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The Edinburgh International Book Festival have contacted us to let us know they are hosting an event with Ken Macleod this August where he will talk about his latest book The Execution Channel (shortlisted for The Clarke Award this year). The details are as follows:
Ken MacLeodWith the recent death of Sir Arthur C Clarke, the Science Fiction Foundation lost not only an enormously influential figure in the genre but also one of our two Patrons. Alongside Ursula K Le Guin, Sir Arthur had acted as Patron for many years; by lending us the prestige of their endorsement, our Patrons also embody the high standards we aspire to reach and sustain.
Sir Arthur's eminence as both a science and science fiction writer was almost unrivalled, and on reflection the committee and trustees of the Foundation felt it appropriate to appoint two new Patrons to reflect this breadth of achievement. I am therefore delighted to announce that with immediate effect Neil Gaiman and Professor David Southwood are joining Ursula Le Guin as Patrons of the Science Fiction Foundation.
Neil Gaiman has been a leading comic book writer and author since the mid-1980s. His wide-ranging work on comics includes the award-winning and critically acclaimed Sandman, whilst his novels include American Gods, the New York Times No 1 best-seller Anansi Boys, and, with Terry Pratchett, Good Omens. He has worked extensively in film and television, writing the BBC series Neverwhere and co-writing the screenplay for MirrorMask. Neil Gaiman's appointment as a Patron is not his first involvement with the Science Fiction Foundation, as he was involved in running it in the late 1980s; we are delighted that he is part of the Foundation again.
One of the UK and Europe's leading space scientists, Professor David Southwood has been deeply involved in the exploration of the solar system though his work building instruments for space probes such as the Galileo mission to Jupiter and the ongoing Cassini/Huygens mission to Saturn, and currently serves as Director for Science and Robotic Exploration for the European Space Agency. Special Science Guest for Interaction, the 2005 World Science Fiction Convention, Professor Southwood also delivered the 2008 George Hay Memorial Lecture on behalf of the SF Foundation.
The winner of this year's Clarke Award was announced this evening (30th April). The Science Fiction Foundation would like to extend our congratulations to Richard Morgan, whose novel Black Man won.
Date: Saturday 7th June
Venue: Conway Hall, Red Lion Square (nearest underground: Holborn)
Doors open 10.30 am.
SFF AGM: 12.30 pm to 1 pm.
BSFA AGM: 2 pm to 2.30 pm.
Close (and decamp to pub) at around 5 pm.
The SFF Guest will be Geoff Ryman, and the BSFA Guest will be Peter Weston. The BSFA's part of the event will in particular be focussing on the 50th anniversary of the BSFA.
Arthur C Clarke died at his home in Sri Lanka on March 18th. This is a very sad loss for the science fiction community and we will make a more detailed comment shortly.
The shortlisted books for The Clarke Award were announced today. The Science Fiction Foundation has been involved with the award since the mid 80s when we helped to found it and we continue to support it. Two of the judges, currently Pat Cadigan and Francis Spufford, are provided by the Science Fiction Foundation.
The shortlisted books follow and we extend our congratulations to their authors and publishers.
The Red Men
Matthew de Abaitua - Snow Books
The H-Bomb Girl
Stephen Baxter - Faber & Faber
The Carhullan Army
Sarah Hall - Faber & Faber
The Raw Shark Texts
Steven Hall - Canongate
The Execution Channel
Ken MacLeod - Orbit
Black Man
Richard Morgan - Gollancz
Foundation has a new editor. Farah Mendlesohn is stepping down and Graham Sleight is taking over as of the forthcoming issue #101. Graham is well used to working on the journal, having been in the position of assistant editor for some time.
We have produced a newsletter for distribution at events and for general information. Please feel free to distribute this at will.
The Science Fiction Foundation has recently awarded travel grants which enabled two sf scholars to conduct research at the SFF Collection in Liverpool.
