Organization and refereeing of academic paper sessions at ICFA is under the direction of Division Heads, also appointed by the President with the advice and consent of the Board.
Fantasy Literature (FL)
The Fantasy Literature division welcomes papers on all aspects of fantasy literature (broadly defined to mean anything from genre fantasy to magic realism and folk tales) including, but not restricted to, criticism on works by fantasy authors writing in English, inter disciplinary approaches to the genre, and scholarship on fantasy theory.
Stefan Ekman
Lund University, Lund, Sweden
Stefan Ekman has a PhD in English literature from Lund University in Sweden, with a thesis on the role of settings in fantasy. He also teaches the sf and fantasy module at the Creative Writing program there. Since 1995, he has lectured on and taught fantasy literature, and spent eight years as fantasy specialist for a major publishing company. His research focuses on fantasy environments but occasionally slips into other areas of the fantastic.
- <stefan.ekman AT englund.lu.se>
- Home page (in Swedish): http://www.ordskogen.com/stefan
- Blog: http://mythotopes.wordpress.com
Horror (H)
The horror division focuses on genre. Papers may explore any aspect of horror literature including but not limited to The Gothic, Physical Horror, Psychological Horror, Archetypes, and the Supernatural. Discussion of the evolution and theory of Horror is also encouraged.
Rhonda Brock-Servais
Longwood University, Longwood, Virginia, USA
Rhonda Brock-Servais has been a member of IAFA since 1994. She has a PhD in English from the University of South Carolina (1999). Her major fields of study are The Gothic and Children’s Literature. She also has an interest Contemporary Horror, particularly the works of Peter Straub. She has been at Longwood University since 2001 and currently serves as department chair.
- <brockservaisrl AT longwood.edu>
International Fantastic (IF)
The International Fantastic division invites papers on all aspects of the international fantastic in all media. In this context “international” means either non-anglophone or originating in a culture considered/considering itself as foreign within the anglophone world; this may include minority literatures within an anglophone country. Comparative projects also welcome.
Rachel Haywood Ferreira
Iowa State University, Ames, Iowa, USA
Rachel Haywood Ferreira is an Associate Professor of Spanish and Portuguese at Iowa State University. She has worked with sf in a variety of media, from novels and short stories to comics, magazines and fanzines, and some film. Her articles have appeared in Science Fiction Studies, Journal of the Fantastic in the Arts, Hispania, and Extrapolation. She is the author of The Emergence of Latin American Science Fiction (Wesleyan University Press, 2011).
- <rachelhf AT iastate.edu>
Science Fiction Literature (SF)
The Science Fiction Literature Division accepts proposals for papers on topics related to science fiction novels, short stories, and poems, and on critical theory related to the SF genre. This division’s emphasis is textual; papers considering science fiction in film, television, or comics should apply to the Film & Media or the Visual & Performing Arts divisions instead.
David M Higgins
Indiana University, Bloomington, Indiana, USA
David Higgins is a Visiting Lecturer in English at Indiana University with a combined PhD in English and American Studies. His research examines imperial imaginings in twentieth-century literature and culture with an emphasis on science fiction, and his dissertation interrogates “New Wave” SF to expose transformations in imperial discourse that occur during the Vietnam War and the climax of European decolonization. David has published in American Literature, Science Fiction Studies, Science Fiction Film and Television, and SFRA Review.
- <dmhiggin at gmail.com>
Visual & Performing Arts (VPA)
The Visual & Performing Arts Division turns a speculative eye towards issues of representation in visual media, both new and traditional. It draws its subject matter from a diverse range of texts including: video games; comic books & sequential art; performance studies and “liveness” as embodied in drama, dance, and music; plastic arts such as sculpture, painting, photography, and architecture; the full range of body art; and digital imagery.
