Skip navigation

ICFA-29 — A New Deadline Warrants A New CFP

The 29th International Conference on the Fantastic in the Arts
Delightful Horror and the Sense of Wonder: Appreciating the Sublime in the Fantastic

[Feel free to distribute this general Call for Papers. The more it’s passed around the merrier! Also, although the original deadline of Oct. 31 has passed, the recent news of SFRA’s change of venue ((see below)) for SFRA 2008 has prompted the IAFA to revise its deadline for paper proposals for ICFA-29. The new deadline is December 15th.]

The 29th International Conference on the Fantastic in the Arts will be held March 19-23, 2008, at the Orlando Airport Marriott in Orlando, Florida. The conference begins at 3 pm on Wednesday and ends at 1 am on Sunday upon the conclusion of the conference banquet. The focus of ICFA-29 is on the relationship between the sense of wonder embodied by the sublime and the fantastic in literature, film, and other media. The sheer magnitude of the universe gives rise to the amazing, the astonishing, the astounding, the thrilling, and the wondrous. Edmund Burke argued it is “infinity [that] has a tendency to fill the mind with that sort of delightful horror which is the most genuine effect and truest test of the sublime.” It then should come as no surprise that the sublime has been a mainstay in science fiction, fantasy, horror, and other related fantastic modes. Papers are invited that explore this topic. In addition, we especially look forward to papers on the work of our guests:

Guest of Honor: Vernor Vinge, author of “The Technological Singularity” and Hugo Award-winning A Fire Upon the Deep.

Guest of Honor: Greer Ilene Gilman, author of the Crawford Award-winning Moonwise.

Guest Scholar: Roger Luckhurst, author of The Trauma Paradigm (Routledge) and Science Fiction (Polity Press).

As always, we also welcome proposals for individual papers and for academic sessions and panels on any aspect of the fantastic in any media.The new deadline is December 15th.

We encourage work from institutionally-affiliated scholars, independent scholars, international scholars who work in languages other than English, graduate students, and undergraduate students.

The Jamie Bishop Memorial Award for an Essay Not in English is open to all members of the IAFA. The IAFA Graduate Student Award is open to all graduate students presenting papers at the year’s conference. Details are available via Robin Reid, Second Vice-President (Robin_Reid@tamu-commerce.edu). Finally, the Dell Magazines Undergraduate Science Fiction Award will also be handed out at this year’s conference.

Please See Page Two (Over) for Submission Guidelines
Look for Information and Updates at the IAFA website: www.iafa.org

Submission Guidelines

In order to be considered for the 2008 program, your proposal to (1) read a paper, (2) recruit and chair a paper session, or (3) organize and chair a panel discussion should be date-stamped no later than December 15th.; electronic correspondence is welcome. Proposals must be sent to the appropriate Division Head (addresses below). Advise the Division Head if you would like to volunteer to chair a paper session. Proposals must include a 500-word abstract and appropriate bibliography indicating the project’s scholarly or theoretical context. Presenters must be members of IAFA at the time of the conference. Be sure to indicate all audio-visual equipment needs in this initial proposal; later A/V requests cannot be guaranteed.

FANTASTIC IN CHILDREN’S & YOUNG-ADULT’S LITERATURE & ILLUSTRATION

All aspects of the fantastic in work aimed at children and young adults. Division Head: Joe Sutliff Sanders, California State University, Dept. of English, 5500 University Parkway, San Bernardino, CA, 92407-2397 (DR.JOESS@GMAIL.COM).

FANTASTIC LITERATURE IN ENGLISH
All aspects of the fantastic in British, American and Commonwealth literature. Division Head: Charles W. Nelson, Humanities Dept., Michigan Technological University, Houghton, MI 49931 (CWNELSON@MTU.EDU).

FANTASTIC IN FILM & MEDIA
All aspects of the fantastic in television, video, and film. Division Head: Susan A. George, Gender & Women’s Studies, University of California, Berkeley, 3326 Dwinelle Hall, Berkeley CA 94720-1070 (SAGEORGE13@SBCGLOBAL.NET).

COMMUNITIES & CULTURE IN THE FANTASTIC [formerly PCVA]
All aspects of the fantastic in fan cultures and communities, including fan fiction, comics/graphic novels, filking, conventions, hypertexts, viral marketing, RPG. Division Head: Barbara Lucas, VIS, 31225 Bainbridge Rd, Suite M, Solon OH 44139 (BARBEDWRITING@YAHOO.COM).

VISUAL & PERFORMING ARTS [formerly PCVA]
All aspects of the fantastic in live drama, music, dance, sculpture, body art, and photography and digital imagery. Division Head: Stefan Hall, Bowling Green State University, Dept. of Theatre and Film, 338 South Hall, Bowling Green, OH, 43403-0180 (STEFANH@BGNET.BGSU.EDU)

HORROR LITERATURE
All aspects of horror in mainstream and popular literature, including literary traditions, aesthetics, psychological constructs, and comparative influences. Division Head: Stephanie Moss, 10032 N. 52nd. Street, Tampa, FL 33517 (SMOSS@CAS.USF.EDU).

