CFP Science Fiction of the 1870s (Spec Issue of Foundation) (10/07/2024)

Science Fiction of the 1870s

deadline for submissions: October 7, 2024

full name / name of organization: Foundation: The International Review of Science Fiction

contact email: paulmarchrussell@gmail.com

source: https://call-for-papers.sas.upenn.edu/cfp/2024/03/01/science-fiction-of-the-1870s

To mark the 150th issue of Foundation in spring 2025, we would like to include contributions on the topic of sf from 150 years ago, published during the 1870s. Darko Suvin once proposed 1 May 1871 as the starting-point for sf – the day that Edward Bulwer-Lytton’s The Coming Race was published, George Chesney’s The Battle of Dorking began serialisation, and Samuel Butler submitted Erewhon to his publisher. Jules Verne, however, was already in full swing and he would soon be joined by such contemporaries as Camille Flammarion. Where else can we trace the roots of science fiction in the 1870s? How can we reassess the writers we know and who are the writers we need to rediscover?

We welcome articles on any aspect of science fiction published between 1870 and 1880. Articles should be 5000-8000 words long and written in accordance with the style guide available on the website (www.sf-foundation.org/journal). Topics may include but are not limited to the following:

• Ideas of utopia
• Humans and machine technology
• The impact of evolution and the biological sciences
• Sf and the invasion novel
• Sf and astronomy
• Satire and allegory
• Science and pseudo-science
• Space travel and other worlds
• Exploration and voyages of discovery
• Race and empire
• Gender and sexuality
• Arnold, Huxley and the ‘two cultures’ debate
• Sf and the non-anglophone world

The deadline for articles is 7 October 2024. Please email your submission to Dr Paul March-Russell at paulmarchrussell@gmail.com with a short (50-word) bionote


Last updated March 6, 2024

CFP The Fantastic for Children - Children in the Fantastic Symposium (3/15/2024; Germany 5/3-5/2024)

The Fantastic for Children - Children in the Fantastic

deadline for submissions: March 15, 2024

full name / name of organization: Inklings Society for Literature and Aesthetics e.V.

contact email: 2024-symposium@inklings-symposium.de

source: https://call-for-papers.sas.upenn.edu/cfp/2023/12/13/the-fantastic-for-children-children-in-the-fantastic

“I write, not for children, but for the child-like, whether they be of five, or fifty, or seventy-five.”
― George MacDonald

It is often easier for child characters to cross boundaries between reality and fantasy worlds, which frequently go unnoticed by adult characters. In fantasy stories, whether in literature or media for an adult or child audience, it is mainly children who discover portals into fantastic worlds. These child protagonists become redeemer figures and symbols of hope and overcome personal and global crises in those worlds, into which they are lured or called.

Examples abound: Alice follows the White Rabbit into Wonderland and antagonises the Red Queen, the Pevensie siblings find their way to Narnia through a wardrobe and defeat the White Witch, Frodo saves the world from the dark forces of Sauron. In J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter series, the young wizard Harry Potter rescues the Muggle and wizarding world from the seemingly invincible power of Voldemort, while a girl named Lyra becomes a key figure in the salvation of a multiverse in Philip Pullman’s His Dark Materials trilogy. In Michael Ende’s The Neverending Story, it is up to Bastian to save the human imagination, while in J.M. Barrie’s Peter and Wendy childhood imagination manifests spatially in the world of Neverland.

In many narratives, the intuitive entry into fantastic worlds is a privilege and burden of the child characters, a pattern which is also continued in film and series, for instance in the Netflix series Stranger Things. Here, the protagonist Eleven and other child characters fall victim to the Upside Down, vanish into the parallel world and continue to return to it in order to save the frequently clueless adult world from its dark powers.

These fantastic worlds do not only pose danger but are also places of longing for these child characters. Moreover, both adult and child readers want to experience adventures, explore the world with curiosity and pick up courage on the way. They harbour desires, dreams, hopes, develop goals and expectations, which are also reflected in fantasy. Thus, many of these fantastic stories, which fascinate readers, also reflect those topics they deal with in everyday life: the pursuit of familiarity, fellowship, friendship or love. The fantastic accompanies these children on their journey towards adulthood, helps them discovering their true self and hence illuminates a fundamental process of human life.

George MacDonald’s initial quote indicates that the fantastic is neither childish nor exclusively for children, but rather for the child-like of all ages. His fairy tales and fantasy novels also (but not exclusively) inspired the Inklings, predominantly J.R.R. Tolkien and C.S. Lewis. Accordingly, the upcoming symposium takes MacDonald’s 200th birthday as a cue to explore the role of children and childhood in fantasy. We invite contributions investigating the connection between children and the fantastic, including but not limited to the following possible topics:

• the role of the fantastic in the work of the Inklings
• the fantastic in the work of George MacDonald, Lewis Carroll, Edith Nesbit or Lord Dunsany
• Child characters as redeemer figures, (anti-)heroes and antagonists in fantasy, science fiction, horror, animal stories or children’s and young adult literature
• Fantasy and its role in identity formation
• modern retellings of fantastic narratives
• diversity and representation in fantasy
• fantastic narratives as coming-of-age story
• critical discussions of fantasy as escapism
• fantasy and (re-)enchantment
• ethical, philosophical and religious readings of fantastic narratives
• coping and coming to terms with trauma through fantasy
• emotional security, love and friendship in fantastic narratives
• childhood and heroism in fantasy
• fantasy and games, especially tabletop role-playing game

Please send proposals (300–500 words, either in German or English) as well as a short bio to 2024-symposium@inklings-symposium.de. Please use the subject line “Inklings Symposium 2024”. The deadline is 15 March 2024. Presentations at the symposium should be 20 minutes long and a selection of them will be published in the Inklings Yearbook.

Location: Schloss Malberg, Kylltal (https://www.schloss-malberg.de/)
Date: 3 to 5 Mai 2024
Travel Allowance: There will be a small allowance available to speakers for accommodation and travel expenses.
Further information on the Inklings symposium 2024 see https://inklings-gesellschaft.de/symposium-2024/


Last updated February 25, 2024

CFP Geographies of the Fantastic and the Quotidian (Spec Issue of Pacific Coast Philology) (06/05/2024)

Call for Submissions to “Geographies of the Fantastic and the Quotidian”: Special Issue of Pacific Coast Philology

For this special issue, we seek essays that engage the theme of “Geographies of the Fantastic and the Quotidian.” Particularly fascinating might be explorations of the extraordinary, the exemplary, the “out of this world” sorts of places, real and figurative: the spaces of the fantastic and the bizarre. Anything pertaining to the surreal city of Los Angeles would be encouraged. The lived and experienced environments of the banal might spark equally fertile archaeologies of the everyday. Paper proposals of particular interest include explorations of all varieties of heterotopologies; explorations of fictional domains; Borgesian labyrinths; road narratives; enclaves of digital introspection or connection; theme parks; elision, caesura, and other grammatological openings; migration/border crossings; psychedelic “trips” of all sorts; native practices of tending the land; mirrors and projections; choreography and dance; exteriority/interiority; the politics or rhetorics of dispossession; theatrical staging; embodiment and disembodiment; panopticism; the family and/or spaces of domesticity; museums and archives; homelessness and houselessness; communities and cliques; as well as both paroxysmal places and quiet passages.



Please contact Special Issue Editor Jeremiah B.C. Axelrod at pamla@axelrod.info if you have questions.



Essay proposals should include the following, and should be emailed to Jeremiah B.C. Axelrod at pamla@axelrod.info by June 5, 2024: cover page with author’s name, affiliation, and a brief biography, plus the title of the essay; also a 4,000 to 7,000 word separate document with a brief abstract, a list of four to seven keywords, and the proposed paper, following the guidelines of the MLA Style Manual, 9th edition. Important: Please include Geographies of the Fantastic and Quotidian Special Issue Proposal in your email subject line to ensure prompt processing

CFP Sixth Biennial Dr. Henry Armitage Memorial Scholarship Symposium of New Weird Fiction and Lovecraft-Related Research (5/24/2024; Providence, RI 8/15-18.2024)

The Sixth Biennial Dr. Henry Armitage Memorial Scholarship Symposium of New Weird Fiction and Lovecraft-Related Research

NecronomiCon Providence convention in Providence, RI
15-18 August, 2024
Location: Omni Hotel, Providence – Bristol/Kent Room, 3rd floor

Symposium Chairs: Dr. Elena Tchougounova-Paulson, editor of Lovecraftian Proceedings (Hippocampus Press)
Symposium Co-Chair: Prof. Dennis P. Quinn 

CALL FOR PRESENTATION ABSTRACTS:

The Dr. Henry Armitage Memorial Scholarship Symposium seeks Lovecraftian and Weird Fiction related research for the NecronomiCon Providence convention. Providence, RI, August 15-18, 2024

The Lovecraft Arts and Sciences Council (the organizer of NecronomiCon Providence) invites submissions for the upcoming Armitage Symposium, a conference that will be held within the convention. The Symposium is substantially dedicated to the life and works of the Providence-based Weird fiction writer, the father of Cosmic horror, H.P. Lovecraft, but also to his milieu, his literary contemporaries, predecessors and successors in the Weird/horror/Gothic/Neo-Gothic lore. For many decades, Lovecraft’s legacy has been the central topic for challenging discussions, and many prominent scholars have joined in debates, followed by significant textual insights, great literary discoveries, and numerous high-quality academic publications. The Armitage Symposium in 2024 will continue to explore Lovecraft’s works in relation to classic and contemporary Weird fiction, science fiction, other similar genres of horror/Gothic/Neo-Gothic literature, modern philosophy (phenomenology and epistemology), literary theory, linguistics, cultural history and cultural theory, archaeology, ethnography, etc.


