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ICFA 36 Program Available Now

A link to the program is available at the top of the ICFA 36 conference page.

 

2015 Crawford Award

For the first time in its 30-year history, the William L. Crawford Fantasy Award, presented annually by the International Association for the Fantastic in the Arts for an outstanding first fantasy book, has resulted in a tie. The winners for 2015, each of whom will receive the full award, are Zen Cho for her story collection Spirits Abroad (Buku Fixi) and Stephanie Feldman for her novel The Angel of Losses (Ecco).

According to award administrator Gary K. Wolfe, both books won broad support from the nominating committee, which felt both were deserving of the award. The other books included on this year’s Crawford shortlist are Ghalib Islam, Fire in the Unnameable Country  (Hamish Hamilton); Sarah Tolmie, The Stone Boatmen (Aqueduct); Greg Bechtel, Boundary Problems (Freehand Books); and

Jessie Burton, The Miniaturist  (Ecco).

 

Participating in this year’s nomination and selection process were Farah Mendlesohn, Ellen Klages, Graham Sleight, Karen Burnham, Candas Jane Dorsey, Jedediah Berry, Niall Harrison, and last year’s winner Sofia Samatar.  The award will be presented on March 21 during the 36th International Conference on the Fantastic in the Arts in Orlando, Florida. The IAFA’s Distinguished Scholarship Award will be presented to Colin Milburn, and the Jamie Bishop Memorial Award for a work of scholarship written in a language other than English will go to Fernando Ángel Moreno, Mikel Peregrina, and Steven Bermúdez Antúnez. Awards for student scholarship will be announced later.

Hotel Registration Deadline

Dear ICFA Attendees:

The hotel deadline is fast approaching, and rooms will not be available at the conference rate after February 6–and will probably not be available at any rate.

2015 Jamie Bishop Award Winners

The 2015 Winners of the Jamie Bishop Award are Fernando Ángel Moreno, Mikel Peregrina, and Steven Bermúdez Antúnez.

The Finalists are Sophie Beaulé,Teresa López Pellisa, Francisca Noguerol.

Further information can be found on the Jamie Bishop Memorial Award page.

CfP: “Speculative Humanities: Steampunk to Afrofuturism.” SHORT NOTICE

2015 Conference: Abstracts due Sunday, January 18, 2015

The submission deadline for panel and individual presentation abstracts for the 2015 Humanities Conference is Sunday, January 19, 2015. Please email abstracts (250-300 words) to both of the conference co-chairs: Prof. Jennifer Wager (jwager@essex.edu) and Prof. Rebecca Williams (wrebecca@essex.edu) by Sunday, January 18, 2015.

Call For Papers
On March 11-12, 2015, the Humanities Division at Essex County College will host its Spring 2015 Conference, “Speculative Humanities: Steampunk to Afrofuturism.” This two-day conference offers space for writers, musicians, artists, and academicians to explore, expand upon, and rethink the implications of speculative humanities. This year’s conference will feature a special emphasis on the life, work, and influence of Octavia E. Butler.

Speculative humanities encompasses a diverse array of works, from the  18th century mysticism of Swedenborg to the 20th century spiritual teachings of Gurdjieff, along with the 19th century texts of authors such as Mary Shelley, Samuel Butler, and Jules Verne to the 20th and 21st century works of H.G. Wells, Octavia E. Butler, Margaret Atwood, Samuel Delany, Cormac McCarthy, and L.A. Banks. The revolutionary wave sweeping across Europe during the 19th century along with the publication of texts such as The Communist Manifesto influenced generations of writers to produce works featuring both urban utopias and dystopian metropolises. Historical and fictional texts include post-apocalyptic narratives, invasion literature, steampunk, Afrofuturism, fantasy, fan fiction, fabulist, anime, horror, and what was once categorized as science fiction.

Open to all humanities disciplines–literature, music, history, religion, philosophy, art, architecture, theater, dance, and media–we invite papers, panel presentations, screenings, and performances of works that can be included in the admittedly broad category of “speculative humanities.” We welcome interactive, unorthodox panels, screenings, exhibits, musical performances, and other presentations related to our central theme. Papers on the works of Octavia E. Butler are especially encouraged for submission.