Ria Cheyne completed her PhD thesis on language in science fiction at Royal Holloway, University of London. She visited the SFF Collection to continue examining the creation of languages, both human and non-human, in works of sf. She found her visit to the Collection extremely helpful as it allowed her to expand the scope of her initial reserach by consulting a far greater number of texts. She is compiling a database of works of ‘linguistic science fiction’ and looking to build on, then publish, her thesis.
Ria’s article, 'Ursula K. Le Guin and Translation' is published in the recent issue of Extrapolation (Winter, 2006).
Valentina Fenga is visiting the UK from the University of Bologna, Italy. She is working towards her PhD thesis on the interface of human beings and technology in contemporary English and French science fiction.
Valentina writes, "In particular my research at the SFF Archive has been focused on science fiction magazines, such as Foundation and New Worlds, during the 60s and 70s to define the concept of 'inner space' coined by J.G. Ballard which became one of the major themes of the British New Wave Fiction. The analysis of essays and short stories of the same period helped me also to understand the main features of the literary movement so as to create a theoretical framework for the analysis of this kind of fiction.
The research at the Liverpool Archive has been very useful, thanks to the quantity of material present and most of all to the staff. They were really helpful and efficient and were able to provide materials in a very short time. The online database is also a very useful tool that allows researchers to easily find both article and book titles that suit the criteria of research chosen."
The Science Fiction Foundation
wishes both Valentina and Ria all the very best in their future studies.
The Travel Grants and Bursary are just one of the ways that the SFF helps researchers further their study of science fiction.
To apply for a grant, send a proposal of your planned research (maximum 300 words) to Dr Michelle Reid at michelle@surguy.net There is no deadline for applications as proposals will be judged on a case by case basis according to the needs of the applicant and merit of the research. More than one travel grant or bursary may be awarded per year.
The Committee and Trustees of the Science Fiction Foundation are saddened to learn of the death late last year of Philip Strick, a film critic with a long-standing interest in science fiction and related material. Although never directly involved with the SFF, Philip Strick was known to many of its early members as the founder of the University of London's extramural course in sf studies in the late 1960s; author of Science Fiction Movies, he was a frequent reviewer for the BFI. Our sincere condolences go to his friends and family.
Tom Moylan writes to tell us that the Ralahine Centre is thriving:
On our events:
Last year, we launched our Ralahine Workshops. Held once each semester, these full day programs feature presentations by five people, each taking an hour to speak to their work and enter into discussion. In each, we aim for a mix of international and regional/local visitors and our own UL faculty and postgrads. In the first two Workshops, we heard from Vincent Geoghegan and Susan McManus from Queens-Belfast, Ruth Levitas from Bristol, Fatima Vieira from Porto, John Eastlake from NUI-Galway, as well as from our own Joachim Fischer, Michael Griffin, Luke Ashworth, Deirdre ni Chuanachain, and Mairead Conneely.
Our next Workshop is now set for 25 May, and you are all welcome to attend and join in the discussion. We will hear the following:
Serge Rivière (UL): "Content or Form? Seventeenth-century French Literary Utopias, with Reference to Foigny and Gilbert";
Simona Sangiorgi (Università di Bologna, Forlì): "Invitation to Utopia: Values, Communities, and Landscapes in Western Theme Parks";
Morten Auklend (University of Bergen): "The Norwegian Dystopian Novel";
Barbara Goodwin (University of East Anglia): "Utopia versus Liberalism Revisited";
Lyman Tower Sargent (U. of Missouri-St. Louis/Oxford): "Ideology and Utopia."
Then, do watch for Ralahine's hosting of the 2008 Utopian Studies Society annual conference. It will be held in early July, 2008.