Possible topics for 15-minute papers might include:

• Lovecraft’s influence on the American or, broadly, Western literary canon
• Lovecraft and Cosmic mythology
• Lovecraftian Mythos as a cultural phenomenon
• Lovecraft and religion/mysticism, and race/gender studies
• Lovecraft and Eurocentrism: origins and complexities
• Lovecraft’s correspondence as pre-blogging/travelog
• “Arkham House” and its heritage: further discoveries in its archival history
• Horror/Supernatural/Gothic fiction: its origins, historical frames and defining terms
• The works of potent and influential masters such as Dunsany, M.R. James, and Clark Ashton Smith
• Modern literary and cinematic perspectives in Lovecraftiana and the Supernatural
• Women in Lovecraftiana/Weird fiction in the past, present, and future
• Contemporary philosophy of weird, horror, and the supernatural: interpretive approaches

Traditionally, the Armitage Symposium has aimed to foster explorations and disseminations of Lovecraft’s elaborate cosmic mythology, and how this mythology was influenced by, and has come to influence, numerous other fiction writers, historians, art critics, philosophers, archivists, bibliographers of the past and the present. However, all submissions that contribute to interconnecting new linguistic and literary theoretical concepts in academic Lovecraftiana/horror studies are very welcome.

Specifically for the Armitage Symposium, we are particularly interested in submitting works from academics: undergraduates, PhD students, post-graduates, independent scholars, established researchers. Presenters should be prepared to deliver a fifteen to twenty-minute oral presentation, and are invited to submit a manuscript for possible inclusion in the peer-reviewed Lovecraftian Proceedings no. 6.

For consideration, interested scholars should submit an abstract (of around 250-300 words) in Word format along with a short bio (around 100 words) to the symposium chair, Dr Elena Tchougounova-Paulson, at tch.elena15@gmail.com.

The deadline for submissions is May 24, 2024. Early submissions are encouraged.

In addition to these talks, NecronomiCon Providence will also feature numerous traditional panels and presentations, given by many of the top names in Lovecraftian studies and the global Weird Renaissance. For more information on the Armitage Symposium, or the overall convention and the themes to be explored, please, visit our website: necronomicon-providence.com.





About the Symposium:

The Lovecraft Arts and Sciences Council (the organizer of NecronomiCon Providence) hosts the Armitage Symposium to showcase academic works that explore all aspects weird fiction and art, from pop-culture to literature, including the writings and life of globally renowned weird fiction writer, H.P. Lovecraft. Topics of value include the influence of history, architecture, science, and popular culture on the weird fiction genre, as well as the impact that weird and Lovecraftian fiction has had on culture.

In past years, the Armitage Symposium has aimed to foster explorations of Lovecraft’s elaborate cosmic mythology, and how this mythology was influenced by, and has come to influence, numerous other authors and artists before and since. Additionally, we promote all works that foster a greater, critical, and nuanced understanding weird fiction and art (and related science fiction, fantasy, horror, etc.).

Selected talks will be presented together as part of the Armitage Symposium, a mini-conference within the overall convention framework of NecronomiCon Providence, 15-18 August 2024. Presenters will deliver fifteen-minute oral presentations summarizing their thesis, and are invited to submit a brief manuscript for possible inclusion in a proceedings publication.

For more information on the Armitage Symposium, or the overall convention and the themes to be explored, please visit our website: necronomicon-providence.com – where we will post updates and details as they develop over the final weeks leading to the convention. In addition to these talks, NecronomiCon Providence will feature numerous traditional panels and presentations given by many of the top names in the global weird renaissance.

The 2024 CALL FOR PRESENTATION PROPOSALS can be downloaded here: Armitage-Symposium-CFA-2024.pdf

CFP History and Nostalgia: The 1950s in Popular Culture (1/31/2025; online 3/28-29/2024)

History and Nostalgia: The 1950s in popular culture

deadline for submissions: January 31, 2025

full name / name of organization: PopCRN - the Popular Culture Research Network

contact email: PopCRN@une.edu.au

source: https://call-for-papers.sas.upenn.edu/cfp/2023/10/04/history-and-nostalgia-the-1950s-in-popular-culture


PopCRN (the Popular Culture Network) will be holding a free virtual symposium exploring the 1950s in popular culture. Held online on Thursday 28th and Friday 29th of March 2025.

The 1950s was the decade where the world began to recover from the tragedy of the Second World War. This conference aims to explore both the popular culture of the 1950s, and how the 1950s have been depicted in the popular culture of other eras.

The 1950s was the era of the teenager, the atomic bomb, the space race, the Queen’s coronation, the Cuban revolution, the Korean War, the French Fifth republic, Lego, colour television, the Montgomery Bus boycott, the finding of DNA, the founding of McDonalds, Rock n roll, jukeboxes, the Melbourne Olympics, Poodle Skirts, I love Lucy, birth of the credit card, Dr Seuss, James Bond’s Casino Royale, Disneyland opens, Sidney Poitier wins an Oscar, The Day the Music Died, 3D cinematography, Marilyn Monroe, The Twilight Zone, Jackson Pollock, Teddy Boys, Dior’s New Look, Formula One racing begins, McCarthyism, Science Fiction, the Munich air crash, the SS Andrea Doria, Ten Pound Poms, Hungarian Uprising, Univac – the first business computer, Paul McCartney meets John Lennon, the Xerox machine, death of Stalin, Hillary and Norgay climb Mount Everest, the Polio vaccine, the Warsaw Pact, Suez Crisis, introduction of transatlantic jetliners, China’s Giant Leap, the European Economic Community, the Malayan Emergency, the Algerian War, the Eurovision Song Contest, Peanuts comic strip, Fahrenheit 451, The Lord of the Flies, the Chevrolet Corvette, Barbie, Super Glue, Power Steering, first Video Tape Recorder, first Diet soft drinks, the Black Box, invention of Liquid Paper, the first computer game – Tennis for Two, and TV dinners to name just a few.

We welcome papers from researchers across the academic spectrum and encourage papers from postgraduate researchers and early career researchers. Papers from this conference will have the opportunity to be published.

To whet your appetite, we have provided some topics below. We will also accept topics beyond this scope:

• “I can't imagine there has ever been a more gratifying time or place to be alive than America in the 1950s. No country had ever known such prosperity.” – 1950s America in popular culture.
• “Some people would like the world to go back to the 1950s.” – Retromania and subcultur
• “In 1955, when I'd write a science-fiction novel, I'd set it in the year 2000. I realised around 1977 that, 'My God, it's getting exactly like those novels we used to write in the 1950s!' Everything's just turning out to be real.” – Science fiction of the 1950s
• “My law school class in the late 1950s numbered over 500. That class included less than 10 women.” – Women’s careers as depicted in 1950s films
• “But let's just say, I'm Irish. I grew up in the 1950s. Religion had a very tight iron fist.” – Associations of religion and the 1950s in popular culture.
• "Whoever you are, I have always depended on the kindness of strangers." – Neighbours, community and culture in the 1950s.
• We're gonna rock, gonna rock, around the clock tonight – The rock ‘n’ roll phenomenon.
• “You can't just walk out of a drive-in.” – Leisure activities of the 1950s
• “A revolution is not a bed of roses. A revolution is a struggle between the future and the past.” – Communism, socialism and capitalism of the 1950s in popular culture.
• “I could have gone on flying through space forever” – How the space race captured the public imagination.
• “I knew someone had to take the first step and I made up my mind not to move.” – Remembering racism and protest in the 1950s.
• “Ban the Bomb” - Nuclear weapons in popular culture
• "[Franklin] came very much closer to the discovery of the double helix than she has usually been credited with doing." – science, gender and women.
• “The second thing was they just wanted to lay a few fists and see a fair bit of Russian blood in the pool. And that's what happened. – Sport as a battleground for Cold War politics

Please email abstracts (200 words) to popcrn@une.edu.au by 31st January 2025. Please include your name, affiliation, email address, title of paper, orcid ID (where available), google scholar link (where available) and a short biography (100 words). Registration is free.



Last updated February 13, 2024

CFP New York Tolkien Conference 2024 (4/30/2024; New York 6/15/2024)

New York Tolkien Conference

deadline for submissions: April 30, 2024

full name / name of organization: New York Tolkien Conference

contact email: christopher.tuthill@baruch.cuny.edu

main site: https://nyctolkienconference.wordpress.com/2024/01/16/call-for-papers-20...



The organizers of the 2024 New York Tolkien Conference are seeking proposals related to the following:

• Presentations on Tolkien and the Inklings, their literary work, or related issues.
• Papers on fantastic fiction–this can include anything from books heavily influenced by Middle-earth to other genres of fantasy. Examples of authors we’re interested in include George RR Martin, Octavia Butler, Tad Williams, Ursula K. LeGuin, Gene Wolfe, Susanna Clarke, Terry Pratchett, Tim Powers, J.K. Rowling, and Nnedi Okorafor.
• Fantasy that preceded Tolkien, or presentations dealing with Tolkien’s influences.
• Presentations on (or demos of) board and tabletop games dealing with Middle-earth or other fantasy realms.
• Discussions of Tolkien’s scholarly work

If you are wondering whether your topic might fit with the conference, please ask! We are open to different approaches.

If you are interested in presenting at the conference, please upload your paper proposal at the link below. Proposals are now open, and we will make decisions for scheduling by mid-April. https://baruch.az1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_8cUCJKsREiLqV0i

For further information about previous conferences and the organizers, please see the conference page and archive below. The conference will take place Saturday, June 15, 2024 at Baruch College in New York.

If you have any other questions, please contact Christopher Tuthill at christopher.tuthill@baruch.cuny.edu


Last updated January 17, 2024
This CFP has been viewed 677 times.