Please email (abstracts of 250-300 words) for panels and individual presentations to both of the conference co-chairs: Prof. Jennifer Wager (jwager@essex.edu) and Prof. Rebecca Williams (wrebecca@essex.edu) by Sunday, January 16, 2015.

CfP: Monstrum Volume 1: Issue 1

For Goya, ‘Fantasy abandoned by reason produces impossible monsters: united with her, she is the mother of the arts and the origin of their marvels’, though some see his etching as revealing the dark undercurrents of Enlightenment. The monster, according to Jeffrey Jerome Cohen, offers ways of understanding the cultures which bear them; ‘the monstrum is etymologically “that which reveals”’.
The inaugural issue of the journal Monstrum will showcase the kinds of cultural themes which will be revealed in this new venture from Spectral Visions Press of the University of Sunderland. The journal is a refereed academic journal and invites original articles on all aspects of monsters and the monstrous. The perspective is that of literary studies but, in keeping with the boundary-defying nature of the monster, welcomes an interdisciplinary approach that may draw on (among others) cultural studies, philosophy, psychology, anthropology, and the history of ideas, and which explores monstrosity in a variety of genres and media.
Proposals for individual or collaborative papers are invited on the cultural meanings of representations of monsters and the idea of the monstrous via diverse theoretical approaches in literature from realist fiction, drama, and poetry through the Gothic novel, modernism, horror, SF, fantasy, paranormal romance, comedy, YA and children’s literature to myth, epic, and folklore (or in such other media as film, TV, comics, or video games).
Possible topics might include (but are not limited to):

  • Monsters and the Other (racial, ethnic, sexual, ideological, etc.
  • Monsters and the Self (what we are and what is repressed)
  • Reason, the fantastic, and the monstrous
  • The monstrous human
  • Monstrous taxonomies (how monsters escape and confuse classificatory systems)
  • The sympathetic monster and the Demon Lover
  • The Eternal Return of the Monster (how the form of the monster both endures and mutates)
  • The inanimate monster (architecture, machinery, and landscape; colossuses both natural and cultural)
  • Monstrous scales (size and sublimity; the monstrously gigantic or the insidiously microbial
  • Species of monster: vampires, werewolves, zombies, ogres, dragons, basilisks, dinosaurs, sharks, giant squid, aliens, mutants, half-breeds, perverts, criminals, terrorists
  • Infamous monsters: Lycaon, Medusa, Lamia, Satan, Lilith, Gargantua, Dracula, Frankenstein’s creature, King Kong, Godzilla, Hitler, Hannibal Lecter, Cthulhu, Moby Dick, the Daleks

Please send electronic copies of proposals (approx. 500 words) and a brief biography (100 words) in MS Word format by 31 January 2014 to each of:

We will notify you over acceptance shortly after. Completed articles of approximately 6,000 words, formatted in MHRA style, will be due by 30 April 2015.

Alice through the Ages: The 150th Anniversary of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland

Alice through the Ages: The 150th Anniversary of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland.

15th-17th September 2015.

Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland celebrates its 150th anniversary in 2015. Lewis Carroll famously opens his Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland with his protagonist “burning with curiosity”, which leads Alice to follow the White Rabbit into an alternative reality. That same sense of curiosity has circulated about Wonderland since the book was first published. This conference aims to offer new understandings of the work by re-evaluating long held truisms, subjecting the text to new theoretical approaches and considering the history of adaptation and its uses in popular culture.

We invite innovative papers on Lewis Carroll from established scholars as well as new voices in the field, and those whose research focuses on cognate fields. We are especially interested in papers focused on the book’s initial production context, including Carroll’s biography and sources and influences; papers that interrogate and problematise some of the longstanding truisms associated with the text, such as its place at the start of the fantasy tradition for children and the relationship between author and illustrator; papers that examine how text and author have been read in terms of cultural studies, the history of science, the medical humanities, and the politics of literature; and papers considering adaptation and the powerful influence Wonderland has had on design and style.

Confirmed keynote speakers are Professor Dame Gillian Beer, Professor Jan Susina and Dr Kiera Vaclavik.

