The International Association for the Fantastic in the Arts—”a scholarly organization devoted to the study of the fantastic (broadly defined) as it appears in literature, film, and the other arts—recently held its 28th annual International Conference on the Fantastic in the Arts in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida.
Papers ranged from “Mom Spoils Everything: Wicked Stepmothers in Contemporary Fantasy Film” by Regina Hansen of Boston University to “Fragmented Monster, Fragmented Text: Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein as A Critique of Overly Earnest Reading” by Boyd Petersen of Utah Valley State College. There were also author readings, discussion groups, and plenty of time for socializing.
One of the highlights of the conference is the presentation of awards. This year’s award winners included:
The William L. Crawford Award (for best first fantasy book of the year): Map of Dreams by M. Rickert
The Guest Scholar Award: Jane Donawerth
The Dell Magazines Award (for undergraduate excellence in SF and fantasy writing): Natty Bokenkamp of Stanford University
The Lord Ruthven Award (for works of vampire fiction): Renfield: Slave of Dracula by Barbara Hambly
The Lord Ruthven Award (for works of vampire nonfiction): Slayers and Their Vampires: A Cultural History of Killing the Dead by Bruce McClelland
The Graduate Student Paper Award: Richard Landon
The International Scholarship Award: Carlos Abraham