CFP Mythmoot XI: The Resilience of Imagination (3/31/2024; Leesburg, VA/Online 6/20-23/2024)

Mythmoot XI: The Resilience of Imagination

deadline for submissions: March 31, 2024

full name / name of organization: Signum University

contact email: events@signumu.org

source: https://call-for-papers.sas.upenn.edu/cfp/2024/02/05/mythmoot-xi-the-resilience-of-imagination

event page: https://signumuniversity.org/mythmoot/mythmoot-xi/

The Resilience of Imagination

June 20-23, 2024

National Conference Center,

Leesburg, VA

“In a time of destruction, create something”

Maxine Hong Kingston

This year, our theme is “The Resilience of Imagination.” Imagination intrinsically ties into stories and the creative work that creates the world and characters contained within said stories. Imagination does not limit itself just to writers though – anyone who creates or interacts with art relates to imagination. What does imagination mean in a story? How do you use imagination? What does it encompass?

Resilience is a capacity to withstand, an endurance, and a term that can apply to imagination in a variety of ways. How do you see the resilience of imagination in the books, games, films, and other media you consume? Is it something the author places into the secondary world? Is it something that you, as a creator, consider?


“We all have futures. We all have pasts. We all have stories. And we all, every single one of us, no matter who we are and no matter what’s been taken from us or what poison we’ve internalized or how hard we’ve had to work to expel it—we all get to dream.”

N. K. Jemisin

We are accepting proposals for Papers, Panels, Workshops, and Creative Presentations about our theme of “The Resilience of Imagination” in the following areas:

• Imaginative Literature including film and other media (ex: Howl’s Moving Castle, Dune, The Broken Earth Trilogy, Naruto, The Left Hand of Darkness, Star Trek, Kindred, The Vorkosigan Saga, Lord of the Rings, Watership Down, etc.)
• Tolkien and Inklings Studies
• Classic Literature from ancient times to the present
• Philology, Historical Linguistics, ConLangs and invented worlds
• interrelated topics such as superheroes, philosophy, media, and fandom studies

If you are unsure whether your topic fits, send your proposal or a description of your idea to events@signumu.org, and we will review it for relevance.

(N.B. The “creative” category is not limited to original works of fiction but can include crafting, music, drama, dance, or other performative arts. If you have questions about what you can present, please contact us.)

Individual presentation/paper whether creative or critical, will have 30 minutes: 20 minutes for presentation and 10 for Q&A. Each presentation/paper will be presented in 90-minute sessions of 1 – 3 presenters.

Panels must contain at least 3 papers and/or presenters and will be allocated 90 minutes total, inclusive of presentations and Q&A.

Workshops will be either 30 min, 60 min, or 90 min; the proposal must include justification for the requested time. We recommend at least two leaders for each workshop. (Workshop examples: the knitting of a phoenix, an interactive discussion on the elements of haunted house novels that are also used when describing houses in the real world, etc.)!

To submit visit the conference CFP page: https://signumuniversity.org/mythmoot/mythmoot-xi/mythmoot-xi-call-for-p... which will have a link to the submission form.

No presentations will be given if you are not registered to attend, and your submission to Mythmoot XI is considered an agreement to both register, at the cost of the conference ticket, and attend (either digitally or in person) to present should your proposal be accepted.

For an in-person event, each room will have a projector for presenter use. If you are presenting virtually, ensure that you have access to a computer, video camera, and microphone.



Last updated February 8, 2024
This CFP has been viewed 286 times.

CFP Academic Track Multiverse Convention (6/30/2024; Peachtree City, GA 10/18-20/2024)

Multiverse Convention 2024

deadline for submissions: June 30, 2024

full name / name of organization: Multiverse Convention

contact email: learn@multiversecon.org

source: https://call-for-papers.sas.upenn.edu/cfp/2024/02/16/multiverse-convention-2024

Call for Submissions Multiverse Convention Event Date & Location: October 18-October 20, 2024, Hilton Peachtree City, 2443 HWY 54

Call for Submissions
Multiverse Convention
Event Date & Location: October 18-October 20, 2024, Hilton Peachtree
City, 2443 HWY 54 West, Peachtree City, Georgia, 30269
Deadline for Submissions: June 30, 2024

Name of Organization: Multiverse Convention
Organization Website: https://www.multiversecon.org
Contact Email: Rhonda Jackson Joseph, Learn@Multiversecon.org

CONVENTION THEME:

Multiverse Convention was formed from our belief that great stories don’t
only come from the books and comics we love to read. Each fan is their
own universe as well, with their own unique story to tell. Added together,
these infinite stories create the Multiverse of modern fandom.
This Multiverse also informs the creation of works of speculative fiction, a
body of work encompassing every imaginable academic field. In this light,
we seek to create a multidisciplinary academic program that will showcase
the innumerable ways speculative fiction is inspired by various branches of
academia.

SUBMISSION GUIDELINES:

Multiverse Convention is seeking academic presentations of 15, 25, and 45
minutes in length for our 2024 convention. While we require presentations
to reflect rigorous academic scholarship, we are not requesting conference
paper readings. Presentations only, please.

We are seeking presentations that approach an academic topic in a way
that non-academic audiences will find accessible and entertaining. Ideally,
presentations will incorporate a core theme or topic of interest to
speculative fiction fans.

Example topics may include, but are not limited to:

• An interesting historical event that garners immense speculation. What really happened?
• A comparison between modern governments and dystopian societies
• The application of a sociological lens in examining a popular speculative fiction TV show or movie
• From a scientific angle, could one of the monsters from horror tropes really exist?
• How might the fantasy elements of speculative fiction lend themselves to child development in teaching various lessons?
• A chemistry presentation that teaches children how to create spider webbing
• A presentation on new, emerging technologies or scientific breakthroughs (e.g., artificial intelligence, biotech, space travel, etc.)

Presentations on specific authors, works of fiction, or genres within
speculative fiction are also welcome. Of particular interest are
presentations on the works of any of our Guests of Honor and/or focuses
on voices within speculative fiction that are not typically amplified.
Please note: we would like to include at least one presentation per
convention day that fits our theme and is targeted to a child/family
audience, so please submit those presentation proposals, as well. Our
definition of child/family targeted includes any images, videos, or handouts
accompanying the presentation.

Please provide the following in your submission:

300-500 word abstract
Preliminary bibliography
Length of presentation (15, 25, or 45-minute category)
100-word professional biography (should reflect academic credentials)
Any required props or specialized A/V equipment
Do you have any special accommodations or additional requests we
should be aware of? (any request for a video presentation should be indicated here, please)
What are your pronouns?

Email your submissions and/or questions to Rhonda Jackson Joseph at:
Learn@Multiversecon.org

Accepted presenters will receive a complimentary convention membership
for 2024 and may be invited to participate in other panels within the
convention’s other programming tracks. If you would like to be considered
for other programming at the convention, separately or in conjunction with
your proposed academic presentation, please fill out our guest application here:
https://www.multiversecon.org/be-a-guest-apps-open.

Please note that guest applications (not the CFP) close on April 1.

Submissions will be accepted on a rolling basis up until June 30th.

Acceptances will be sent out no later than July 31.


Last updated February 19, 2024
This CFP has been viewed 189 times.

CFP Current Research in Speculative Fiction Conference 2024 (3/24/2024; Liverpool, Eng./Hybrid 7/3-5/2024)

Current Research in Speculative Fiction Conference 2024

deadline for submissions: March 24, 2024

full name / name of organization: Current Research in Speculative Fiction

contact email: crsf.team@gmail.com

source: https://call-for-papers.sas.upenn.edu/cfp/2024/01/22/current-research-in-speculative-fiction-conference-2024

Current Research in Speculative Fiction 2024

14th Annual Conference

3 – 5th July 2024, University of Liverpool, Offline and Online, https://crsfhome.home.blog/



“I realize I don’t know very much. None of us knows very much. But we can all learn more. Then we can teach one another. We can stop denying reality or hoping it will go away by magic.”(Octavia Butler, Parable of the Sower)



KEYNOTES: Lindz McLeod (Manchester Metropolitan University); TBC



AUTHOR ROUNDTABLE: (TBC)



ACADEMIC PUBLISHING ROUNDTABLE (TBC)



SF WRITING WORKSHOP

Dr Rachel Handley (Possible Worlds and Other Stories, 2022; various other publications including in The Liminal Review and Sonder Magazine)



OTHER ACTIVITIES (in person): ARCHIVE VISIT (July 3rd); OPEN MIC (July 4th)



“Economics was like psychology, a pseudoscience trying to hide that fact with intense theoretical hyperelaboration. And gross domestic product was one of those unfortunate measurement concepts, like inches or the British thermal unit, that ought to have been retired long before.” (Kim Stanley Robinson, Blue Mars)



“When the reasoning mind is forced to confront the impossible again and again, it has no choice but to adapt.”

(N.K. Jemisin, The Fifth Season)



Whether it is science fiction, fantasy, or horror, speculative fiction allows us to imagine new worlds, for authors and readers to fully engage their imaginations with what is beyond our current capabilities or comprehension. We build up Earth in beauty and destruction. We think of distant new planets or dimensions, radical and fantastical species, and find that even in the darkest dystopias there is something to learn. For CRSF’s 14th year, this hybrid offline/online event seeks to generate interdisciplinary discussions of growth in speculative fiction, exploring the theme in its many different guises.



We welcome papers from the fields of literary studies, creative writing, media studies, philosophy, art, anthropology, sociology, and political theory that speak to, but are not limited to:

• Technological growth, uplift fictions; advanced societies
• Expansion; population growth; space colonisation; speculative worlds
• Representations of waste such as nuclear waste; humans and animals as waste; natural resources
• Representations of transhumanism, augmented or artificial intelligence, robotics, and extra-terrestrial life
• The body and its transformations (the posthuman body; the racialised & gendered body; the queer body)
• Speculative fiction as a vehicle of political critique and social transformation
• Interrelationships between power, fantasy, actors, action, forms, and reality
• Forms of alternative kinship made possible (or restricted) by speculative fiction
• Breaching boundaries in speculative fiction

We welcome proposals for academic and artistic contributions that speak to any of the issues. Papers should be 15-20 minutes long. Abstracts (max. 300 words) and a short biographical note (max. 100 words) should be submitted to crsf.team@gmail.com by March 24th. For those reading at the open mic, please submit your piece (any speculative prose, poetry, or drama, max. 1500 words) to the same address by May 31st to secure a reading spot on the night.



