertextualization of Gaiman with his contemporaries and influences
-Gaiman’s light-hearted/ serious fare for children and adults alike
-Major Gaiman work (The Sandman) and comparably minor works or one-shots (Cerberus #147, Spawn #9, Angela #1-3 etc.)
-Comparisons of Gaiman’s ostensibly “adult” works and/ to his ostensibly “children’s” works (not to mention his supposed YA work)
-Gaiman’s work in other visual storytelling media (his writing for Doctor Who, his screenplay of Princess Mononoke for example)
-Gaiman’s influences on character/series/comics as a medium’s traditions (Swamp Thing, The Sandman, comics readership)
-Gaiman’s influences on other literary traditions (fantasy, sci-fi, etc)
-Gaiman-as-character, both inside his comics and outside his comics
-Gaiman and cultural capital, Gaiman as commodity
-Naughtiness, puns, double-entendres/double-consciousness/doublespeak, dual meanings, sidelong glances, subtle jabs, subversions, sublimations, and slips of the tongue
-Memory and remembering, forgetting and misremembering in Gaiman’s work
-Humor and seriousness, gravitas and mirth, bathos and pathos in Gaiman.
-Etc.

Abstracts of approximately 250-500 words (with author’s affiliation and brief biography) are due 15 May 2016 with first drafts of essays running 5000-5500 words due 15 October 2016. Please send any inquiries and proposals to Joseph Michael Sommers and Kyle Eveleth atsommerseveleth@gmail.com .

cfp categories:
american
childrens_literature
classical_studies
film_and_television
gender_studies_and_sexuality
general_announcements
interdisciplinary
journals_and_collections_of_essays
medieval
modernist studies
poetry
popular_culture
postcolonial
religion
romantic
theory
twentieth_century_and_beyond
victorian
Contact Info:

Please send correspondences to Joseph Michael Sommers and Kyle Eveleth.

Contact Info:

Joseph Michael Sommers, somme1jm@cmich.edu; Kyle Eveleth, k.w.eveleth@uky.edu; shared CFP account, sommerseveleth@gmail.com

Contact Email:
sommerseveleth@gmail.com
URL:
http://call-for-papers.sas.upenn.edu/node/66751

2016-2017 Le Guin Feminist Science Fiction Fellowship

Application period now open for 2016-17 Le Guin Feminist Science Fiction Fellowship

Application Deadline: Friday, September 2, 2016

Printable flyer

Le Guin Funding Details

Competition is now open for the 2016-17 Le Guin Feminist Science Fiction Fellowship. Now in its fourth year, the fellowship is sponsored by the Center for the Study of Women in Society and University of Oregon Libraries Special Collections and University Archives (SCUA) for the intention to encourage research within collections in the area of feminist science fiction. The UO Libraries Special Collections and University Archives (SCUA) houses the papers of authors Ursula K. Le Guin, Joanna Russ, James Tiptree, Jr., Kate Wilhelm, Suzette Haden Elgin, Sally Miller Gearhart, Kate Elliot, Molly Gloss, Laurie Marks, and Jessica Salmonson, along with Damon Knight.

This award supports travel for the purpose of research on, and work with, the papers of feminist science fiction authors housed in SCUA. These short-term research fellowships are open to undergraduates, master’s and doctoral students, postdoctoral scholars, college and university faculty at every rank, and independent scholars working in feminist science fiction. In 2016, $3,000 will be awarded to conduct research within these collections. The fellowship selection committee will include representatives from the Center for the Study of Women in Society (CSWS), Robert D. Clark Honors College (CHC), and SCUA.

For full information, go to Le Guin Funding Details.  http://csws.uoregon.edu/funding/le-guin-fellowship/

Le Guin Fellows

2013: Kathryn Allan

2014 Andrew Ferguson

2014: Jennifer Rea

2015: adrienne maree brown

CfP – Anticipations: H.G. Wells, Science Fiction and Radical Visions

Anticipations:
H. G. Wells, Science Fiction and Radical Visions
8-10 July 2016
H. G. Wells Conference Centre, Woking, UK
Organised by the H. G. Wells Society
Plenary Speakers: Stephen Baxter and Lesley A. Hall

H. G. Wells was a novelist, social commentator and utopianist, and is regarded as one of the fathers of science fiction. His early scientific romances featured time travel, mad scientists, alien invasion, space travel, invisibility, utopia, future war and histories of the future: his mappings of the shape of things to come was an overture to over a century of science fiction.

