Representing Self and Other: Gender and Sexuality in the Fantastic
International Conference on the Fantastic in the Arts 28
March 14-18, 2007
Wyndham Fort Lauderdale Airport Hotel
Fort Lauderdale, Florida

The focus of ICFA-28 is on issues of gender and sexuality, long a concern of the fantastic in literature, film, and other media. Given the oft-marginalized status of science fiction and fantasy in relation to mainstream literature and culture, it's not surprising to see fantastic works considered in the light of queer theory and feminist approaches. The hero doesn't have to be a guy, but it's just as rewarding to examine the construction of the masculine hero in space opera, sword-and-sorcery, and superhero comics. In graphic novels, book cover illustrations, and art, the gendered Other is the BEM, the elf, the alien, the vampire. Awards such as the Tiptree and the Lambda, and the success of WisCon, speak to the importance of this theme to the communities of the fantastic.

We look forward to papers on the work of this year's guests:

Guest of Honor Geoff Ryman, author of the Tiptree Award-winning Air as well as Was; The Child Garden, winner of the Campbell Award; The Unconquered Country, winner of the World Fantasy Award; The Warrior Who Carried Life.

Guest Scholar Jane Donawerth, critic and author of Frankenstein's Daughters: Women Writing Science Fiction (1997) and co-editor of Utopian and Science Fiction by Women: Worlds of Difference.

Special Guest Writer Melissa Scott, winner of the Lambda Award, author of Trouble and her Friends; The Kindly Ones, Dreaming Metal, and with Lisa Barnett, Point of Hopes and Point of Dreams.

Please send any papers dealing with specifically with science fiction literature and theory to

Sherryl Vint, St. Francis Xavier University, P.O. Box 5000, Antigonish, NS B2G 2W5

svint_at_stfx.ca

Consult the association website at www.iafa.org for information about contacts for submissions in other divisions.

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Received on Sun Nov 19 2006 - 17:50:47 EST