Jason W. Ellis—a PhD Student at Kent State University and the Publicity Director for the Science Fiction Research Association (SFRA)—presents this view of the recently concluded 39th annual SFRA conference. The photo at right—showing (l-r) Brian Attebery, Adam Frisch, Marleen Barr, James Gunn, James Van Pelt, and Karen Joy Fowler—is by Edward Carmien. For more photos of the conference, see this Flickr page.
The Science Fiction Research Association (SFRA) held its thirty-ninth annual conference on, “Creating, Reading, and Teaching Science Fiction,” in Lawrence, Kansas at the Holiday Inn Holidome and Kansas University campus on 10-13 July 2008. Originally planned for Dublin, Ireland, the conference’s landing coordinates were recalibrated and reassigned to the States due to economic forces exceeding control by the most accomplished Science Fiction (SF) and Fantasy scholars among us. However, this necessary decision apparently didn’t leave lasting disappointment, because conference attendance rose 30% over last year’s meeting in Kansas City, Missouri.
This year’s academic program was jam-packed with three book launches, six roundtables, 24 panels, and 80 presentations, which encouraged insightful discussion as well as entertaining banter. Furthermore, the guests of honor were active participants throughout the conference. Karen Joy Fowler, author of Sarah Canary (1991) and the best-selling The Jane Austen Book Club (2004), was on a number of panels and good-naturedly responded to critiques of her work including that by another guest of honor, Maureen Kincaid Speller, academic, blogger, and well-regarded SF award judge. Paul Kincaid, SF critic and author of What It Is We Do When We Read Science Fiction (2008), reported on some of his recent scholarship and was always around, apparently with the aid of a “time-turner”. Joan Slonczewski, professor of biology at Kenyon College and author of A Door Into Ocean (1986), presented twice—once on the microbial world and once on the digital world of Second Life—and she knew how to shake panels up with on-the-mark questions. Finally, James Van Pelt, high school and college English teacher and widely published SF author, brought things back around to the pedagogical concerns of the conference.
SFRA was fortunate to hold its meeting in conjunction with the Campbell Conference for the second consecutive year. This melding brought about a shared Friday night awards ceremony with Hugo- and Nebula Award-winner Frederik Pohl and James Gunn—SF author and founder of the Center for the Study of Science Fiction at the University of Kansas—in attendance and presenting. Kathleen Ann Goonan, this year’s recipient of the Campbell Award for her novel, In War Times (2007), arrived with only minutes to spare before the ceremony began, but her WWII veteran father and inspiration for In War Times, Tom Goonan, had the situation well in hand. Andy Sawyer, representing the University of Liverpool and the Science Fiction Foundation, jumped the pond to receive SFRA’s Clareson Award for outstanding service activities. Unfortunately, Gwyneth Jones, the 2008 recipient of the Pilgrim Award for lifelong contributions to SF and Fantasy scholarship, was duly missed, but SFRA President Adam Frisch read her entertaining and true-to-form acceptance speech.
The Lawrence SFRA meeting brought together a number of new faces and many old friends, hopefully all of whom will reassemble next year in Atlanta, Georgia, for some “Southern-Fried Science Fiction and Fantasy” and “Engineering the Future” on 11-14 June 2009!