We wish to mark the 150th and 70th anniversaries of Wells’s birth and death respectively by exploring his science fiction, his precursors and successors and his lasting influence upon the genre in print, on film, on television, on radio, online and elsewhere. This is especially appropriate because the event will be held at the H. G. Wells Conference centre in Woking, the town where Wells wrote The War of the Worlds. Many of his ideas on politics, science, sociology and the direction in which he feared humanity was going were contained in his early science fiction and ran through his later influential work.

Topics might include, but are not limited to:

  • specific individual or groups of novels/stories;
  • the connections between Wells’s fiction and nonfiction, including his political, utopian and scientific writings;
  • utopia/dystopia;
  • histories of the future;
  • precursors to Wells’s sf;
  • sf writers influenced by Wells;
  • sequels by other hands;
  • adaptations into other media.

Please send a brief biography and an abstract of 400 words for a twenty minute paper by 15 April 2016 to andrewmbutler42@gmail.com.

Further details will be available from anticipations2016.wordpress.com.

Call for Division Head Applications: Science Fiction and Fantasy

The International Association for the Fantastic in the Arts is accepting applications for the position of Head of the Science Fiction Literature (SF) and Fantasy Literature (FL) 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, Isabella van Elferen i.vanelferen@kingston.ac.uk, no later than 15 May 2016. 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 terms are for three years. The SF Division Head will begin immediately, the Head of FL will “shadow” the current Head until their appointment begins at the conclusion of the conference in 2017.

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.

Call for Nominations – IAFA Student Caucus Representatives

The Student Caucus of the International Association for the Fantastic in the Arts announces a Call for Nominations for the Caucus elected positions of Student Caucus Representative and Student Caucus Vice-Representative. The new terms will be from August 1, 2016 – July 31, 2018. Any student member of the IAFA is invited to run, even if that member does not plan on being a student for the entire term. All candidates run for the same, full representative position, with the winner of the election holding the position of Student Caucus Representative and the runner-up holding the position of Student Caucus Vice-Representative. In the event of a tie, an instant runoff will be held by Skye Cervone to determine a winner. Those interested in running should send a brief biography, a description explaining why they would be a good fit for the position, and a picture to Skye at scervone@fau.edu no later than April 24th. During the week of April 25th, all student members of the IAFA will then be invited by Skye to participate in an election for their new representatives. Please see the formal job descriptions below.

Job Description: Student Caucus Representative

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

If you have any questions about what the positions entail, please email Skye at scervone@fau.edu.

Mullen Fellowships

The Mullen Fellowship offers stipends of up to $3000 per applicant to support research at any archive that has sf holdings pertinent to the dissertation topic. The program was instituted to honor Richard “Dale” Mullen, founder of Science Fiction Studies.

Qualified applicants will be PhD students from any accredited doctoral program who are pursuing an approved dissertation topic in which science fiction (broadly defined) is a major emphasis. The research may involve science fiction of any nation or culture and of any era. Applications may propose research in—but need not limit themselves to—specialized sf archives such as the Eaton Collection at UCR, the Maison d’Ailleurs in Switzerland, the Judith Merril Collection in Toronto, or the SF Foundation Collection in Liverpool. Proposals for work in general archives with relevant sf holdings—authors’ papers, for example—are also welcome. For possible research locations, applicants may wish to consult the partial list of sf archives compiled in SFS 37.2 (July 2010): 161-90. This list is also available online at: <http://sfanthology.site.wesleyan.edu/files/2010/08/WASF-Teachers-Guide-2Archives.pdf>.

The application should be written in English and should describe the dissertation, clarifying the centrality of science fiction to the project’s overall design. It should show knowledge of the specific holdings and strengths of the archive in which the proposed research will be conducted, and it should provide a work-plan and budget. Candidates should clarify why research in this particular archive is crucial to the proposed project. Students who receive awards must acknowledge the support provided by SFS’s Mullen Fellowship program in their completed dissertations and in any published work that makes use of research supported by the fellowship.

A complete application consists of a project description (approximately 500 words) with a specific plan of work, updated curriculum vitae, itemized budget, and two letters of reference, including one from the faculty supervisor of the dissertation.

Applications should be submitted electronically to the chair of the evaluation committee, Sherryl Vint, at sherryl.vint@gmail.com.  Applications are due April 1, 2016 and awards will be announced May 1, 2016. The selection committee in 2016-17 consists of Neil Easterbrook and DeWitt Douglas Kilgore (SFS Advisory Board members) and Carol McGuirk and Sherryl Vint, SFS editors.

Announcement from the President

Dear ICFA attendees,

We regretfully announce that Terri Windling will be unable to join us at the conference next week. Nonetheless, we intend to honor and celebrate her work as planned, in addition to the fine work of our other guests, Holly Black and Cristina Bacchilega. I am delighted to report that we will still hear Terri’s Guest of Honor speech on Thursday, which will be delivered by Ellen Kushner.