INTERNATIONAL FANTASTIC LITERATURE
All aspects of the fantastic in international and comparative literature. Division Head: Dale Knickerbocker, Dept. of Foreign Languages, East Carolina University, Greenville, NC 27858 (KNICKERBOCKERD@MAIL.ECU.EDU).

SCIENCE FICTION LITERATURE & THEORY
All aspects of science fiction literature, history, and theory. Division Head: Sherryl Vint, Dept. of English Literature, Brock University, St. Catharines, ON, L2S 3A1 (SVINT@BROCKU.CA).

March 19-23, 2008
Marriott Orlando Airport Hotel
Look for Information and Updates at the IAFA website: www.iafa.org

Science Fiction Studies Special Issue on Gender and Sexuality

CFP: Special Issue of Science Fiction Studies on Gender and Sexuality. Past special issues of SFS have focused on women writers and on queer theory, but this issue proposes to take a broader approach to gender and sexuality, focusing on a full spectrum of related topics: femininity/masculinity in sf, sf and sex/gender change, sf pornography, techno-fetishism, alien sex, multiple genders/sexualities, sexual subcultures in sf, sf and censorship, sex work(ers) in sf, slash/flash writing, and more. We welcome submissions from a range of disciplinary perspectives. The deadline for 500-word abstracts is May 1, 2008; please send them to Rob Latham at rob-latham@uiowa.edu or to Istvan Csicsery-Ronay, Jr. at icronay@depauw.edu.

Call for Proposals: Academic and Creative Events for ICFA-29

Hello, all IAFA members attending (or still thinking about attending) this year’s conference in beautiful Orlando, Florida in March 2008.

While our early deadline for submissions has passed, we do have a secondary deadline this year, November 30, 2007. Those of you who regularly attend ICFA know that we aim to provide a good mix of programming. We think that it’s in part this mix of programming that makes ICFA such a wonderful experience for all of us, whether we’re scholars or teachers, authors or poets.

We’ve already received lots of proposals for all kinds of events for this conference, but we’re still looking for more. For one thing, our new hotel (Orlando Airport Marriott) has an extra conference room for us to fill! We would love to hear from any member of IAFA about ideas for panels, fiction workshops, additional author and poetry readings, and special events.

Keep in mind that there are some limits on how many and what kinds of events participants can be part of. For instance, if you’re an attending author reading from your fiction in the creative track, you can’t also present an individual paper in an academic session, although you can still participate in a panel discussion. And if you’re an academic reading a paper, you can’t also read from your creative work in the creative track, although you can still participate in other kinds of creative events, such as workshops or themed talks about writing the fantastic.

If you’re not sure who to approach about what, you can contact any Division Head or 1VP Chrissie Mains (cemains AT shaw.ca or cmains AT ucalgary.ca) and we’ll work on putting you in touch with others with similar interests and ideas.

Anyone interested can organize both academic and creative events and propose them for inclusion in the programming (although obviously we can’t guarantee that every proposal can be accepted). The only limit to participation in ICFA is space (which is larger than in previous years) and the needs of the 1VP to be able to schedule events with a minimum of conflicts (sadly, that will never change).

Looking forward to seeing you in March
Chrissie Mains

CFP: Geoff Ryman and Extrapolation Extension

Special Extapolation Issue on Geoff Ryman

The Summer 2008 issue of Extrapolation will be devoted to the work of Geoff Ryman. Ryman is increasingly recognized as an important writer in the field of science fiction, the author of six novels and numerous other works and the recipient of the James Tiptree Jr. Award, the British SF Award, the Philip K. Dick Award, and the John W. Campbell and Arthur C. Clarke awards (the latter twice). His writing inspires consideration as science fiction, especially in the contexts of gender, sexuality and embodied technologies, but also compels us to consider questions of generic convention and definition, particularly in the intersections between science fiction, fantasy and history. Indeed, Ryman’s brief discussion at the end of Was of the importance of using fantasy and history against each other has been widely taken up in the discussion of sf and fantasy more generally. The editors of this issue invite consideration of any aspect of Ryman’s work, including his hypertext novel 253, and his involvement with the ‘Mundane SF’ movement, which calls for an emphasis on near future and present day ‘realist’ sf.

All manuscript submissions, including explanatory notes and the list of Works Cited, should be double-spaced on one side of the sheet only. Neither embedded footnotes nor generated footnotes that some software systems make available should be used. Documentation should follow the MLA Style Manual (1999) with parenthetical citations in the text and a Works Cited list at the end. Only explanatory endnotes are needed.

