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August 28, 2006
Congrats to David Hartwell, Hugo Winner
The IAFA executive board would like to extend its congratulations to David Hartwell, ICFA's hard working Book Exhibit Co-ordinator and fashion guru, for finally winning the Hugo for Best Editor; David's often been nominated but this is his first win, and it's well deserved.
Skip on over to Kathryn Cramer's blog for more details and some pics; for even more pics from WorldCon and the awards presentation, check out the front page of Kathryn's website.
Posted by ChrissieMains at 12:53 PM | Comments (0)
August 19, 2006
Science Fiction Television: An Essential Reader
Jay Telotte would like to announce a call to the IAFA membership for contributions to a forthcoming volume, Science Fiction Television: An Essential Reader, to be published by University of Kentucky Press as part of its new Essential Readers series. This volume will provide an historical overview of science fiction television, a selection of essays on backgrounds and sources for science fiction series, a section on narrative styles, a section on key themes/concerns, a large section of essays devoted to key series, a discussion of the future direction of SF in television, and a “series-ography” of major science fiction series.
At present he is still looking for a few contributions in the following areas: 1) the literary background/contribution to SF television, 2) narrative styles/approaches, 3) central themes/concerns/issues, and 4) discussions of a few key series, most notably Star Trek, Twilight Zone, and perhaps X-Files.
Completed essays should be 15-18 pp. in length, done in MLA style, and they will be due by Jan. 15, 2007. Those interested should contact me for additional details and to discuss their possible participation in this project. Use the following e-mail address: jay.telotte AT lcc.gatech.edu.
Posted by ChrissieMains at 01:25 PM | Comments (0)
August 04, 2006
NEMLA Panel on Octavia Butler
Shaping the Future of Octavia Butler: Towards Understanding Her Legacy
Call for Papers
Panel Title:
Shaping the Future of Octavia Butler: Towards Understanding Her Legacy
38th Convention,
Northeast Modern Language Association (NeMLA)
March 1-4, 2007
Baltimore, MD
The recent, tragic death of Octavia Butler occasions comments about her legacy. A recipient of a MacArthur "genius" grant and the Nebula and Hugo awards, and a rare voice in a genre dominated by white men, Butler has drawn much critical attention. This panel seeks to identify and trace Butler's characteristic concerns: the individual and the community, the mobility of identity, the semi-permeable barrier between self and Other, the voice of the liminal, and the nebulous and changing loci of race, gender and sexuality.
Ultimately, the panel will attempt to define the importance of Butler’s oeuvre:
*To what extent did she help to humanize science fiction, to raise questions of humanity in a genre that is often more concerned with plot and theme or the end of humanity altogether?
*How did her voice influence science fiction, African-American literature, “serious” fiction?
*What new possibilities did her work open up in any or all of these genres?
*How did her view of the self influence other writers and/or foreground discussions of the nature of self?
*To what extent did she write from the margins? To what extent bring the margin into the center?
*What new ground did she break, and what lasting effects has she had on other writers and on the various genres within which she worked?
These are preliminary questions, of course, and they rise as well from certain assumptions about the nature of literature and of humanity. Papers that question the validity of these questions as they pertain to the work of Octavia Butler will also be given serious consideration; the panel seeks to open up a discussion rather than deliver a summative judgment. We welcome papers that examine characteristic themes in any work or her opus as a whole.
Please submit 250-500 word abstracts by September 15 to Shari Evans, either as a word attachment to sevans@umassd.edu, or in hard copy to
Shari Evans
Assistant Professor of English
University of Massachusetts-Dartmouth
285 Old Westport Road
North Dartmouth, MA 02747-2300.
For further information on NEMLA and the convention, please see the NEMLA website: www.nemla.org.
Posted by ChrissieMains at 04:20 PM | Comments (0)