Quick bit of news for you: I’m moving to the University of Strathclyde!
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Tag: Academia
This weekend, the debut run of Scotland’s Science Fiction and Fantasy Festival, CYMERA, kicks off in Edinburgh. If you’re planning on heading up, down, or over, here’s where you can catch me.
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GIFCon 2018 schedule
Next Thursday 26th and Friday 27th April, we’ll be running our second annual Glasgow International Fantasy Conversations event, GIFCon 2018. Keynote speakers include acclaimed celtic studies and children’s literature scholar Dr Dimitra Fimi, author of the Children of the Damned series, Arianne “Tex” Thompson, SF and metafictions scholar Dr Will Slocombe, and Victorian Studies Professor Dr Alice Jenkins — plus we have creative writing workshops, and more than 50 papers across two days. It’s been a lot of hard work for the committee over the last few months, but we’re really looking forward to bringing this wonderful programme to you!
Aside from running about getting content for our social media updates, I’ll also be giving a paper and running a creative writing workshop.
Here’s where you can find me at GIFCon 2018:
Thursday 26 April 2018
4:45pm – 6:00pm (University Gardens 5, room 101)
Panel 8: There Be Dragons: Maps, Architecture, and Worldbuilding in Fantasy – Siddharth Pandey, Christopher Lynch Becherer, Lena Abraham, Ruth Booth (chair)
I’ll be chairing what promises to be a fascinating discussion about secondary worlds and the notion of creation and the constructed realities of space and map-making.
Friday 27 April 2018
8:30am – 10:00am (University Gardens 4, room 202)
Workshop 1: Discovering New Worlds Through Writing – Oliver Langmead and Ruth EJ Booth
If you missed our workshop at Edinburgh International Science Festival, Oliver Langmead and I will be presenting a special Fantasy version at this year’s GIFCon. Bring pens, paper, and a good whack of imagination, as we explore worlds beyond the portal.
10:15am – 11:30am (University Gardens 5, room 101)
Panel 11: Escape in Japan – Hannah Greenblott, Miguel Cesar, Ruth Booth Monica Vazquez (chair)
[…]
3) Ruth Booth: Growing-up in the Time of No-Face: Escapism, Illusion, and Identity in Spirited Away.
In this paper, I’ll be examining how Spirited Away confounds the division between fantasy and reality in children’s narratives through its use of magic, identity, and the consequences of actions. Join me for an exploration of escapism in one of my favourite Studio Ghibli films!
For details of the rest of the programme, head to https://gifcon.org/programme-2018/.
GIFCon 2018 is now sold out, but you can join the waiting list by clicking here.
Readings, a workshop and more – here are my official plans for March and April.
March 15th – BFS Open Night (Waterstones Argyle Street, 6:30pm)
My next reading will be part of the British Fantasy Society’s Glasgow Open Night on 15th March. Joining host Shona Kinsella (Ashael Rising, Mirnya’s Oath), Neil Williamson (The Moon King, Secret Language), and I (other stuff) will be R. J. Barker, author of Age of Assassins, and we’ll all be reading and chatting about fantastic things for your entertainment. The night kicks off at 6:30pm on 15th March at Waterstones Argyle Street, Glasgow. For more details, see the Waterstones event page or Facebook event page.
If you can’t make this, I’ll also be doing a warm-up reading as part of the MLitt in Fantasy Reading Party on 7th March at DRAM! If you’re interested in attending this, please let me know and I’ll pass on the details.
March 30th – April 1st – Eastercon: Follycon (Harrogate)
More on this soon! Click here for details of my full schedule!
April 5th – From Glasgow to Saturn: Issue 40 Launch (The Raven, 6pm)
From Glasgow to Saturn will be holding a launch party for issue 40 at The Raven in Glasgow on 5th April. We’ll be hosting readings from some of this issue’s authors and poets, plus music, an open mic, and the infamous FGTS raffle. This is the first issue for which I’ve been an editor, so I’d love to see you there.
Update: Click here for the facebook event page!
April 7th – Workshop at Edinburgh International Science Festival (Summerhall, 2pm)
Edinburgh area writers, I’ll be joining Oliver Langmead (Dark Star, Metronome) for ‘Discovering New Worlds Through Writing: A Creative Writing Workshop’ as part of the Edinburgh International Science Festival on 7th April. We’ll be taking you through exercises on exploring the galaxy, new worlds, and what it takes to get there – and this will be the first workshop I’ve given! Be warned this event will be limited availability, so best pick your ticket up sooner rather than later. The workshop runs from 2pm – 4pm on 7th April at the Anatomy Lecture Theatre, Summerhall. Click here to buy tickets.
April 26th – 27th – GIFCon 2018 (University of Glasgow)
Finally, GIFCon 2018 takes place over 26th – 27th April at the University of Glasgow. If you’ve submitted an abstract to the event, you should be hearing from us soon, but in the meantime, please keep an eye on our twitter, facebook, and instagram accounts, and on our website for announcements of details of how to register.
Hope to see you at one of these!
In the meantime, Shoreline of Infinity have uploaded video footage from February’s Event Horizon — where Hal Duncan, Neil Williamson and I staged a GSFWC invasion — to their facebook page. You’ll find us starting at about 1 hour 13 minutes in.
It’s been a while since I committed bloggery, so let’s get down to some housekeeping.
Firstly, huge congratulations to Shoreline of Infinity, who celebrated their milestone 10th issue recently. It’s testament to the hard work and persistence of Noel Chidwick, Russell Jones, Mark Toner and the rest of the team, who not only put out Scotland’s only SF magazine, but run the celebrated Event Horizon night in Edinburgh. Long may it continue!
A new issue also means a brand new column from me. ‘The Company of Bears’ is about… well, it’s there in the title really, but it gathers some thoughts on genre community that I’ve been considering for a while. You can pick up Issue 10 of Shoreline here.
Secondly, in case you’ve missed my tweets, GIFCon, aka Glasgow International Fantasy Conversations, is back again on 26th – 27th April 2018. Our call for papers is out now, and we’ve got a really thought-provoking topic for you – Escaping Escapism in Fantasy and the Fantastic.
If you’re a researcher in Science Fiction, Fantasy, and related genres, you can check out our call at www.gifcon.org – or follow the links from facebook, twitter, and instagram, where I’ll be doing social media. We’re looking forward to receiving your abstracts!
Finally, last week, the editorial team at From Glasgow to Saturn spent a massive 4.5hrs going through 70+ submissions to our upcoming issue 40. At this point, it’s usual to make noises about the quality of what was received and the difficulty of making choices. Speaking from the inside of the process this time, I have to say, it really was pretty damned tough to choose between submissions at points. We only wish we had room for more. If you submitted to this issue, you should have heard back from us by now. If you haven’t, please get in touch asap via fromglasgowtosaturn@glasgow.ac.uk.