Please send an electronic submission in either MSWord or WordPerfect to the Guest Editors, Wendy Pearson (wpearson@uwo.ca) or Susan Knabe (sknabe@uwo.ca). An e-copy in Word should be submitted to Javier A. Martínez at jmartinez@utb.edu. Please contact the editors with specific questions.

Please note the extended deadline of March 15, 2008.

Call for Papers: International Conference (The Center for Children’s and Young Adult Fiction)

  • November 1, 2007 – 3:23 pm
  • Posted in CFP
  • Comments Off on Call for Papers: International Conference (The Center for Children’s and Young Adult Fiction)

Relevant Across Cultures: Visions of Connectedness and World Citizenship in Modern Fantasy for Young Readers

University of Wrocław, 28-31 May, 2008

International Conference hosted by
THE CENTER FOR CHILDREN’S AND YOUNG ADULT FICTION AT THE UNIVERSITY OF WROCŁAW

Second Call for Papers

“We need a story, a myth that does what the traditional religious stories did: it must explain. It must satisfy our hunger for a why. Why does the world exist? Why are we here? […] It must provide some sort of framework for understanding why some things are good and others are bad. […] We need a myth, we need a story because it’s no good persuading people to commit themselves to an idea on the grounds that it’s reasonable”
–Philip Pullman, “The Republic of Heaven,” 665-666

Works of literature are distinctive to the specific culture which produced them and embody that culture’s place- and time-bound consciousness. However, many of the themes and topics in literature are relevant across cultures. The well-being of children, the importance of family, the need to foster human relationships, and the right for happiness are some among the many concerns central to most cultures. In the global reality of contemporary uni-media-verse, an increasing number of fantasy novels and films addressed to young audience cross cultures in their important themes. They explore what it means to grow up and get along in the modern world, provide glimpses into the cultures and traditions that make up the fabric of this world, and define human rights and responsibilities toward this world in its social, political, cultural and environmental dimensions.

Since its inception the Center for Children’s and Young Adult Fiction has had a strong interest in the way in which literature addressed to young audience, especially fantasy, can bring about empathy for and understanding of cultures and situations other than those we are familiar with. In our Relevant Across Cultures Conference we want to look at how novels, picture books and films of the last three decades are helping to bridge cultural, social and political gaps between different groups of people. We are particularly interested in the current mythopoesis toward connectedness and world citizenship, in new heroic and gender patterns which are beginning to fill the mythology gap, and in visions of viable value systems which promote intercultural dialogue, harmonious coexistence and environmental awareness.

Our key-note speaker will be Brian Attebery, American critic and scholar, author of The Fantasy Tradition in American Literature (1980), (1992), and Decoding Gender in Science Fiction (2002). His presentation on “Stories Linked to Stories: Fantasy as a Route to Myth,” will open what we hope will become an exciting debate on the place of fantasy literature and film in the shaping of transnational cultural referents of the global tomorrow. Our intention is to provide a forum for a wide range of scholarly presentations and workshops.

Suggested topics for proposals include, but are not limited to:

  • political and social holism in fantasy literature and film,
  • the exchange of various cultural forms across borders as a theme in fantasy,
  • fantasy as reflecting modern understanding of myth and the need for relevant mythic narratives,
  • the significance of national/regional boundaries and categories like “citizen,” “immigrant,” “stranger” in fantasy narratives; ways in which introducing non-human thinking races shapes the reader’s concept of social relations,
  • the impact, on fantasy literature and film, of the theoretical and political frameworks of globalization,
  • ways in which fantasy allows its audience to better understand the effects of globalization on the nation and the environment,
  • the implications of “common speech” versus racial languages in fantastic worlds,
  • fellowships, guilds, republics and leagues in fantasy and role-playing games as a form of integration above divisions, suggesting a partnership-based cultural and racial patchwork with a place for individuality; imaginary relevance of culturally diverse union to the idea of European integration,
  • the journey—not only an archetypal, but also actual experience—and the quest-based plot as reflecting the mobility of the contemporary globalized world,
  • the positive and negative motivations for unification and cooperation,
  • fantasy narratives as a type of discourse on important contemporary issues: eugenics, genetic manipulation, artificial intelligence, human and animal cloning, culture clash,
  • essentialization and relativiziation of moral concepts in fantastic literature and film,
  • speculation on the merits and dangers of a community constructed around a specific ideological or moral issue: matriarchy, patriarchy, technology, nature-worship, sexual affirmation or constraint, and so forth.

