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Terri
Registered User
(3/26/01 6:51:44 am)
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Int. Conference on the Fantastic in the Arts
Greg, you've just come back from this, yes? How was it?
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Gregor9
Registered User
(3/26/01 10:56:21 am)
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ICFA
Terri,
It was a very good conference, really a terrific blend of authors, scholars, teachers. John Crowley was the guest of honor, and he's always an interesting person to talk or listen to. Although the theme of this year's conference was heavily weighted in referencing 2001:A Space Odyssey, there were papers on a variety of fantasy topics presented, too.
I sat in on sessions on contemporary utopian fiction, which included a really interesting paper by Joan Gordon; a session on Harry Potter that got somewhat heated in a debate over the merits or lack thereof within that series. Jack Zipes delivered a paper culled from a larger work he's preparing on Philip Pullman's works--including both the Sally Lockhart and the His Dark Materials series. And I was myself empaneled with John Kessel and Andy Duncan on a panel discussing the life of someone trying to perform both as scholar and author. I am looking forward to next year, when it sounds as if it will be specifically more fantasy oriented.
I hadn't attended an ICFA for nearly 20 years, but expect I'll be going back annually now. It's a great event for kind of charging one's batteries. And any academics who check into this site might want to consider it if they aren't already attendees. It's a good place to deliver a scholarly paper, test the waters, and throw out ideas to see what ripples they cause.
Greg
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Richard
Parks
Registered User
(3/27/01 1:15:16 pm)
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Re: ICFA
I've debated going to ICFA for a while now. It sounds like fun, even though I don't think there'd be much for me to do.
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Terri
Unregistered User
(3/28/01 6:59:15 am)
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conferences/conventions
Greg: I've still never been to that conference. One of these years I'll have to make it down there -- but Tucson is so lovely in March that going to Florida doesn't sound quite as good to me as it does to you northerners. The only convention I attend regularly is Wiscon. Are you (or Richard, or anyone else here) going to Wiscon, (the feminist sf/fantasy gathering in Madison, Wisconsin) at the end of May? Midori, Heinz Insu Fenkl, Karen Joy Fowler and others will also be there, and it's also a good place for academics to deliver papers...though much smaller than the ICFA.
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CoryEllen
Registered User
(3/28/01 8:50:10 am)
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Re: conferences/conventions
Wiscon . . . Hmmm . . . I'm at something of a loss for what to do with my life right now, maybe I'll road trip out there for the end of May. I'd need a road buddy, though. Helen? :-)
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Helen
Registered User
(3/28/01 11:49:23 am)
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no problems here ...
Dear Cory-Ellen:
You got it - just come to the conference on literary fairy tales at Princeton first ... you know you want to ...
Seriously; it'll be a lot of fun, and I found a hotel with vacancies that only charges fifty bucks a night. Give it some thought, everyone.
Helen
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CoryEllen
Registered User
(3/28/01 1:07:48 pm)
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Re: no problems here ...
I work weekends, but just out
of curiosity, how many roaches do ya get with that room?
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Helen
Registered User
(3/29/01 5:27:24 am)
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...ouch...
I'll do a head-count of the local wildlife and include it with my report ... but it couldn't possibly be worse than my last apartment ...
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Gregor9
Registered User
(3/30/01 9:57:48 am)
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ICFA & Wiscon
Terri,
You really should get to ICFA. Your name is legend there. If they had any sense, they'd be falling all over themselves to get you.
I won't make Wiscon this year. ICFA was all I allowed myself. The novel deadline looms in the distance like a behemoth.
I will be at the World Science Fiction Convention in Philadelphia in August, and in fact in the papers I turned in on it mentioned that I'd be delighted to do any panels on fairy tales and any with you, Ellen, Delia, Midori, et al. Don't know who if anyone is going. These things are always monsters, but this one's just down the road so I can hardly excuse myself from it.
Wiscon's been on my list for years, but for me a trip to the midwest almost necessitates a trip home.
One of these years...
Greg
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Midori
Unregistered User
(3/30/01 10:59:19 am)
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Virginia Highland Arts Festival
Dear Greg,
Thanks for thinking of the three of us!! It's odd but Ellen, Delia and I have been invited to be guest speakers (and writer workshop pro's) for the Virginia Highland Arts Festival in August! It should be fun--and they are paying which is why I am able to go this year! I would love to do Philadelphia but like you I am looking at the rising spectre of book deadlines!
We should really plan to hit these spots all next summer--make a tour of the conventions...I can see it now...a winnebago, a bunch of books...
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Laura
Registered User
(3/30/01 8:20:38 pm)
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good heavens!!
Perhaps others just discovering this academic world, as I am, are equally as floored by these conferences. I'd kill to be in Princeton right now, and finding out about ICFA just a little too late is heart-breaking. However, I now have world's more hope for my future and a _great_ arena to explore once this thesis is done. Thank you all a hundred times over!!
giddy,
Laura
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Terri
Registered User
(3/31/01 6:05:21 am)
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conventions
Greg, no, I won't be at the World SF Con. Wiscon is the only convention I go to regularly -- it's a terrific one, and I like supporting the feminist sf/fantasy community. I made it to the World Fantasy Convention in Rhode Island two years ago only because it was part of the promotional tour for the faery book I did with Wendy Froud. It was the first time I'd been to one in years. But I would like to try ICFA some year, if I can pry myself out of Tucson during wildflower season! Dang, it's a pity you can't make it to Wiscon. Midori has set up a panel on Arabian fantasy, and we could use you!
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Gregor9
Registered User
(4/2/01 6:16:14 am)
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Arabian panels and Wiscon terrors
Terri,
Yikes! Keep talking, I can probably be bought...
Unfortunately, probably not this year, though.
I agree, we need to marshall our forces, rent the Winnebago, and take on some of these convention venues. Maybe meld some of the Trollopes and those West Coast Brazen Hussies, and forge a new alliance.
I told Delia a story at ICFA that Michael Swanwick related to me. He was invited as a guest a few years back, but his flight got screwed up and he arrived late, about 15 minutes into his first panel. Afterwards, he was told that they had all believed he'd stood them up. He said he would never do such a thing, and was told "Others have." Apparently numerous men who have agreed to participate have bailed out on the convention due to fears of feminism--a fact confirmed by Delia. I found this both dismaying and pretty amusing. Sometime I'm going to have to get a list of which males fled in terror.
Greg
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Midori
Unregistered User
(4/2/01 3:41:09 pm)
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lists
Ah...but the better list is of those who stayed! (to which I must add Charles de Lint, Charlie Vess, Heinz Insu Frenkl, Neil Gaimen--who showed up for a cameo, unannounced--Jonathan Lethem and a small host of up and coming writers soon to be published in a journal near you.)
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Terri
Unregistered User
(4/3/01 7:16:29 am)
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Wiscon
That's right, all the *best* men come to Wiscon -- so Michael's in good company. Hope you can make it next year if not this one, Greg.
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