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Launch of Zanzalá: Estudos de Ficção Científica

We are delighted to announce the launch of Zanzalá, a Brazilian on-line academic journal dedicated to science-fiction studies. Zanzalá can be accessed at http://www.ufjf.br/lefcav/revista-zanzala/.

Zanzalá: Estudos de Ficção Científica (ISSN 2236-8191) is the first peer-reviewed Brazilian academic journal dedicated to the study and research of science fiction in multiple formats: literature, film, television, theater, music, games, etc. Zanzalá is linked to the research group (CNPq) Laboratory for Studies in Audiovisual Science Fiction (LEFCAV), based at the Institute of Arts and Design, Federal University of Juiz de Fora. This journal is published twice a year. Texts are accepted in 3 categories (essay, short paper and review), in 5 languages (Portuguese, English, Spanish, French and Italian). Submissions may deal with SF from any region of the world. The title of the journal honors a seminal novel in the history of Brazilian science fiction literature: Zanzalá and the Kingdom of Heaven (1949), by Afonso Schmidt.

For further information, please contact us by e-mail: alfredo.suppia@ufjf.edu.br.

We invite all SF researchers to submit essays, short-papers and/or reviews.

Congratulations Mythopoeic Award Winners

The winners of this year’s Mythopoeic Award winners were announced at Mythcon 42 in Albuquerque, New Mexico, on July 17, 2011. Award winners are said to best exemplify “the spirit of the Inklings”.

Winners:

  • Mythopoeic Fantasy Award for Adult Literature: Karen Lord, Redemption in Indigo (Small Beer Press)
  • Mythopoeic Fantasy Award for Children’s Literature: Megan Whalen Turner, The Queen’s Thief Series, consisting of The Thief, The Queen of Attolia, The King of Attolia, and A Conspiracy of Kings (Greenwillow Books)
  • Mythopoeic Scholarship Award in Inklings Studies: Michael Ward, Planet Narnia: The Seven Heavens in the Imagination of C.S. Lewis (Oxford, 2008)
  • Mythopoeic Scholarship Award in Myth and Fantasy Studies: Caroline Sumpter, The Victorian Press and the Fairy Tale (Palgrave Macmillan, 2008)

See the Mythopoeic site for more details about the announcement.

CYA Division Head Announcement

We pleased to announced Alaine Martaus as the new division head for the CYA group. We thank Amie for her years of service and are excited to have Alaine on board.

Alaine is a doctoral student in Library and Information Science and an Information in Society Fellow at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, where her research interests include issues and theories related to teen-oriented information networks, the intersection of technology and the young adult literature market, and library teen advisory boards. A graduate of the Hollins University graduate program in Children’s Literature and former high school librarian, she also interested in the representation of information networks in adolescent science fiction, issues of gender, power, and identity formation in adolescent fantasy literature, and trends in the reimagining of classic texts for children and young adults.

The Binding Strength of Irish Studies

Congratulations to Donald Morse and his wife for their new book, The Binding Strength of Irish Studies. It’s a real work of love and we’re delighted about this accomplishment!

The Binding Strength of Irish Studies: Festschrift in Honour of Csilla Bertha and Donald E. Morse. Eds. Marianna Gula, Mária Kurdi, and István D. Rácz. Debrecen: Debrecen University Press, 2011.

2011 Locus Award Finalists have been announced!

The Locus Science Fiction Foundation has announced the top five finalists in each category of the 2011 Locus Awards. Winners will be announced during the Science Fiction Awards Weekend in Seattle WA, June 24-26, 2011. Good luck everyone!

In Memoriam: Joanna Russ (1937-2011)

We are so sad to hear of Joanna Russ’s passing after a series of strokes. Thank you Locus for this obituary.

Joanna Russ was a prolific fiction and non-fiction writer and is best known for her novel, The Female Man, written in 1975 and which was awarded a retro-Tiptree and inducted into the Gaylactic Spectrum Hall of Fame and is a staple in many science fiction, speculative fiction, fantasy, and feminist university classes today. She entered the science fiction scene in the 1960’s and challenged the male dominance in this field to become a leading fiction author and critic who was nominated for nine Nebula and three Hugos and won the following awards:

  • Nebula in 1972 for her short story “When it Changed”
  • National Endowment for the Humanities fellowship
  • O.  Henry in 1977 for her short story “An Autobiography of My Mother”
  • Hugo in 1983 for her novella “Souls”
  • Locus award, 1983
  • Science Fiction Chronicle award, 1983
  • Pilgrim in 1988 for her scholarship

Minority art, vernacular art, is marginal art. Only on the margins does growth occur. -Joanna Russ

2011 Hugo and Campbell Award nominees announced

http://www.locusmag.com/News/2011/04/2011-hugo-and-campbell-awards-nominees/

Nominees for the Hugo Awards and for the John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer have been announced by Renovation, the 69th World Science Fiction Convention, to be held in Reno, Nevada, August 17-21, 2011. The Hugo Awards ceremony will take place August 20, 2011.

And there are a lot of familiar names on this list! Congratulations nominees!!

Seminar on Appalachian folk and fairy tales at WVU

An exciting opportunity will be taking place at West Virginia University this coming
June. Folklorist and literary scholar Carl Lindahl will be leading the WVU English
Department’s annual Summer Seminar in Literary and Cultural Studies from June 9-12,
2011 on the topic “American Magic: The Fates of Folk & Fairy Tales in the
Appalachians.”

For additional information, you can visit the seminar website at
http://english.wvu.edu/centers/projects/summer_seminar.

Carl has emerged as a champion of Appalachian märchen: his 2008 American Folklore
Society plenary address focused on Appalachian folk- and fairy-tales, and an article
based on his talk, “Leonard Roberts, The Farmer-Lewis-Muncy Family, and the Magic
Circle of the Mountain Märchen,” which appeared in the Fall 2010 issue of the
_Journal of American Folklore_. Carl is particularly interested in contemporary
performances of these tales and their tellers, so this promises not to be just a
study of past scholarship, but of living, emerging tradition, as well.

The WVU English Department is thrilled to have Carl as the leader of our 20th annual
seminar, and hopes you can join us for a weekend featuring the best elements of an
academic seminar-great readings, lively discussions with fellow scholars, and the
leadership of an expert in the field-without the usual headaches (no papers to write
or exams to take).

Registration is $350 for faculty members and non-academics, and $250 for graduate
students. The fee includes breakfast on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. Housing will
be available in one of the newest dorms on campus, or for those who prefer to stay
off-campus, there are several hotels and motels nearby.

If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me directly with any
questions at rosemary.hathaway@mail.wvu.edu or by phone at 304/293-9738.

5 minutes of your time to help IAFA

Hey folks! The ICFA-32 Survey is live! Send us your feedback, both the good and the bad! We want to hear it all! 5-10 minutes of your time will help us continue to improve the conference!

Diana Wynne Jones 1934-2011

We are deeply saddened to lose respected author and friend Diana Wynne Jones to cancer.