On our projects:
This year we are launching our book series: Ralahine Utopian Studies. The series is the publishing project of the Ralahine Centre at UL and the Department of Intercultural Studies in Translation, Languages, and Culture at the University of Bologna at Forli. Our aim is to publish scholarship that addresses the theory and practice of utopianism (including Anglophone, continental European, and indigenous and postcolonial traditions, and contemporary and historical periods). Publications will include original monographs and essay collections (including theoretical, textual, and ethnographic/institutional research), English language translations of utopian scholarship in other national languages, reprints of classic scholarly works that are out of print, and annotated editions of original utopian literary and other texts (including translations). While we seek work that engages with the current scholarship and debates in the field of utopian studies, we will not privilege any particular critical or theoretical orientation. We welcome submissions by established or emerging scholars working within or outside the academy. Given the multi-lingual and inter-disciplinary remit of the University of Limerick and the University of Bologna at Forlì, we especially welcome comparative studies in any disciplinary or trans-disciplinary framework. See the attached announcement for further information on submissions, etc.
Our first two volumes -- Utopia Method Vision: The Use Value of Social Dreaming and Exploring the Utopian Impulse: Essays on Utopian Thought and Practice will be out this year (we hope by the July Utopian Studies Society conference in Plymouth). Our next two volumes, part of our "classics in utopian scholarship" series, will also be out this year: Barbara Goodwin and Keith Taylor, The Politics of Utopia and Vincent Geoghegan's Utopianism and Marxism. Watch for them, and please order them for your libraries!!
In addition to the publishing project, we are taking our postgraduate program further. We now offer a seminar in Utopian Theory and Texts (with work on Anglo-American, Irish, German, and French theory and writing) in the new MA in Comparative Literature and Cultural Studies, offered by our Department of Languages and Cultural Studies. We are also developing a group of UL students working at the PhD level on utopian topics as well as welcoming our visiting postgraduate students.
That's it for now. I'll be back to you again to keep you updated on our work. Do keep in touch, come visit, and join in.
The Indian Association for Science Fiction Studies newsletter for February is available. A copy in PDF format can be found here.
In late 2006 the Science Fiction Foundation was thrilled to receive a very generous donation from Neil Gaiman which among other items included the following books:
The donation also included a number of comics and recordings. We are delighted that Neil and his librarian were able to offer us these items and Neil told us he was happy for us to publicise the donation and hoped it might encourage others to do the same.
A very generous (but apparently anonymous) of eight plastic cartons of books was received by the library while Andy was away in June. There seems to be no sign of who they were from, but we would like to thank the donor.If he/she omitted their name accidentally, could they please get in touch. Otherwise, can we use this means of thanking you, whoever you are.
The Arthur C. Clarke Award has appointed a new administrator.
This follows the recent resignation of Paul Kincaid, the previous Administrator and Chairman of the Jury, who held the position for eleven years and was involved in the initial creation of the award.
Following Paul's resignation the Serendip Foundation, the managing body of the Award, opted to split the existing role into two new parts.
Tom Hunter has now joined the Serendip Foundation as the new Award Adminstrator. He joins Paul Billinger who recently stepped up to the role of Chairman of the Jury.
Although relatively new to the wider science fiction and fandom communities, Tom has previously been involved with the creation and promotion of sf events in the UK and he is the current editor of Matrix: the news magazine of the British Science Fiction Association.
Tom says: 'It's a great honour to be asked to take on this role and I'm grateful to both Paul Kincaid and the Serendip Foundation for the opportunity to become involved.'
He added: 'The strength of this year's shortlist and the success of the ceremony, in partnership with the Sci-Fi-London film festival, shows that the Award not only continues to stand as a vital part of the UK's Science Fictional landscape but that it plays an equally vital role in the sf community too. It is perhaps these futures, as well as those depicted in the nominated books, that continue to draw the support that has kept the Award popular, recognised and influential.'
NOTES:
To contact Tom Hunter please email clarkeaward@gmail.com
Further information on the Arthur C. Clarke Award, including details of past winners, shortlists and the creation of the Serendip Foundation can be found online at www.clarkeaward.com