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April 27, 2006
Visual & Performing Arts in the Fantastic
The brand-new Visual & Performing Arts division of the IAFA is all about the site where the visual meets the verbal, where the dynamic and physical intersect the purely textual.
If that doesn't help, then perhaps it's about seeing and acting science fiction, or maybe even being fantasy.
This category includes such topics as:
Illustrations
Graphic novels
Anime
Music
Dance
Sculpture
Theater
Photography
Body Art
Some write science fiction and fantasy, while others show it and do it. The Visual & Performing Arts Division is where we try to determine exactly what that means.
Stacie Hanes is the head of the Visual & Performing Arts section. Her MA focused on 19th Century British Literature. She has published several chapters and articles about Terry Pratchett's Discworld novels, the most recent in The Sandman Papers from Fantagraphics, due out in May 2006. Her most recent research has been into 19th century sf (or precursors to the genre) as subversive literature.
She publishes book reviews, micro-essays, photographs, and truly random thoughts in EnglishSpace, and can be reached at shanes1 AT kent.edu.
(Stacie and Barb will be selling tickets to the smackdown over the topics of fan art and cosplay, to be held the Tuesday before the conference in the hotel lobby.)
Posted by ChrissieMains at 10:45 AM | Comments (0)
April 26, 2006
Introducing Communities & Culture in the Fantastic
Community and Culture in the Fantastic is a new division of the International Association for the Fantastic in the Arts. Its focus will be on ways in which audiences participate in the construction of or engage in active interaction with fantastical texts and ideas. It will look at the communities, both virtual and face-to-face, and the ways in which they create and construct culture and cultural artifacts.
Possible areas of interest include, but are not limited to, the following:
Fan culture
Fan fiction (all forms and genres)
Fan art/vidding
Filking
Conventions
Virtual and face-to-face communities and cultures
Cosplay
Roleplaying communities (LARPs, MUSHes, etc)
Video gaming (online, console, PC)
Trading card gaming
Memorabilia and collecting
Viral Marketing
Hypertexts
Folklore/myth/urban legend
The Division Head for the Community and Culture Division is Barbara Lucas. Although her MA concentrated on British Renaissance Literature, her recent scholarship has focused on popular culture, more specifically fan fiction and culture. "Cunning Linguists: The Bisexual Erotics of Words/Silence/Flesh," an article co-authored with Eden Lackner and Robin Anne Reid, will be published
this fall in Fan Fiction and Fan Communities in the Age of the Internet (McFarland). Her online journal is barbedwriting.livejournal.com. She can be reached at barbedwriting AT yahoo.com.
Posted by ChrissieMains at 11:28 PM | Comments (0)
Introducing the New Divisions
Because of growing interest in the areas of research covered by the PCVA Division (Popular Culture & Visual Arts), a decision was made to split the PCVA into two new divisions: Communities & Culture in the Fantastic (CCF) and Visual & Performing Arts in the Fantastic (VPA). PCVA division head Bryan Dietrich stepped down as of this year's conference (and the association thanks Bryan for his service as division head), so two new division heads were appointed.
Barbara Lucas will head up Communities & Culture, and Stacie Hanes is the division head for Visual & Performing Arts. More information about the new divisions will follow in the next couple of posts.
We'd also like to take this opportunity to thank Robin Reid, the incoming 2VP, for her service as SF division head; Sherryl Vint, who assisted Robin last year, is the new division head for SF.
Posted by ChrissieMains at 11:19 PM | Comments (0)
April 19, 2006
Conference Survey Forms
A conference evaluation form was included in the registration packages at the recent conference, so that attendees could comment on what worked and what didn't, or make suggestions for future conferences.
Some forms were dropped off at the registration desk at the end of the conference, and some have been trickling in by mail since then, but to make things easier and more convenient, we've uploaded the form to the website in MSWord .doc format.
Just click on the link and you'll download the form to your computer. Once you've filled it in, you can either print it off and send it by snail mail to the address provided, or you can email it to katy.hatfield AT gmail.com.