    • SUBMISSIONS

    The deadline for proposals is December 31, 2007. Proposals must include your name, e-mail address, mailing address, telephone number, institutional affiliation, technology requests (availability to be confirmed later), presentation/workshop title, and a 300-word abstract. Presentations will be limited to 20 minutes; workshops to 30 minutes. Selected papers will be considered for publication in the conference proceedings. Please submit your proposals to:

    Marek Oziewicz and Justyna Deszcz-Tryhubczak
    Institute of English Studies, University of Wroclaw
    ul. Kuźnicza 22, 50-138 Wroclaw, Poland

    Electronic submissions are preferred, but not required. Please send them as Word document attachments, alternatively via plain-text email. Detailed information about costs, accommodation, optional tours etc. will follow in January.

    Conference secretary:
    AGATA ZARZYCKA, agata@proteus.pl

    Conference organizers:
    DR. JUSTYNA DESZCZ-TRYHUBCZAK,
    deszcz@yahoo.com

    DR. MAREK OZIEWICZ,
    marekoziewicz@uni.wroc.pl,
    marek.oziewicz@fulbrightweb.org

    FE Division Head

    On behalf of the Executive Board of IAFA, I would like to announce that we have decided upon a replacement for Chuck Nelson, who will be stepping down as FE Division Head following the conference in March 2008. The new Division Head for Fantastic Literatures in English will be Stefan Ekman of Lund University, Sweden.

    Stefan is a longstanding member of IAFA, who has been attending the conference for many years. In addition to presenting papers on Tolkien, de Lint, Gaiman, Vess, and others, he has ably chaired sessions and moderated panels. He has also contributed to the association in other ways, formerly as the Student Caucus Representative and most recently as the web designer for IAFA’s new website. He has worked closely with Chuck over the years, and we expect that the transition will go very smoothly.

    The board was extremely pleased with the response to the call for candidates for the position; eight people expressed interest in the job, and the board had a very difficult time making a decision from amongst so many qualified candidates. We thank all of the candidates and hope that all will find other ways in which to continue to contribute to the success of the conference and of the association.

    Chrissie Mains
    1VP, IAFA

    The Fantastic and MLA

    For those of you attending MLA in ’07, this might be of interest:

    Modern Language Association — national conference in Chicago, December 2007
    Panel number and title: #458. Science Fiction in the “Third” World

    Saturday, 29 December, 10:15–11:30 a.m., Michigan B, Sheraton Chicago Hotels and Towers

    Program arranged by the Discussion Group on Science Fiction and Utopian and Fantastic Literature
    Presiding: Rachel Haywood Ferreira, Iowa State Univ.

    1. “A Fence against the Other: Utopian and Science Fiction in West Africa,” Tiziana Morosetti, Univ. of Bologna
    2. “Gender Anarchy and Gender Anarchism: A Look Back at the Argentine Future with Ana María Shua and Angélica Gorodischer,” Patrick O’Connor, Oberlin Coll.
    3. “Keri Hulme’s Utopian Remythification in The Bone People,” Sharon R. Wilson, Univ. of Northern Colorado

    Doris Lessing Wins Nobel Prize

    The International Association for the Fantastic in the Arts (IAFA) is delighted that Doris Lessing, Guest of Honor at the 1989 International Conference on the Fantastic in the Arts and longtime IAFA friend, has been awarded the 2007 Nobel Prize for Literature. Writing on her Children of Violence series, The Guardian states on its website : “By combining literary science fiction with a stringent, pioneering brand of feminism, Lessing gave a glimpse of the qualities for which she was to become famous.” As an author of the fantastic and only the 11th woman to win the award in Nobel’s 106-year history, nothing can take the bloom off of this honour. Congratulations on this well-deserved award!

    WorldCon 2009

    Congratulations to Montréal for winning the 2009 WorldCon bid [and I’m particularly thrilled as it’s only a few hours drive away for me :-)]. Anticipation, the 67th World Science Fiction Convention, Montréal, Québec, will be held Thursday 6 August – Monday 10 August, 2009 at Palais des congrès de Montréal. The attendees include:

    Neil Gaiman – Guest of Honour
    Elisabeth Vonarburg – Invitée d’honneur
    Taral Wayne – Fan Guest of Honour
    David Hartwell – Editor Guest of Honour
    Tom Doherty – Publisher Guest of Honour
    Julie Czerneda – Master of Ceremonies

    More information can be found at the Anticipation website.

    Devention 3, the 66th World Science Fiction Convention, will be held in Denver, Colorado, from Wednesday 6 August – Sunday 10 August, 2008.

    Post Conference IAFA Universal Tour

    Sunday after the conference there will be an opportunity to visit Universal’s Theme Park for an IAFA Group Rate of $67US that includes bus transportation and discounted admission to the site. The bus will leave the hotel at 9:30 am, deliver people to Universal, and then pick them up at 6:00 pm to return to the hotel. There is a minimum requirement of 30 people and there are 40 spaces in total, so first come first serve. If we are unable to meet our minimum requirement by February 1st we will be forced to cancel this social outing. Conference registrants, their partners, and families are all eligible for this tour.