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January 26, 2006
Registration & Membership Reminder
Another in my series of continuing reminders to take care of registration and membership renewal as soon as possible.
Everyone who is presenting a paper at ICFA this year is reminded of this note on the Call for Papers:
Presenters must be members of the association at the time of the conference.
The form to renew your membership in the association and to register for the conference is available through the main page of the website. If you have any questions or concerns about membership or registration, contact Katy Hatfield at the email link on the website.
Posted by ChrissieMains at 12:37 AM | Comments (0)
January 25, 2006
ICFA 27 - Program on the Web for Review
Hey, everybody!
A pretty much final draft of the conference program has been uploaded to the website for your review. Point your browsers to www.iafa.org and scroll down to the first link on the main page, following the banner with the title, dates, and guests for this year's conference. Clicking this link will take you to a new page where the draft of the program is available.
We do not expect to make any major changes to the program at this point, but please keep in mind that this is a work-in-progress and that it is possible that information could change as we finalize room bookings and deal with the inevitable handful of cancellations.
Please take the time to do a search on your own name and make sure that your name, affiliation, and paper title are spelled correctly; this information passes through a lot of hands on its way into the program book, and while we're proofreading constantly, things do slip through.
Contact Chrissie Mains at cemains@shaw. and Farah Mendlesohn at farah.sf@gmail.com if you need your info fixed. If you have a bigger concern than the spelling of your name, contact Farah as well as your Division Head.
You'll see that we're still searching for chairs for a number of sessions, so if you'd like to volunteer to act as a session chair, make sure that you're not already down to do something else in that timeslot and then contact Farah to volunteer.
This is time-sensitive as we prepare the program files for the printer, so take the time to review the program sooner than later.
See you all in March in Florida,
Chrissie
Posted by ChrissieMains at 09:55 PM | Comments (0)
January 08, 2006
CfP: Women in SF & Fantasy: An Encyclopedia
CALL FOR CONTRIBUTORS
Greenwood Press
Planned Completion Date: January 2007
The 2-volume, illustrated Women in Science Fiction and Fantasy: An Encyclopedia is scheduled to be published by Greenwood Press in 2007. The Editor is seeking contributors for unassigned entries.
The focus will be primarily but not exclusively on work in English from the 19th century to the present, covering fiction, nonfiction, film, television, art, comics, graphic novels, music and poetry.
Volume I (175,000 words) will consist of essays. The longer pieces will provide socio-historical context, analysis, and background information on key themes that cross genre boundaries. Two possible schemas are being considered for this volume. The final editorial choice will depend to some extent on the scholarship and interests of the chosen contributors. One approach is multi-genre essays, tightly focused in period. An alternate approach is single-genre essays covering larger historical periods. Scholars chosen to write essays are invited to do some of the A-Z entries relating to their essays.
Volume II (175,000 words) will consist of the A-Z component. Alphabetically organized entries will focus narrowly on key figures and issues. Categories, which can apply to any of the media covered by the work, will include (but are not limited to): single entries on significant writers/artists/composers (primarily women but some men); group and background entries on a range of writers/artists/composers not covered in single entries; and single and group entries on characters and character types, genres, historical periods, national traditions, and major themes.
Background entries will draw on existing international scholarship in feminism, women writers and fantastic genres to cover major writers in other languages and national traditions. Other background entries will also address fantasy by and about women from the Middle Ages through the 1800's. Entries on how the topics of "women" and "gender" have been dealt with by male writers and artists in science fiction and fantasy will also be included.
Candidates must be willing to write thematic essays totaling 5000 words and/or entries ranging from 250-1000 words. Preference will be given to college professors, published writers, and advanced graduate students, but others qualified to write about women in science fiction, fantasy, and related genres in work in English from the 19th century to the present, covering fiction, nonfiction, film, television, art, comics, graphic novels, music and poetry will also be considered.
This project is interdisciplinary with a women's studies focus, so the editor is especially interested in soliciting writers in the following fields: communications and media studies, cultural studies, ethnic studies, film and television studies, gender studies, history, literature, media studies, multicultural studies, sociology, and women's studies. Scholars in other fields working with the fantastic are also encouraged to participate.
Deadline for submissions: September 1, 2006
This deadline is firm.
Greenwood has contracted for a $5000 budget for honorariums to all contributors plus 100 copies of the published work for contributors.
Compensation for accepted essays/entries will be the 2-volume set of the encyclopedia, which will be sent to contributors at publication, plus an honorarium. The amount may increase depending upon number of writers involved in project:
Thematic essays: $250
Entries: $50-$100 (depending on length)
Additionally, there is a $5000 budget for permissions and reproduction fees for up to 50 black/white illustrations (reproductions of book and magazine covers, art, etc.) Contributing scholars are encouraged to submit illustrations with permissions to support their essays or key figures and themes.
If you are interested in writing for this important reference, please send a short biographical sketch describing your background, publications, and interests in women's contributions to a specific genres/medium of the fantastic along with your preferred e-mail and postal address to the Editor.
Qualified candidates will receive a listing of available entries.
Prospective contributors will receive an assignment, contributors' guidelines, and sample entries by e-mail followed by a release form postal mailed from the publisher to be signed and returned.
Completed entries are subject to the normal editing process required for quality publications and are accepted for publication at the discretion of the editor, advisory board, and publisher.
EDITOR:
Robin Anne Reid
Department of Literature and Languages
Texas A&M University-Commerce
Commerce TX 75429
Robin_Reid AT tamu-commerce.edu
Rrede13 AT yahoo.com
Fax: 903-886-5980
Phone: 903-885-5268
Posted by ChrissieMains at 06:09 PM | Comments (0)
January 06, 2006
Getting Ready for the Conference
We're only weeks away from the annual conference, so if you're not prepared yet, now's the time.
1. Have you sent in your membership/conference registration fee? The form is on the website, and can be downloaded in MSWord doc so that you can type in your info, print it off, and mail it in. There's a link to the email address for registration co-ordinator Katy Hatfield, if you have any questions or concerns.
Keep in mind that the conference registration fee does increase the later you wait, with registration at the door being the most expensive.
2. Have you booked your room? The number for the hotel, the conference code, and the rates are listed on the website. The hotel will honor the conference rate (which is a really good deal in comparison to regular hotel rates for Ft. Lauderdale in March) until Feb. 1 OR until there are no rooms available. So if you haven't booked your room, you should do that now. Remember that it is possible to share a room in order to save costs; the association doesn't maintain a list of willing roomies, but you can ask on the listserv.
3. Have you booked your flight? It is Ft. Lauderdale in March, after all, so you don't want to leave this chore too much longer. Also, given the cruise ships docking in Ft. Lauderdale, it can be difficult to get a flight out on Sunday if you don't act quickly. Or, consider sticking around an extra day and leaving on Monday; there are always several ICFA souls hanging around by the pool on Sunday.
The conference schedule is being put together right now, and a draft will be available for review on the website soon; I'll make an announcement when it's ready.
Posted by ChrissieMains at 01:37 PM | Comments (0)