All queries can be directed to the above email address or message on Twitter @CRSFteam or Instagram @crsfliverpool.

https://crsfhome.home.blog/


Last updated January 24, 2024
This CFP has been viewed 2,346 times

Mythlore for Fall Winter 2023

 

The latest from the Mythopoeic Society. Available for purchase at their website.

Mythlore 143 Volume 42, Issue 1

Fall/Winter 2023    

Table of Contents

Editorial

— Janet Brennan Croft

The Posttraumatic Stress Disorder of Frodo Baggins

— Bruce Leonard

“It is ‘About’ Nothing But Itself”: Tolkienian Theology Beyond the Domination of the Author

— Tom Emanuel

“Or Break It”: The Cost of Silmarils and Sworn Oaths

— Alexander M. Bruce

Through Fire and Water: The Exodus of the Gondothlim

— Ethan Danner

“A Bleak, Barren Land”: Women and Fertility in The Lord of the Rings

— Dylan L. Henderson

Otherworldly but not the Otherworld: Tolkien’s Adaptation of Medieval Faerie and Fairies into a Sub-creative Elvendom

— Elliot Thomas Collins

Negative Estrangement: Fantasy and Race in the Drow and Drizzt Do’Urden

— Steven Holmes

Mythos to Myth to Mythopoeia: A Cyclical Process

— Ashna Mary Jacobs and Nirmala Menon

Notes and Letters

“A Fearful Weapon” — Verlyn Flieger

The Sun, The Son, and the Silmarillion: Christopher Tolkien and the Copernican Revolution of Morgoth’s Ring — Kristine Larsen

On the Rings of Power: Thoughts Inspired by Larry Burris’s “Sentience and Sapience in the One Ring” — Nancy Martsch

Nine Tolkien Scholars Respond to Charles W. Mills’s “The Wretched of Middle-earth: An Orkish Manifesto” — Robin Anne Reid, Bianca L. Beronio, Robert Stuart, Robert T. Tally Jr., Tom Ue, Cait Coker, Cami Agan, Charlotte Krausz, Helen Young

To the Editor — Charles A. Huttar

The C.S. Lewis Correspondence Project — Bruce R. Johnson

In Memoriam: Mike Foster — Janet Brennan Croft

Reviews

Inkling, Historian, Soldier, And Brother: A Life Of Warren Hamilton Lewis by Don W. King — David Bratman

“Uncle Curro”: J.R.R. Tolkien’s Spanish Connection by José Manuel Ferrández Bru — Nicole M. duPlessis

C.S. Lewis for Beginners by Louis Markos — Wendell Wagner

Jewish Fantasy Worldwide: Trends in Speculative Stories from Australia to Chile, edited by Valerie Estelle Frankel — G. Connor Salter

Tolkien Dogmatics: Theology through Mythology with the Maker of Middle-earth by Austin M. Freeman — Alex (Oleksiy) Ostaltsev

The Lion’s Country: C.S. Lewis’s Theory of the Real by Charlie W. Starr — Mark-Elliot Finley

How to Misunderstand Tolkien: The Critics and the Fantasy Master by Bruno Bacelli — Nancy Martsch

Death in Supernatural: Critical Essays, edited by Amanda Taylor and Susan Nylander — Martina G. Wise

Adapting Tolkien: Proceedings of the Tolkien Society Seminar 2020, edited by Will Sherwood — Alana White

East of the Wardrobe: The Unexpected Worlds of C.S. Lewis by Warwick Ball — Philip Irving Mitchell

Nólë Hyarmenillo: An Anthology of Iberian Scholarship on Tolkien, edited by Nuno Simões Rodrigues, Martin Simonson, and Angélica Varandas — Nancy Martsch

Sunbeams and Bottles: The Theology, Thought and Reading of C.S. Lewis by James Prothero — Suzanne Bray

The Great Tales Never End: Essays in Memory of Christopher Tolkien, edited by Richard Ovenden and Catherine McIlwaine — Cait Coker

Tending the Heart of Virtue: How Classic Stories Awaken a Child’s Moral Imagination, Second Edition, by Vigen Guroian — Sarah O’Dell

Robert Holdstock’s Mythago Woood: A Critical Companion by Paul Kincaid — Glenn R. Gray

After Humanity: A Guide to C.S. Lewis’s The Abolition of Man, by Michael Ward — Jeremy M. Rios

Briefly Noted:

The Fairy Tale World, edited by Andrew Teverson — Janet Brennan Croft

Mythlore for Spring/Summer 2023

The latest issue of Mythlore was recently released. Please support the journal by purchasing a print or digital copy. Ordering information is available from their website at this link.

Mythlore 142 Volume 41, Issue 2

Spring/Summer 2023

Table of Contents

Editorial
— Janet Brennan Croft

Terry Pratchett’s Witches Novels and the Consensus Fantasy Universe: A Feminist Perspective
— Clair Hutchings-Budd

Blood on the Snow, Soot on the Carpet: Belief as Pedagogy in Terry Pratchett’s Hogfather
— Michael A. Moir, Jr.

The Unicorn Trade: Towards a Cultural History of the Mass-market Unicorn
— Timothy Miller

The felix culpa in Tolkien’s Legendarium: A Catalyst for Character and Reader Transformation
— Nathan CJ Hood

The Stolen Gift: Tolkien and the Problem of Suicide
— Martin Lockerd

Mythopoesis in Tennyson’s Idylls of the King
— Rebecca A. Umland

Wizards and Woods: The Environmental Ethics of Tolkien’s Istari
— Kenton L. Sena and Philip J. Vogel

Gollum from Medieval Tragedy to Liberal Tragedy in J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings
— Masoud Tadayoni and Mohsen Hanif

Delving Too Greedily: Analyzing Prejudice Against Tolkien’s Dwarves as Historical Bias
— Mitchell T. Dennis and Kenton L. Sena

Notes

• Sentience and Sapience in the One Ring: The Reality of Tolkien’s Master Ring — Larry Burriss
• The One Ring of King Solomon — Giovanni Carmine Costabile
• The Dragon and the Railway Station — Verlyn Flieger

Reviews

• Thinking Queerly: Medievalism, Wizardry, and Neurodiversity in Young Adult Texts by Jes Battis — Marisa Mills
• George MacDonald in the Age of Miracles: Incarnation, Doubt, and Reenchantment by Timothy Larsen — James Hamby
• Harry Potter and the Other: Race, Justice, and Difference in the Wizarding World edited by Sarah Park Dahlen and Ebony Elizabeth Thomas, and Open at the Close: Literary Essays on Harry Potter edited by Cecelia Koncharr Farr — Joseph Rex Young
• The Medieval Mind of C.S. Lewis: How Great Books Shaped a Great Mind by Jason M. Baxter — Josiah Peterson
• Discovering Dune: Essays on Frank Herbert’s Epic Saga edited by Dominic J. Nardi and N. Trevor Brierly — G. Connor Salter
• Mythmaking Across Boundaries edited by Züleyha Çetiner-Öktem — Sarah Beach
• The Lord of the Rings Tarot Deck and Guide by Casey Gilly and Tomás Hijo — Emily E. Auger
• The Map of Wilderland: Ecocritical Reflections on Tolkien’s Myth of Wilderness by Amber Lehning — Maria K. Alberto
• Primitive Mythology (The Masks of God, Volume 1) by Joseph Campbell — Phillip Fitzsimmons
• Superman in Myth and Folklore by Daniel Peretti, and The Mythology of the Superhero by Andrew R. Bahlmann — David Emerson
• Fairy Tales, Myth, and Psychoanalytic Theory: Feminism and Retelling the Tale by Veronica L. Schanoes — John Rosegrant
• The Leadership of C.S. Lewis: Ten Traits to Encourage Change and Growth by Crystal Hurd — Mark-Eliot Finley
• The Gallant Edith Bratt: J.R.R. Tolkien’s Inspiration by Nancy Bunting and Seamus Hamill-Keays — María Fernández Portaencasa
• Nancy-Lou Patterson Reviews Books by and About Dorothy L. Sayers, C.S. Lewis, J.R.R. Tolkien, Charles Williams, and Others by Nancy-Lou Patterson, edited by Emily E. Auger and Janet Brennan Croft — David Bratman
• The Transcendent Vision of Mythopoeic Fantasy by David S. Hogsette — Douglas A. Anderson
• Tolkien, Enchantment, and Loss: Steps on the Developmental Journey by John Rosegrant — Timothy K. Lenz

Briefly Noted:

• Ithell Colquhuon Taro as Color tarot deck and book by Ithell Colquhoun — Emily E. Auger

CFP Paul Verhoeven @85 Conference (6/16/2023; Bangor, UK 9/7-8/2023)

From the SFRA listserv:

Paul Verhoeven @85

An in-person academic conference hosted by The Centre for Film, Television and Screen Studies, Bangor University, UK

7 and 8 September 2023

Paul Verhoeven (b. 1938) has left an indelible mark on popular culture. His films marry a European arthouse sensibility with the US blockbuster but in a wickedly satirical way. But this does not mean his films are not open to criticism.

His American dystopic trilogy – RoboCop (1987), Total Recall (1990) and Starship Troopers (1997) – provided dark visions of futuristic metropoles that continues to resonate to this day, touching on capitalism, robotics, biopolitics, posthumanism, urban planning, artificial intelligence, transhumanism and climate change, while female-led dramas, such as Basic Instinct (1992), Showgirls (1995), Black Book (2006), Elle (2016) and Benedetta (2021), remain controversial for their overt eroticism, sexual violence and representation of lesbianism.