Stefan Hall
Defiance College, Defiance, Ohio, USA
Stefan Hall is an Assistant Professor of Communication and Media Studies at Defiance College and has a PhD in American Culture Studies with a specialization in Critical Perspectives in Film, Media, and Culture from Bowling Green State University. His research interests include film, video games, and comic books as well as speculative, pulp, and weird fiction. Stefan teaches or has taught courses in Introduction to Film, History of Film, Literature & Film, Introduction to Media, Media Writing, Mass Media Theory, Media/Cultural Criticism, Audio & Video Production, Media, Race, & Gender, Introduction to Fantasy & Science Fiction, Theories of Popular Culture, and First Year Writing.
- <shall AT defiance.edu>
Participatory and Convergence Studies (PCS)
The Participatory and Convergence Studies (PCS) Division accepts papers on all aspects of fan culture, production, and communities; transformative works (both fan works and professional works); audience/reception studies; and convergence (multi-media, often interactive/participatory) narratives and “texts”. This would include (but not be limited to) topics such as geek culture; fan fiction; fan art/film; vidding; conventions/convention culture; cosplay; marketing the fantastic; online fan communities, websites, forums, and mailing lists; Pride and Prejudice and Zombies (and similar transformative works); alternate reality games/books/comics/tie-in products; and viral marketing.
Barbara Lucas
Lakeland Community College, Kirtland, Ohio, USA
Barbara Lucas holds an MA from Case Western Reserve University. Her work has appeared in Women in Science Fiction and Fantasy: An Encyclopedia and Fan Fiction and Fan Communities in the Age of the Internet. She is a member of the Horror Writers Association; the Fantasy, Futuristic, and Paranormal Chapter of the Romance Writers of America (where she serves on the Board and as the editor of the Out of This World newsletter); and the Science Fiction Poetry Association.
- <barbedwriting AT yahoo.com>
Film and Television (FTV)
The Fantastic in Film & Media division welcomes proposals for paper presentations that deal with the fantastic broadly construed in cinema and television.
Jeffrey Weinstock
Central Michigan University, Mount Pleasant, Michigan, USA
Jeffrey Andrew Weinstock earned his doctorate from George Washington University’s interdisciplinary Program in the Human Sciences and is currently professor of American literature and culture at Central Michigan University, where he is also coordinator of the graduate programs in English. He is the author of The Rocky Horror Picture Show (Wallflower Press), Scare Tactics: Supernatural Fiction by American Women (Fordham University Press), Vampires: Undead Cinema (forthcoming, Wallflower), and Charles Brockden Brown’s Four Gothics: A Polemical Introduction (forthcoming, University of Wales Press). In addition to editing four volumes of the fiction of H. P. Lovecraft for Barnes & Noble, he has edited academic volumes on M. Night Shyamalan (Palgrave), Rocky Horror (Palgrave), South Park (SUNY), The Blair Witch Project (with Sarah Higley, NYU), Edgar Allan Poe (with Tony Magistrale, MLA), and spectrality in American life (Wisconsin). His work has appeared in journals including American Literature, Pedagogy, The Arizona Quarterly, Studies in American Fiction, JFA, and ATQ. He is currently the general editor for the Ashgate Encyclopedia of Literary and Cinematic Monsters, is editing the MLA approaches to teaching Benjamin Franklin’s Autobiography (with Carla Mulford) and developing a new book project on contemporary monstrosity called Invisible Monsters.
- <Jeffrey.Weinstock AT cmich.edu>
Children’s & Young Adult Literature & Art (CYA)
The Children’s and Young Adult Literature and Art division accepts critical scholarship papers that focus on literature aimed at younger readers. This includes picture books as well as middle-grade and young adult novels, short stories, and graphic novels that involve fantasy, horror, paranormal romance, science fiction, and any other aspect of the fantastic.
Alaine Martaus
Hollins University, Roanoke, Virginia, USA
Alaine Martaus is a doctoral student in Library and Information Science and an Information in Society Fellow at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, where her research interests include issues and theories related to teen-oriented information networks, the intersection of technology and the young adult literature market, and library teen advisory boards. A graduate of the Hollins University graduate program in Children’s Literature and former high school librarian, she also interested in the representation of information networks in adolescent science fiction, issues of gender, power, and identity formation in adolescent fantasy literature, and trends in the reimagining of classic texts for children and young adults.
- <acmartaus AT gmail.com>
