11 Mar 2005 — submission deadline
25 Mar 2005 — event
First Annual Youth Art and Writing Contest
The Science Fiction Museum is happy to announce its first annual arts contest for aspiring young artists and writers. This contest provides an opportunity for students to have their work evaluated by professionals in the field and be recognized for their talent. The top candidates from each category will be exhibited at Norwescon 28, the annual Northwest Regional Science Fiction & Fantasy Convention held at the DoubleTree SeaTac Hotel on March 25th. Students will be judged by professional artist Michael Whelan, who most recently painted the book jacket illustrations for Stephen King's Dark Tower series; and by multi-award winning author Michael Bishop, who is the Norwescon Guest of Honor. The top ten art entries will be exhibited at the Art Show all weekend, and a portion of the winning fiction entry will be read at Norwescon. Winners will receive their awards at the prestigious Philip K. Dick Award ceremony at 7 PM on March 25th at the convention.
Official rules and entry forms.
15 Mar 2005 — submission deadline
23-26 Jun 2005 — event
Science Fiction Research Association
Where: Imperial Palace Hotel and Casino, Las Vegas, NV
When: June 23-26, 2005
Details at www.sfra.org
Papers on any SF-related topic are welcome. Papers on our guest authors - Ursula K. LeGuin, John Barnes, Kij Johnson, Steven Brust, Elizabeth Bear, and Tim Powers - are particularly encouraged, as are papers on Gaming and Gambling in SF, the American West in SF, and the relationship between the Western and SF.
Deadline for Proposal Submission: March 15, 2005
Conference Participants do not have to be members of SFRA.
Send proposals for papers and panels to:
Professor Peter Lowentrout
Department of Religious Studies
MacIntosh Humanities Building 619
California State University, Long Beach
Long Beach, California 90840
FAX: 562-985-8999
plowentr@csulb.edu
26 Mar 2005 — event
Women's History Month Session of Acclaimed Writing Workshop
Authors and critics Nisi Shawl and Victoria Garcia will teach "Writing the Other: Bridging Cultural Differences for Successful Fiction" March 26, from noon to 4 p.m., at 216 First Avenue South, Suite 430, in Seattle's Pioneer Square neighborhood.
In celebration of Women's History Month, and because it will be held in partnership with the women's writers' organization Cottages at Hedgebrook, registration for the March 26 session of "Writing the Other" is limited to women.
"Writing the Other" teaches participants how to write convincingly about characters of diverse backgrounds, using short lectures, discussions, and exercises. For two years it has provided a safe space for students to explore the controversial topic of writing about differences such as race and sexual preference. "We've had fantastic feedback on the workshop; even established pros like Suzy McKee Charnas and Mary Rosenblum tell us they've benefited," Shawl says.
Cost of the class is $50 for those registering by March 5, and $68 thereafter. No more than 17 students will be accepted. Online registration using PayPal is available at www.writingtheother.com. To register by mail, send a check or money order with complete contact information to Nisi Shawl, P.O. Box 20796, Seattle, WA 98102.
Nisi Shawl's stories and essays have drawn critical attention and award nominations. A guest lecturer at Stanford University and a frequent contributor to The Seattle Times, she's the Clarion West Writers Workshop Diversity/Outreach Coordinator and a co-founder of The Carl Brandon Society, a group focusing on people of color in speculative and fantastic fiction.
Former attorney Victoria Garcia's chapbook Unspeakable Vitrine sold out of its first printing. Her fiction appeared most recently in The Indiana Review.
For more information about "Writing the Other," please contact Ms. Shawl at 206-720-1008, or at Nisis@aol.com
31 Mar - 1 Apr 2005 — event
Monstrous Bodies in Science, Fiction, and Culture: Celebrating 25 Years of the Fantastic in the Arts at Georgia Tech
Where: Bill Moore Student Success Center, Georgia Tech
From March 31st through April 1st the School of Literature, Communication and Culture (LCC) will host a two-day symposium in which participants explore the meaning of monstrous bodies in science, fiction, and culture. The symposium, which will take place in the Bill Moore Student Success Center at the Georgia Institute of Technology, is free of charge and open to all interested parties.
The symposium celebrates both LCC’s ongoing commitment to the study of the fantastic in the arts and, more specifically, the pivotal role that LCC Professor Emeritus Irving F. “Bud” Foote played in shaping this commitment.
Foote taught the first accredited science fiction class at Tech in the early 1970s and over the course of the next two decades brought a number of science fiction writers to Tech including Frederik Pohl, Ursula K. LeGuin, Octavia Butler, and Kim Stanley Robinson. Upon his retirement in 1997 Foote donated 8000 science fiction-related items to the Georgia Tech Library, and the Bud Foote Science Fiction Collection was born. With additional gifts from Georgia Tech alumni and science fiction authors such as David Brin and Kathleen Ann Goonan, the Bud Foote Collection is now one of the twenty largest research collections of its kind.
The Monstrous Bodies symposium will commemorate both Professor Foote’s legacy and LCC’s continued dedication to the study of the fantastic in the arts by featuring student research on and creative writing in science fiction, fantasy, horror, and the gothic. The symposium will also include art and film exhibits as well as presentations by local scholars, science fiction writers, editors, publishers, and artists from Adult Swim, Cartoon Network’s late-night cartoon programming for adult audiences.
Our special guests of honor are two leading figures in fantastic art and scholarship: science fiction author Paul di Filippo and popular culture expert Rhonda Wilcox. In 2004 Di Filippo received the Prix L’Imaginaire for his short story “Sisyphus and the Stranger”; other stories have been nominated for Hugo, Nebula, BSFA, Philip K. Dick, Wired Magazine, and World Fantasy Awards as well. Wilcox is the author of the forthcoming book Why Buffy Matters: The Art of Television and coeditor of Fighting the Forces: What’s at Stake in Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Slayage: The Online International Journal of Buffy Studies.
If you have any other questions or comments, contact conference coordinator Prof. Lisa Yaszek (lisa.yaszek@lcc.gatech.edu) or conference assistant Amelia Shackelford (gte697v@mail.gatech.edu).
For more information
On the symposium, please visit http://monstrousbodies.lcc.gatech.edu; on the Bud Foote Science Fiction Collection, please visit http://sf.lcc.gatech.edu; on previous student work in the Bud Foote Collection, please visit http://sciencefiction.lcc.gatech.edu.