If you want to use the form to comment on previous years or to make suggestions for future conferences even though you didn't attend this year, that's fine. Just add a brief note to that effect.
Posted by ChrissieMains at 11:25 PM | Comments (0)
April 05, 2006
ICFA 2006 - Lord Ruthven Assembly Awards
At the awards banquet at ICFA 2006, the LRA announced the following awards:
Fiction: The Historian, by Elizabeth Kostova; Honorable Mention: Fledgling, by Octavia Butler
Nonfiction: Blood Obsession: Vampires, Serial Murder, and the Popular Imagination, by Jorg Waltje
Other Media: Revival of the Royal Winnipeg Ballet production of Dracula, choreographed by Mark Godden to the music of Gustav Mahler
- Stephanie Moss, Division Head: Horror Division
Posted by ChrissieMains at 10:56 PM | Comments (0)
ICFA 2006 - Dell Magazines Award
The International Association for the Fantastic in the Arts and Asimov's Science Fiction magazine have named Meghan Sinoff the winner of the 2006 Dell Magazines Award for Undergraduate Excellence in Science Fiction and Fantasy Writing for her short story "Shift." Sinoff is an undergraduate at the University of Florida.
First Runner-up for the 2006 award is Eliza Blair from Swarthmore College for her short story, “Silver Eyes.” Blair was also First Runner-up for the Award in 2005.
Second Runner-up for the 2006 award is Catherine Krahe from Illinois Wesleyan University for her story, “Running After the Twilight Sirens.” Krahe was an Honorable Mention for the award in 2005.
Honorable Mention for 2006 is Eliza Blair from Swarthmore College for her story, “Beast.” Blair is the sole double-finalist for the 2006 award.
Sinoff received $500 for the Asimov award and an expense-paid trip to Fort Lauderdale, Florida, for the annual International Conference on the Fantastic in the Arts, March 15-19, where she received the award from Sheila Williams, Editor of Asimov’s Science Fiction magazine, during the conference awards banquet. Blair and Krahe also attended the conference and received their awards from Williams during the awards banquet.
The deadline for submissions for the 2007 Dell Magazines Award is postmarked by January 4, 2007. Submissions should be sent to: Dell Magazines Award, School of Mass Communications, University of South Florida, 4202 E. Fowler, Tampa, Fla. 33620. For more information or submission guidelines contact Award Administrator Dr. Rick Wilber at the School of Mass Communications, University of South Florida, 4202 E. Fowler, Tampa, Fla. 33620 at RWilber@cas.usf.edu or see the magazine's website at www.Asimovs.com.
The International Association for the Fantastic in the Arts is a worldwide network of scholars, educators, writers, artists, filmmakers, critics, editors, publishers, and performers who share an interest in studying and celebrating the fantastic in all artforms, disciplines and media: literature, art, film, drama, music, philosophy, religion, the sciences, popular culture, and interdisciplinary areas. IAFA publishes an interdisciplinary quarterly, Journal of the Fantastic in the Arts and also sponsors and organizes the annual International Conference on the Fantastic in the Arts, (ICFA) which hosts the world's broadest and largest selection of scholarly papers on the fantastic and has become the major forum for the exchange of ideas and dissemination of scholarship on the fantastic.
The Dell Magazines Award for Undergraduate Excellence in Science Fiction and Fantasy Writing is co-sponsored by Asimov's Science Fiction magazine and the International Association for the Fantastic in the Arts, and supported by the School of Mass Communications, University of South Florida, Tampa, FL.
Posted by ChrissieMains at 10:51 PM | Comments (0)
April 04, 2006
ICFA 27 - Crawford Award
The IAFA Crawford Award recognizes an outstanding new fantasy writer. The award was established with the support of the late Andre Norton, who also helped establish the criteria and who continued to support the award over the years.
This year's winner is Joe Hill for 20th Century Ghosts. Unusually for the conference, Joe was actually present at the awards banquet to accept the award with a few gracious words.
Posted by ChrissieMains at 10:28 PM | Comments (0)