To critically explore the origins and legacies of Verhoeven’s body of work, this conference proposes to bring together scholars from diverse disciplinary backgrounds to explore Paul Verhoeven’s output, debate its legacy and consider its position within visual culture including specialists from fields as diverse as literary and cinematographic studies; the history of art, design, fashion and architecture; musicology; philosophy; political sciences; computer science and robotics; urban and ecological studies; and feminist, queer and sexuality studies.

We welcome contributions from any perspective such as (but not limited to) the following:

• Paul Verhoeven as auteur: origins, influences, production, aesthetics, publicity, reception, afterlife, sequels and director’s cuts
• Paul Verhoeven and biopolitics, posthumanism, urban planning and climate change
• Paul Verhoeven and capitalism, neoliberalism, post-industrialism and the rise of multinational corporations
• Paul Verhoeven and gender
• Paul Verhoeven and memory
• Paul Verhoeven and psychoanalysis
• Paul Verhoeven and race, ethnicity and Otherness
• Paul Verhoeven and reception: audiences, fandom and ‘cult’
• Paul Verhoeven and robotics, artificial intelligence, cybernetic organisms, the transhuman and the post-human
• Paul Verhoeven and science fiction
• Paul Verhoeven and sexuality
• Paul Verhoeven and stardom
• Paul Verhoeven and tech noir, retrofuturism, future noir, and cyberpunk.

We are applying for funding to facilitate postgraduate and unwaged participation.

Please complete the following link by Friday, 16 June 2023.

For further information, please contact the organisers Nathan Abrams and Elizabeth Miller (PaulVerhoevenConference@gmail.com).

Update Joint SFRA and GfF conference 2023 (new 4/1/2023; Dresden/hybrid 8/15-19/2023)

Joint SFRA and GfF conference 2023 – Call for Papers, Deadline Extended

Deadline extended to April 1

Disruptive Imaginations

Joint Annual Conference of SFRA and GfF

TU Dresden, Germany, August 15-19, 2023

This conference will merge the annual meetings of the Science Fiction Research Association (SFRA) and the German Association for Research in the Fantastic (GfF). With some overlap in membership and a shared interest and mission, we believe that a joint conference offers great potential for dynamic exchange, constructive discussions, and new insights and perspectives. This expanded focus on SFF allows for a consideration of a wide range of genres and forms that include science fiction, fantasy, horror, and the weird. For more information on the respective associations, please see below. We are excited to welcome you all to Dresden in August 2023!



Science fiction and the fantastic (SFF) have the power to disrupt entrenched narratives and worldmaking practices. Whether in the form of hard science fiction, utopian speculation, high fantasy or supernatural horror, SFF is fundamentally anchored in imaginations of disruption—a tear in the fabric of reality, an estrangement of the senses, a break with the known world, or a transgression of boundaries. The conference theme “Disruptive Imaginations” invites participants to engage with disruption as a variegated paradigm of the SFF imagination. As a mode of disturbance or interruption, a disruption implies that habitual patterns of perceiving, inhabiting, and ordering the world are unsettled, giving way to uncertainty and the unknown. It can occur at scales that range from the micrological to the cosmic. At the precarious threshold between chaos and order, a disruption carries the potential for transformative system change and can produce a shift in hegemonic articulations of ‘the im/possible.’



Fredric Jameson famously invokes disruption as the fundamental discursive strategy of political utopia, which only “by forcing us to think the break itself” enables the imagination of worlds otherwise. What would it mean to think disruption “as restructuration and the unexpected blasting open of habits, as that lateral side-door which suddenly opens onto a new world of transformed human beings.”[1] Disruption has been championed as a strategy of intervention across the political spectrum and impels a careful examination of questions of agency and power (relations). Who or what has the power to disrupt and whose experiences of disruption are acknowledged while others remain suppressed or invisible? In the face of a lingering pandemic, looming threats of nuclear warfare, global heating, environmental racism, and extractive capitalism, how can imagination offer a counterforce to the disruption of lifeworlds?



“Disruptive Imaginations” seeks to confront SFF narratives of innovation, progress, and other-worlding with the faultlines of their own construction. Envisioned in part as a critical response to neoliberal models of disruptive innovation, “Disruptive Imaginations” invites scholarship and creative work that interrogates methods of both local and larger systemic change that does not fetishize newness, and that anchors in the critical world-making capacities of literature and the arts. As a literary and artistic mode, SFF ceaselessly rehearses alternatives and dishabituations of the status quo while also creating spaces that expose and resist the disruptive forces of white supremacy, settler-colonialism, heteropatriarchy, and ableism. Beyond the promises of a technological fix or a naive return to equilibrium, how might SFF help foster an understanding of complex and messy worlds in crisis? What are the limits of disruption as a useful story to think worlds with, and what collateral damage does it entail? What kinds of different paradigms (speculative and otherwise) may be needed to disrupt disruption?



We invite papers on all forms and genres of science fiction and the fantastic in relation to the paradigm of disruption, including but not limited to literature, music, film, games, design, and art. Presentations may be held either in English or German. We strive for a diversity of voices and perspectives from any and all disciplines and career stages. While papers on any subject in SFF are welcome, we especially encourage topics that resonate with the overall conference theme and that engage disruptive imaginations along axes that include but are not limited to



SFF imagination under conditions of disruption

e.g., energy crisis; toxicity; climate disruption; war; colonialism; dis/ability and ableism; trauma; white supremacy; …



SFF imagination against disruption

e.g., resilience; worldmaking; utopia; decolonization and restitution; cultural healing; kinship; critical and co-futurisms (African and Afro-futurisms, Indigenous Futurisms, Queer and Trans Futurisms, Crip Futurisms, LatinX Futurisms,…); …



SFF imagination in need of disruption

e.g., SFF and systems of oppression; the energy unsconious of SFF; transhumanism and eugenics; SFF tropes/histories/conventions of white supremacy, colonialism, heteropatriarchy, and technological solutionism; …



SFF imagination as a force of disruption

e.g., SFF in/as activism; emancipatory forms of SFF publishing (e.g., Destroy! Series); the cultural/bodily/social/political/aesthetic/ecological impact of SFF; SFF as medium of political subversion and agitation; alt-right utilization of SFF rhetoric; …



SFF imagination of disruption

e.g., ruptures of space and time; geoengineering; gene editing; hacking; revolution; border crossings, unsettling of hierarchies, chimeras and hybrids, creative technologies and alternative communication media; …



It is possible to submit proposals for individual presentations and preformed panels in English or German. Non-traditional formats (roundtable, artistic research, participatory formats, etc.) are welcome. For individual presentation, we ask for an abstract of 300 words and a short bio (150 words). For preformed panels we require a proposal (single file) that includes a 300 word summary of the panel topic, abstracts of 200 words for each contribution, and bio notes (150 words) for all participants. Please send all submissions to disruptive.imaginations@tu-dresden.de by March 1, 2023. Options for limited hybrid participation will be available. More information will be supplied soon on our conference website www.disruptiveimaginations.com.



Both organizations give out a limited number of travel grants to help students, PhD candidates and non-tenured participants with their expenses: SFRA members are eligible to apply for travel grants of up to 500$; the GfF offers four travel grants of 250€ each, membership not required. Please indicate your interest upon submitting your abstract.



Organizing team:



Julia Gatermann

Moritz Ingwersen

(North American Literature and Critical Future Studies, TU Dresden)





The Gesellschaft für Fantastikforschung (GfF, the German association for research in the fantastic), was founded 2010 with the mission to promote academic research of the fantastic in art, literature and culture in German-speaking countries and to contribute to a deepening of scholarly and cultural knowledge in these fields (https://fantastikforschung.de). To that end, the GfF publishes the peer reviewed open-access journal “Zeitschrift für Fantastikforschung” (https://zff.openlibhums.org/) and convenes for an annual conference at varying locations in Germany, Switzerland, and Austria.



The Science Fiction Research Association (SFRA), founded in 1970, is the oldest professional association dedicated to the scholarly inquiry of Science Fiction and the Fantastic in literature, film, and the arts (https://sfra.org). The SFRA’s open access journal SFRA Review is published four times a year (https://sfrareview.org/) and the SFRA meets annually for a conference at varying international locations.

CFP Sons & Daughters of Narnia Conference (9/4/2023; Ireland 11/13-14/2023)

Sons & Daughters of Narnia: Tracing CS Lewis's Literary Influence into the 21st Century

deadline for submissions:
September 4, 2023

full name / name of organization:
Ulster University

contact email:
White-C36@ulster.ac.uk


source: https://call-for-papers.sas.upenn.edu/cfp/2023/03/05/sons-daughters-of-narnia-tracing-cs-lewiss-literary-influence-into-the-21st-century

This will be the 2nd Annual CS Lewis Symposium at Ulster University

To be held: 13-14, November 2023

Location: Ulster University, Coleraine, Northern Ireland (United Kingdom)

*Please Note: this will be an in-person event; at present, we cannot accommodate virtual/remote participation.

Keynote: to be delivered by Dr Malcolm Guite (Cambridge University) and Professor Jerry Root (Wheaton College)

Rationale:

This two-day, public-facing academic symposium aims to examine CS Lewis in the light of his influence upon 20th & 21st century writers— those working in genres as varied as children’s fiction, sci-fi, literary and cultural criticism, popular apologetics, and even poetry. The central organising metaphor for the event is that of genealogy—the passing down to successive generations of the essences, qualities and characteristics which one inherits. Drawing upon this central metaphor, we will examine both the way in which Lewis was shaped by his own set of literary influences, and how he transmitted (and transmuted) these influences, through his own work, to writers throughout the world—in a way which almost recalls T.S. Eliot’s description of literary communion in ‘Tradition and the Individual Talent’. Our hope is that this ‘Janus-like’ approach—looking simultaneously back to Lewis’s ‘forbears’, and forward to his ‘sons and daughters’— will offer scholars working in diverse areas of Lewis research ample opportunity to carve out topics suited to their own interests.

Call for Papers:

We invite proposals of up to 250 words for 20-minute papers on some aspect of our theme. Submissions are welcome from scholars at every career stage, from ECR to well-established. Please include a brief bio with submission.