The conference will cancel only two events out of more than 150 total sessions, so while we will miss Terri Windling’s presence, we trust your conference experience will be an excellent one. Please join us in wishing Terri the best.

Warm regards,
Sydney Duncan
President, IAFA Board of Directors

CRSF Call for Papers

Abstracts of 300 words for a 20 minute English language paper and a 100 word biography should be submitted to CRSF.team@gmail.com by Monday 7th March 2016. Please circulate as appropriate.

The 2016 conference will be welcoming Dr Caroline Edwards and Dr Patricia Wheeler as this year’s keynote speakers. In addition, the conference will be serving as the opening, as I’m sure you’re all well aware, for the SFRA’s three-day conference in Liverpool (28th-30th).

We are seeking abstracts for 20 minute papers on topics related to speculative fiction on a wide variety of subjects:

•Alternate History •Alternative Culture •Animal Studies •Anime •Apocalypse •Body Horror •Consciousness •Cyber Culture •Drama •Eco-criticism •Fan Culture •Gaming •(Geo)Politics •Genre •Gender •Graphic Novels •The Grotesque •The Heroic Tradition •Liminal Fantasy •Magic •Meta-Franchises •Morality •Monstrosity •Music •Non-Anglo-American SF •Otherness •Pastoral •Poetry •Politics •Post-Colonialism and Empire •Proto-SF •Psychology •Quests •Realism •Sexuality •Slipstream •Spiritualism •Steampunk •Supernatural •Technology •Time •TV and Film •Urban Fantasy •Utopia/Dystopia •(Virtual) Spaces and Environments •Weird Fiction •World Building •Young Adult Fiction.

Online Registration Closes March 2

Hello Everyone!

The Thirty-Seventh International Conference on the Fantastic in the Arts is right around the corner! The on-line registration system will be open until March 2, 2016. After March 2, the on-line system will be closed temporarily so that the conference committee can commit to the hotel for space and meal requirements. The system will open again for on-site registration on March 16th. Please note that date changes for registration purposes are reckoned by local time in Orlando, Florida

Although you can join the association even if you don’t attend the conference, current IAFA membership is required if you are presenting a paper at the conference. If you haven’t already done so, you can renew your membership and register for the conference here: https://iaftfita.wildapricot.org/JoinUs.

If you are not presenting, but still want to attend the conference and hear some amazing papers, you do not have to be a member of IAFA, but you do have to register for the conference. You can register for the conference here: https://iaftfita.wildapricot.org/JoinUs.

A list of all fees associated with the conference can be found here and a “How To” guide for membership renewal can be found here, and a “How To” guide for registering and paying for the conference can be found here.

Student Caucus (SCIAFA):

The purpose of the Student Caucus (SCIAFA) is to foster and promote growth, scholarship, and fellowship among the student members of the IAFA and to address the needs of students working in the field of the fantastic, by establishing mentoring and other programs, through coordinating efforts with the main body of the IAFA. If you are a student member of the IAFA, you are automatically a member of SCIAFA

Discussion List:

All IAFA members are invited to join the IAFA listserv. You may do so by clicking here.

Volunteering:

Interested in helping us make ICFA 37 a success? We are looking for volunteers to assist with the book room, registration desk, and A/V. Please use the survey link below to let us know when and where you would like to help. If you know of other people attending the conference that would like to volunteer and earn ICFA bucks to help them keep coming back, please share the survey with them. If you have questions or concerns, please contact Valorie Ebert, Membership and Registration Coordinator (iafareg AT gmail.com).

Please Note: We need extra volunteers to help load and unload the bookroom. If you plan on being at the hotel Monday and/or aren’t leaving until the following Sunday or Monday and would like to help with this important task, please indicate your willingness on the volunteer survey or contact Valorie Ebert, Membership and Registration Coordinator (iafareg AT gmail.com).

** Book Room Set Up normally begins at 8:00 a.m. on Monday morning. They need all the help they can get, so if you are at the conference early on Monday, stop by and lend a hand.

** Book Room Breakdown normally begins at 8:00 a.m. on Sunday morning. Again, they need all the help they can get, so if you are an early riser, go lend a hand.

You can find the volunteer survey here.

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 can find our accessibility policy here.

Social Media:

If you are on Facebook you can connect with IAFA here. In addition, if you are a student you can also join the Student Caucus Facebook page here.

If you have any questions or need any help with membership renewal or registration, please email me at iafareg AT gmail.com.

We look forward to seeing you in March!

Regards,

Valorie