300 word proposals for 20-minute papers or 60-90 minute panel sessions should be submitted by 31st January 2015. We also invite poster presentations, exhibits, performances and any activities inspired by the Alice novels.

For more information, or to submit a proposal, please contact Professor Maria Nikolajeva mn351@cam.ac.uk or Dr Zoe Jaques, zj216@cam.ac.uk.

New Book: The Angel of Losses

The Angel of Losses

The Tiger’s Wife meets A History of Love in this inventive, lushly imagined debut novel that explores the intersections of family secrets, Jewish myths, the legacy of war and history, and the bonds between sisters. 

A Barnes & Noble Discover Great New Writers Selection

One of the Washington Post’s Top Five Science Fiction/Fantasy Books of 2014

“This impressive debut from Feldman is a page-turner that celebrates sisterly love.” —Publishers Weekly

“This imaginative first novel leads you on a journey of fantastic tales, stormy family ties and a tragic discovery of redemption that will break your heart.”—The Washington Post

[A] breathtakingly accomplished debut … a story of magic and bold imagining… .Every once in a while a book comes along that reminds us that even though a horror was visited upon a particular people, in a particular place and at particular moment in history, the story told is really about all of us, everywhere and for all time. It takes an extraordinary writer like Stephanie Feldman to bring that story to life.” —NPR

“Stephanie Feldman’s first novel is a compelling mix of fable, history and mystery, but at the center, it is a very human story about how families accept one another’s choices while forgiving one another’s mistakes. The Angel of Losses is an ambitious work by a brilliant new author.”—Bookpage

“Stephanie Feldman writes with tremendous warmth, tenderness, and insight, and The Angel of Losses is a smart and beautiful novel that is all at once a literary thriller, a multigenerational family saga and a stunning exploration of Jewish mysticism. I loved this book.” –Molly Antopol, National Book Foundation 5 Under 35 Honoree and author of The UnAmericans: Stories

“Stephanie Feldman is one of the smartest and most original young writers at work today. . . .Watch out for her. She is here to stay.” —Sheri Holman, author of Witches on the Road Tonight and The Dress Lodger

“Lucid, tender, and masterfully portrayed, The Angel of Losses is an intergenerational story of perseverance and love in a changing world. Rich with Jewish lore and history, there is magic at play here in more than one sense. A must-read.” —G. Willow Wilson, author of Alif the Unseen

“[H]aunting. Even more gripping than the real and imagined folktales that Feldman weaves into the book, however, is her exploration of sisterly rifts and bonds and family secrets shrouded by time.” —The Philadelphia Inquirer

“Family saga, mystery, and myth intersect in Feldman’s debut novel. . . .vivid, imaginative.” —Booklist

“In her spellbinding debut novel, Stephanie Feldman tells an epic tale of mystery, discovery, and familial love…moving, mature, and deeply original.” —Ploughshares

“[F]illed with magic, faith, love, rejection, loyalty, family, secrecy, loss, and adventure.”—Jewish Book World    

“Feldman’s prose is intelligent, engaging, and at times figurative. . . .[and] demonstrates a versatile virtuosity impressive for a debut work.”—New York Journal of Books

“Feldman’s debut novel is an unusual combination of literary thriller, family drama, and Jewish mysticism. . . .Fans of Elizabeth Kostova’s The Historian or the works of Lev Grossman will find something here in a similar vein.” —Library Journal

“Beautifully constructed and just plain beautiful.” —BOOKRIOT

Named as one of the “Essential Books Coming in 2014” by io9

Call for Submissions: Words and Worlds

Words and worlds. Poetry  Dear all it’s time to think of offering a fantastic/scifi/horror poetry reading at the conference ! As usual,  we have two sessions, this time both at  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  at g.wisker@brighton.ac.uk.

Words and worlds. Fiction  This year sees the welcome return of the words and worlds fiction session. So if you have a piece of short fantastic/scifi/horror fiction/ a short  extract  you would like to read, please let me know. We have 1 1/2 hrs , so slots of up to 20 mins (but preferably a bit shorter) are possible. Again please let me know at g.wisker@brighton.ac.uk

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.