Email proposals to: White-C36@ulster.ac.uk by 5pm 04 September 2023



Last updated March 8, 2023

CFP James Bond Studies Conference 2023 (5/1/2023; London 6/30-7/1/2023)

James Bond Studies Conference, June 30th-July 1st 2023

deadline for submissions:
May 1, 2023

full name / name of organization:
International Journal of James Bond Studies, University of Roehampton

contact email:
ian.kinane@roehampton.ac.uk


source: https://call-for-papers.sas.upenn.edu/cfp/2023/03/22/james-bond-studies-conference-june-30th-july-1st-2023

Call for Papers: James Bond Studies Conference

30th June – 1st July 2023

University of Roehampton, London

In association with the Centre for Literature and Inclusion and the School of Humanities and Social Sciences at the University of Roehampton, the International Journal of James Bond Studies will host a 2-day international conference on the University’s beautiful parkland campus in South West London.

To celebrate the 70th anniversary of the publication of Ian Fleming’s first James Bond novel, Casino Royale, we invite submissions for panels and individual papers on any aspect of the James Bond phenomenon (Ian Fleming’s original novels and short stories; the James Bond continuation novels; the James Bond film franchise and related media, etc.), although we are especially interested in papers and/or panel presentations on the local-global relationship between Marlow, Buckinghamshire, and London (where many Bond films have been produced and filmed), cultural geography, and global cinema tourism.

Suggested topics may include (but are not limited to):

• James Bond and Marlow, Buckinghamshire, and London
• James Bond and tourism
• James Bond and internationalism
• James Bond, gender, and sexuality
• James Bond, race, and neocolonialism
• James Bond and environmental ethics
• James Bond and political morality
• James Bond and technocracy
• James Bond and #MeToo
• James Bond, “Brexit”, and right-wing nationalism
• The future of James Bond

Prospective contributors are invited to submit a 300-word abstract along with a brief bio note to Dr. Ian Kinane (ian.kinane@roehampton.ac.uk).

Submission Deadline: 1st May 2023. (Applicants can be assured that they will hear back in good time so as to facilitate travel planning etc.)

Following the conference, contributors will be invited to submit their papers to a special issue of the International Journal of James Bond Studies, pending peer review.

This event is open to academics, casual scholars, and fans alike; and you do not have to present in order to attend. Details of how to register will follow the publication of the conference programme.

Expressions of interest and queries can also be addressed to the above email.



Last updated March 24, 2023

CFP Current Research in Speculative Fiction 2023 12th Annual Conference (3/25/2023; Livepool UK and remote 6/29-30/2023)

Current Research in Speculative Fiction 2023 12th Annual Conference

deadline for submissions:
March 25, 2023

full name / name of organization:
Current Research in Speculative Fiction

contact email:
crsf.team@gmail.com

source:

Current Research in Speculative Fiction 2023 12th Annual Conference

29th – 30th June 2023, University of Liverpool, In Person and Online, https://crsfhome.home.blog/

“While most people conceptualise thinking as this straightforward linear thing, I see ideas spreading out into alternatives before one is selected. In this place every notion can potentially become reality.” (Tade Thompson, Rosewater)

KEYNOTES: Roz Kaveney (Writer and Independent Researcher) Dr Chris Pak (Swansea University)

AUTHOR ROUNDTABLE: Exploring metamorphosis and change in SF

PUBLISHING ROUNDTABLE: Getting published in academic journals

WORKSHOP: Curating your SF and working across different media

OPEN MIC: Creative Writing Readings

“Then I saw the body descend to the beasts whence it ascended, and that which was on the heights go down to the depths, even to the abyss of all being.” (Arthur Machen, The Great God Pan)

“But in the end, it’s only a passing thing… this shadow. Even darkness must pass.” (J.R.R. Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings)

Whether it is science fiction, fantasy, or horror, speculative fiction allows us to envision transformed worlds full of dread, excitement, and wonder so utterly different from our own. We escape to imagine wizards who unravel reality, men who transform into cockroaches, and spaceships that warp time, all the while uncovering more about our past, present and future than many forms of conventional fiction. For CRSF’s 12th year, this hybrid event (taking place both in person and online) seeks to generate interdisciplinary discussions of metamorphosis in speculative fiction, exploring the transformations the genre allows and how changes both minuscule and grand manifest themselves within textual and visual cultures in the present day.

We welcome papers for the fields of literary studies, creative writing, media studies, philosophy, arts, anthropology, sociology, and political theory that speak to, but are not limited to:

• The body and its transformations (the posthuman body; the racialised & gendered body; the queer body)
• Technological metamorphoses, uplift fictions and their alterations of beings
• Speculative fiction as a vehicle of political critique and social transformation
• Speculative worlds and how they are changed willingly and unwillingly
• Representations of transhumanism, augmented or artificial intelligence, robotics, and extra-terrestrial life
• Interrelationships between power, fantasy, actors, action, forms, and reality
• Representations of waste (including but not limited to: nuclear waste; bodily matter; humans as waste; natural resources)
• Forms of alternative kinship made possible (or restricted) by speculative fiction
• Breaching boundaries in speculative fiction

We welcome proposals for academic and artistic contributions that speak to any of the issues. Abstracts (max. 300 words) and a short biographical note (max. 100 words) should be submitted to crsf.team@gmail.com by Midday, Saturday the 25th of March 2023.

All queries can be directed to the above email address or message on Twitter @crsfteam



Last updated January 26, 2023

CFP The Souths and Science Fiction (6/1/2023; SAMLA Atlanta 11/9-11/2023)

The Souths and Science Fiction

deadline for submissions:
June 1, 2023

full name / name of organization:
The Society for the Study of Southern Literature, SAMLA

contact email:
zhuesing3@gatech.edu

source: https://call-for-papers.sas.upenn.edu/cfp/2023/01/27/the-souths-and-science-fiction.

The Society for the Study of Southern Literature invites papers on the South and science fiction for a panel at the South Atlantic Modern Language Association’s 94th Annual Conference from November 9-11, 2023 in Atlanta, GA.

This conference’s theme of “(In)Security: The Future of Literature and Language Studies” presents a unique opportunity to consider the imagined futures offered within SF works, including their representation of social inequalities and the possibilities of the SF genre to raise awareness to the value of Literature and Language studies.

Papers may discuss any of the sub-genres of science fiction, including Afrofuturism, post-apocalyptic, or alternate history and may focus on any media including video games, novels, poetry, movies, television, or comics. The chosen texts should share the South, “Southern-ness,” or Global Souths as a concern. We welcome presentations that offer to 'expand' the canon of Southern literature and science fiction itself, especially papers that focus on works by BIPOC, AAPI, or LGBTQ+ writers.

Please direct any questions to Cameron Winter and Zita Hüsing at cameron.winter@gatech.edu and zhuesing3@gatech.edu.

Submit 200-500 word abstracts, 50 word bionotes, and A/V requirements via the following Google form: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfarFqg-qrrbHkES62aC7Q3W-Za7eIq89o6snqnQ2pKmKR97w/viewform by June 1, 2023.



Last updated February 2, 2023

CFP No Longer for Kids: Children’s Literature and Higher Education (3/15/2023; MLA 2024)

No Longer for Kids: Children’s Literature and Higher Education

deadline for submissions:
March 15, 2023

full name / name of organization:
Noah Mullens / University of Florida

contact email:
noahmullens@ufl.edu

source: https://call-for-papers.sas.upenn.edu/cfp/2023/01/17/no-longer-for-kids-children%E2%80%99s-literature-and-higher-education.

Call for Papers: MLA 2024

Co-sponsored by the Children’s Literature Association and MLA Libraries and Research Forum (non-guaranteed)

Deadline Extended: March 15th

In March 2022, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis signed the “Parental Rights in Education” bill— dubbed the ‘Don’t Say Gay’ bill. The policy bars teachers from discussing “sexual orientation or gender identity” with students between kindergarten through the third grade. While LGBTQ+ picture books are not necessarily banned, the implication of the law is that queer literature will no longer be easily accessible to children in elementary schools. The passage of the law is another instance of the trend of banning texts that deal with race, gender, ethnicity, religion, and sexuality. Conversely, other texts are taken out of circulation due to antiquated or harmful depictions of gender, race, and/or sexuality. This process of curation and restriction has happened throughout history. However, this panel addresses the pedagogical questions undergirding these processes.

What happens to these texts? Many are relegated to one specialized area: higher education. But what occurs when a piece of children’s literature can only be taught in a university setting, and how has it occurred in the past? How do curators shape children’s books when archiving them as research objects for scholars? Why are certain texts canonized or applauded in higher education but do not share a similar popularity with parents or elementary educators? What are possible interventions for dealing with book bans in children’s literature?

With the recent publication of the 50th edition of Children’s Literature, the annual journal of the Children’s Literature Association and The Modern Language Association Division on Children’s Literature, this roundtable asks to reflect not only of the study on children’s literature in academia, but to consider the texts that can only be studied in higher educational contexts.

Possible topics include, but are not limited to:

• Syllabi of children’s literature courses and the tastes, sensibilities, and aesthetics scholars have privileged
• The various considerations and restrictions public librarians, school librarians, and archivists navigate when curating children’s books
• Historical examples of literature that was removed from child educational settings but persisted in higher education
• Policies that reframe particular children’s texts or crossover texts to a strictly adult audience
• Differences in how scholars in higher education and readers outside of the university perceive the intended audience of children’s literature
• Texts that make critical contributions to children’s literature scholarship and representation that do not gain traction outside of the academy
• The multiple qualifiers for when to take a book out of circulation and the controversies surrounding how these texts should be approached, researched, and taught in a higher educational context
• The differences or similarities between what Michelle Ann Abate calls a “children’s literature for adults” and children’s literature that becomes adult through political agendas

Please send a brief abstract (150-200 words) for short papers suitable for a roundtable discussion to Noah Mullens (noahmullens@ufl.edu) by March 15th, 2023.



Last updated February 27, 2023

CFP (Re)Imagining Tomorrow: Agency and Possibility in Literature and Media for Children and Young Adults (grad conference 3/15/2023; Vancouver 6/23-24/2023)

(Re)Imagining Tomorrow: Agency and Possibility in Literature and Media for Children and Young Adults

deadline for submissions:
March 15, 2023

full name / name of organization:
University of British Columbia, Master of Arts in Children's Literature Program

contact email:
ubc.conference.2023@gmail.com

source: https://call-for-papers.sas.upenn.edu/cfp/2023/02/26/reimagining-tomorrow-agency-and-possibility-in-literature-and-media-for-children-and.

(Re)Imagining Tomorrow: Agency and Possibility in Literature and Media for Children and Young Adults

Call for Paper Proposals

Deadline for Submission: 15 March 2023

A peer-reviewed graduate student conference

University of British Columbia | Unceded traditional territory of the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam) Vancouver, Canada | Friday 23 June - Saturday 24 June 2023



What do we think of when we imagine the future? 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968) projected a world in which humanity has spread to the stars, where visiting the moon is as routine as a flight across the country. Back to the Future Part II (1989) famously imagined hoverboards and flying cars by the year 2015. The YA dystopian boom of the late 2000s to 2010s imagined compartmentalized, constrained futures like in The Hunger Games (2008)and Divergent (2011). Today, in the face of impending climate disaster, growing economic disparity, and the lingering effects of a worldwide pandemic, the future still seems not only hard to imagine, but uncertain. How can we imagine a future that we may not live to see? How do children grapple with inheriting a future riddled with the mistakes and problems we are generating in the present? If the children are the future, what is that future going to look like? What agency do children have to create their own future? As we live through times of unprecedented global change–technological, cultural, and environmental–the future is no longer a distant reality. The future is created every day. (Re)Imagining Tomorrow: Agency and Possibility in Literature and Media for Children and Young Adults aims to discuss topics surrounding the future and its presentation in youth literature and media and showcase graduate students’ academic and creative work on the matter.



Topics may include, but are not limited to:

• Forms of youth activism and agency in a changing world (e.g., climate change, children’s rights, education, etc.)
• De-/Anti-/Post-colonialism of the near and far future
• Afrofuturism and Indigenous Futurism
• Posthumanism and technology in children's literature
• Cultural Change, Communication, and the Transformation of Identity
• Revolution, War, Resistance, and Reimaginings/Retellings
• Artificial Intelligence
• Alternate/Virtual worlds
• Hope, Resilience, and Memory
• Change, Transformation, and Becoming
• Utopia, Dystopia, Heterotopia
• Evolution and Progress
• The Anthropocene
• Time Travel
• The future of the publishing industry and the impact of global crisis
• The future of local, national, and global children’s literature
• Cultural, Social, and Economic Change
• The evolution of children’s literature beyond text: films, sequential art, video games, and other media.

These topics are suggestions, as we are open to proposals on any aspect of the future, agency, and possibility in children’s and young adult literature, media, education, and culture. We welcome submissions from graduate students, scholars, and practitioners from a variety of disciplines, including literary studies, cultural studies, sociology, psychology, anthropology, media studies, and others.

Academic Paper Proposals

Please send a 250-word abstract, including the title of your paper, 5-8 keywords, and 3-5 academic, bibliographic references. Your name should not appear on the proposal. Please attach a separate 50-word biography, including your name, preferred pronouns, student status, university affiliation, home country, and email address. Save the proposal and the biography as two separate Word files (.DOC or .DOCX) and use the format “Academic_Name_PaperTitle” in the email subject line.

Creative Writing Proposals

All creative writing genres and forms are welcome, including novel chapters, poetry, picture books, graphic novels, scripts, amongst others. Please send a sample of your work that is no more than 12 pages long, double-spaced. Include the title, a list of references (if applicable), and a 150-word description identifying the topic, genre, targeted age group, and relevance to the conference themes. Your name should not appear on the sample. Please attach a separate 50-word biography, including your name, student status, preferred pronouns, university affiliation, home country, and email address.

Save the sample and description as one Word file and the biography as a separate Word file (.DOC or .DOCX). Use this format “Creative_Name_SampleTitle” for the email subject line.



Participants are welcome to submit both academic and creative proposals. Each proposal will be adjudicated separately, and you may be accepted for one or both streams. Please follow the guidelines for both submissions above and send them in separate emails.

Dates and Logistics

Deadline for proposal submission: 15 March 2023

A notification of acceptance will be sent by the end of April 2023.

All submissions will be blind reviewed by the members of the Review Committee.



Contact Us

Send all submissions to submit.ubc.conference@gmail.com.


If you have any questions regarding the submission or the conference, please don’t hesitate to contact us at ubc.conference.2023@gmail.com.


Follow us on Twitter @ MACLconferenceand visit our conference website at https://blogs.ubc.ca/reimaginingtomorrow2023/for updates.



About Us

The Master of Arts in Children’s Literature (MACL) at the University of British Columbia (UBC) is the only graduate program in children’s literature in Canada and one of the most multi-disciplinary children’s literature programs in the world. It is offered through the UBC iSchool (Library, Archival, and Information Studies) with joint participation from the Department of English Language and Literatures, the Department of Language and Literacy Education, and the School of Creative Writing. As one of the few venues in Canada that showcases emerging scholarship in children’s and young adult literature, this conference provides a platform for new scholars and writers from different backgrounds, especially for graduate and upper-division undergraduate students, and creates cross-disciplinary associations that may inspire new and innovative connections to support writing and research in this area.



About the Conference

The first Graduate Student Conference in Children’s and Young Adult Literature, Media and Culture took place in 2008. In addition to paper and creative writing presentations, the conference invites renowned scholars and authors as our keynote speakers. Featured keynote speakers from past conferences include Dr. Maria Tatar, Dr. Philip Nel, Dr. Elizabeth Marshall, Dr. S.R. Toliver, Dr. Angel Matos, Dr. Naomi Hamer and best-selling authors Rachel Hartman and Richard Van Camp. This year, students from the Master of Arts in Children’s Literature Program at UBC’s iSchool will come together for the tenth time to host the event.



We look forward to hearing from you!



Last updated February 27, 2023

CFP 2023 Quarry Farm Symposium on “Mark Twain: Invention, Technology, and Science Fiction” (2/10/2023; Elmira NY 10/6-8/2023)

2023 Quarry Farm Symposium on “Mark Twain: Invention, Technology, and Science Fiction”

deadline for submissions:
February 10, 2023

full name / name of organization:
The Center for Mark Twain Studies

contact email:
ntlwilliams@ucdavis.edu

source: https://call-for-papers.sas.upenn.edu/cfp/2022/11/29/2023-quarry-farm-symposium-on-%E2%80%9Cmark-twain-invention-technology-and-science-fiction%E2%80%9D

The Center for Mark Twain Studies at Elmira College is hosting its annual Quarry Farm Symposium during the Fall 2023 semester, from Friday, October 6, to Sunday, October 8, 2023, organized around the theme of Mark Twain: Invention, Technology, and Science Fiction. The year’s Keynote Address will be presented by Sheila Williams, editor of Asimov’s Science Fiction magazine and multiple Hugo Award winner. The annual symposium gathers scholars from various fields around a theme related to Mark Twain studies or the nineteenth-century more broadly and is held at the historic Quarry Farm site, where Twain wrote his most famous works during summer stays with his wife’s family in Elmira, New York.

In his landmark 2010 essay, “On Defining SF, or Not: Genre Theory, SF, and History,” John Rieder wrestles with the slippery definition of “science fiction.” He notes that clear genre definitions are frequently demanded by “two institutional locations, commercial publishing and the academy, and this pair of institutions bears no accidental resemblance to the oppositions between high and low culture....” (204). Building from Bourdieu and Habermas, Rieder argues that because of these “contradictory drives for economic profit and cultural prestige in commercial publishing, the history of sf is well positioned to contribute importantly to broader cultural history...” (206).

SF is uniquely positioned in this way, and Twain is a particularly useful lens for such genre examination. Scholars have acknowledged that much of Twain’s work could be labeled “science fiction” if it were published today, an understanding that goes back at least as far as David Ketterer’s 1984 collection, The Science Fiction of Mark Twain. Twain’s writing appeared in the nineteenth-century literary marketplace side-by-side with dime novels about boy explorers in submarines or airships, hero-worshipping biographies of famous inventors, and the translated works of contemporaries like Jules Verne. Moreover, Twain embodies the straddling of popular success and cultural prestige that Rieder mentions; then and now, Twain’s career navigates these contradictions. Locating when and how Twain’s work fits the “science fiction” label can help us see the limits and utility of genre.

Of course, Twain is more than just literary figure; he was part of a culture immersed in science and technology. Alan Gribben, in Mark Twain’s Literary Resources, Vol. 1 (2019), specifically notes science was one area Twain read voraciously, including “an entire set of Charles Darwin’s works” and “at least a dozen titles” on astronomy (44). Once he had money, Twain constantly sought new inventions to fund; his investments in new printing technology partly caused his bankruptcy. Gary Scharnhorst’s recent biography The Life of Mark Twain: The Final Years (2022) reminds us that Twain spent his later years scrutinizing osteopathy, Christian science, and other nascent medical movements, partly to help his ailing wife and daughters. Twain constantly interacted with all these developing fields and more, frequently in very public, mercurial ways.

With all this in mind, this symposium will work to understand the “broader cultural history” Rieder mentions by placing Twain and his contemporaries within the cultural transformations of science and technology, and within the broad literary boundaries of science fiction. What do we learn if we look at science fiction through the lens of Mark Twain, or Mark Twain through the lens of science fiction? 

We welcome a range of papers on this theme, including any of the following topics and more: 

• Portrayals of science and technology in fiction by Mark Twain and/or his contemporaries
• Scientific and pseudo-scientific ideas that influenced literature during Twain’s lifetime (1835-1910)
• Critical interrogations of nineteenth-century scientific rhetoric, knowledge-making, and science-related art and letters
• Critical examinations of the writing surrounding nineteenth-century invention and science, including patents, copyrights, planning documents, promotional materials, and more
• Research on inventors in Twain’s circle of acquaintances, including James Paige, Nikola Tesla, Jan Szczepanik, or larger concerns such as Hartford’s Colt Arms Factory, and their portrayals by Twain or by other writers in “heroic” biographies, magazine features, etc.
• Science fiction in nineteenth-century humor, including frontier narratives, tall tales, scientific romances, and satires
• Twain’s place in the evolving definition of science fiction, including perceptions of him among writers of the Gernsback era, the “Golden Age,” the New Wave, Afrofuturists, and other movements
• Modern technologies and their role in reproducing Twain in online editions, in memes, in repurposed quotations on Facebook, et al.
• Studies of appropriations of Twain’s image or work in science fiction, including steampunk, space opera, or other sub-genres

Please send 300-word abstracts and either a CV or biographical statement, preferably in PDF format, to Nathaniel Williams (ntlwilliams@ucdavis.edu) by February 10, 2023.



Last updated December 4, 2022

CFP Futuristic Epistemology and Scientific Dimensions: Neo-perspectives in Science Fiction (Spec Issue) (2/5/2023)

Futuristic Epistemology and Scientific Dimensions: Neo-perspectives in Science Fiction”

deadline for submissions:
February 5, 2023

full name / name of organization:
The Golden Line: A Magazine of English Literature

contact email:
guested.goldenline@gmail.com

source: https://call-for-papers.sas.upenn.edu/cfp/2023/01/10/futuristic-epistemology-and-scientific-dimensions-neo-perspectives-in-science-fiction

Call for Papers: Volume 5, Number 1, 2023

Themed Issue on

“Futuristic Epistemology and Scientific Dimensions: Neo-perspectives in Science Fiction”

To be edited by

Niladri Mahapatra & Akasdip Dey

PG Department of English, Bhatter College, Dantan



The Golden Line, a peer-reviewed magazine, is inviting scholarly papers on “Neo-perspectives in Science Fiction”. Science fiction, as a prose narrative form, allows social explorations and experimentations. Adding science to fiction is making it more interesting as science affirms that fiction can also negotiate with truth. So, the discourse of SF creates an interdisciplinary space for many new themes to be focused on and discussed in this issue.

The issue intends to focus on the following thematic areas; however, they are suggestive and not restrictive:

Suggested Topics:

• Truth and SF
• Postmodernism and SF
• Postcolonialism and SF
• Posthumanism and SF
• Aestheticism and SF
• Psychoanalysis and SF
• New Romanticism and SF
• Popular Culture and SF
• Punk Culture and SF
• Ecology, Climate Change and SF
• Politics and SF
• Translation Studies and SF
• Science and SF
• Religion and SF
• Utopia and Dystopia
• Alternate Reality
• Parallel Universe, Multiverse and Time Travel
• Aliens in SF
• Animals in SF
• Space and SF
• Gender and SF
• Robotics
• Science Fiction Film
• Science Fiction Comics
• Science Fiction Magazine

Important Dates:

Submission of abstract: January 15, 2023

Notification of acceptance: January 17, 2023

Submission of full paper: February 05, 2023

[N. B. It is not obligatory to send the abstract within that day, author can also send the full paper (without sending the abstract) within 5th February.]

Author’s Guidelines:

Kindly submit the abstract of your paper in about 100-150 words (Times New Roman, 12) with 4-5 Keywords.

After the selection of your abstract, you are asked to submit your full-length article/ paper.

Articles should be written in an MS Word file following the 8th edition of MLA style.

Word Limits for the full paper: 2500-5000 words.

Authors’ bio-note of around 100 words should be added at the end of the paper.

Submission:

Submit your paper at guested.goldenline@gmail.com [add a CC to the Chief Editor, Mir Ahammad Ali at mir.goldenline@gmail.com]

Further Details:

Visit Our Magazine site: http://goldenline.bhattercollege.ac.in




Last updated January 11, 2023

CFP 120th Annual PAMLA Conference (2023): Portland, OR - Special Session CFP (2/1/2023; in-person event October 2023)

120th Annual PAMLA Conference (2023): Portland, OR - Special Session CFP

deadline for submissions:
February 1, 2023

full name / name of organization:
Craig Svonkin, Metropolitan State University of Denver

contact email:
director@pamla.org

source: https://call-for-papers.sas.upenn.edu/cfp/2022/12/20/120th-annual-pamla-conference-2023-portland-or-special-session-cfp

The 120th Annual PAMLA Conference

The PAMLA 2023 Conference will be held at the Hilton Portland Downtown in Portland, Oregon between October 26-29, 2023,


The 2023 PAMLA Conference is being held entirely in-person. We won’t be having any virtual or hybrid sessions or papers.

PAMLA, founded as the Philological Association of the Pacific Coast in 1899, and the western affiliate of the Modern Language Association, is dedicated to the advancement and diffusion of knowledge of ancient and modern languages, literatures, and cultures.

Please email Craig Svonkin if you have any questions about the conference: director@pamla.org.

PAMLA 2023 Conference Theme

PAMLA 2023 looks to a figure born in 1899 as the exemplary writer for our times: Jorge Luis Borges, the great Argentine essayist, storyteller, and poet, whose life works might best be considered as an ideology and literary theory unto itself.

Therefore, the 2023 PAMLA Conference theme is “Shifting Perspectives.” How might we apply this dynamic to our respective fields of study and shine a light on new approaches, thereby engaging in the critical and theoretical processes of shifting our own views and exploring the results? How might we shift perspectives in terms of our scholarly and intellectual pursuits, our world views, our creative writing, and our teaching?



Special Session Proposals

As always, we welcome special session proposals (due February 1, 2023 via our online special session proposal system: pamla.ballastacademic.com) on the preceding topics related to the special theme, but also on other topics of broad interest (in other words, special session proposals will be entertained that do not connect to the conference theme, as well as proposals that do). This year, we are particularly interested in special session proposals broad enough to perhaps justify becoming general (standing) sessions after three successful years as special sessions (see below for a list of current general (standing) sessions for the PAMLA conference. For example, PAMLA’s board would welcome special session proposals on topics such as:

• 1923
• African Literature
• Multilingual American Literature (in other languages than English, or in English and other languages, both)
• Arabic Literature and Culture
• ASL
• Audiences or Reader Response Theory
• Audio (or Sound) Studies
• Books: perhaps including Textual Studies, Materiality, History of the Book, etc.
• Canadian Literature and Culture
• Class or Marxist Literature, Film, and Culture
• Creative Writing: Drama or Creative Writing: Creative Nonfiction or other topics of interest
• Digital Humanities
• Environmental Media
• Family (or Metafamily)
• Fan Fiction or Fan Studies
• Futurisms (to include Afrofuturism, Indigenous Futurism, etc.) Or Multi-Ethnic Futurisms
• Hmong
• Immigrant Studies (Or Movement, Migration, and Immigration)
• Infrastructure Studies
• Interdisciplinary or Innovative sessions
• Teaching of Literary Works (focusing on a particular work)
• Modernism
• Multi-ethnic German
• Museum Studies
• Objects, Stuff, and Things; Object Studies
• Pedagogy
• Performance Studies
• Portuguese
• Posthuman or Animal Studies
• Posthumanities
• The Postmodern
• Slang, Languages, and Dialects (or Underground Languages)
• Sociolinguistics
• Spatial Studies
• Transcultural (or Transnational) Literature
• Translation Studies
• Vietnamese

If you have any questions, please contact PAMLA Executive Director Craig Svonkin (director@pamla.org) or PAMLA President Yolanda Doub (ydoub@mail.fresnostate.edu).

Current general (standing) PAMLA sessions are:

21st-Century Literature; Adaptation Studies; African American Literature; American Literature before 1865; American Literature 1865-1945; American Literature after 1945; Ancient-Modern Relations; Anime and Manga; Architecture, Space, and Literature; Asian American Literature; Asian Literature; Austrian Studies; Autobiography; Bible and Literature; British Literature and Culture: To 1700; British Literature and Culture: The Long Eighteenth Century; British Literature and Culture: The Long Nineteenth Century; British Literature and Culture: 20th and 21st Century; Carceral/Prison Studies; Children’s Literature; Classics (Greek); Classics (Latin); Coalitional Feminisms; Comics and Graphic Narratives; Comparative American Ethnic Literature; Comparative Literature; Comparative Media; Composition and Rhetoric; Creative Writing; Critical Theory; Cultural History; Digital Studies; Disability Studies; Disney and Its Worlds; Drama and Society; East-West Literary Relations; Film and Literature; Film Studies; Folklore and Mythology; Food Studies; French; Gay, Lesbian and Transgender Literature; Germanic Studies; Gothic; Hip-Hop Poetics; Indigenous Literatures and Cultures; Italian; Italian Cinema; Italian Ecocriticism; Jewish Literature and Culture; Latina/o Literature and Culture; Linguistics; Literature & the Other Arts; Literature and Religion; Medieval Literature; Middle English Literature, including Chaucer; New Italians; Oceanic Literatures and Cultures; Old English Literature, including Beowulf; Poetry and Poetics; Post-Colonial Literature; Religion in American Literature; Rhetorical Approaches to Literature; Romanticism; Science Fiction; Shakespeare and Related Topics; Spain, Portugal, and Latin America: Jewish Culture & Literature in Trans-Iberia, Spanish and Portuguese (Latin American); Spanish and Portuguese (Peninsular); Teaching with Media and Technology; Teaching Writing Across the Disciplines; Television Studies; Travel and Literature; Veterans Studies; Video Game Studies; Western American Literature; Women in Literature; Young Adult Literature and Culture.



Last updated December 20, 2022