Reflecting on Josh and Micole's Notes on the It's Not about Identity Panel

After reading both Josh and Micole's notes on the "It's Not About Identity" panel at WisCon, it occurs to me that another item that ought to be added to the list I compiled during the course of the panel is reflection. Reflection, in my view, is de rigueur for feminist process. And so it is, for me, that post-con discussions of WisCon panels that go beyond brief sketches (as Josh and Micole's sets of notes do) are of interest not only to people who didn't attend the panels but also to the panelists and audience members who did. This, of course, is one of the assumptions underlying Aqueduct's WisCon Chronicles series. And it is the reason I wrote the essay examining last year's Romance of the Revolution panel.

The assumption doesn't make sense, of course, unless one regards panels as instances of public discourse. (I.e., takes panel discourse seriously.) WisCon's status as public space makes it vulnerable, of course, to hostile interference; that's the nature of public space. But it's important for women to occupy public space: this is something feminists have been insisting upon for centuries and is what makes WisCon more than just a fun social event (which it also, of course, is).

But to get back to reflection. Josh and Micole's notes have helped me reflect on the panel. I can certainly understand Micole's discomfort with the choice of FGM as a make-or-break issue among international feminists working in coalition; the example that came into my own mind was abortion, but another panelist was quicker with this other example, and it's not my way as a moderator to override panelists when they're on-topic. When I mentioned FGM as partly a matter of social hygiene, I was specifically thinking of the still apparently little-known parallel to the fashion of cosmetic clitoral cutting in the US today. A few years back in my annual reading list for Fantastic Metropolis I recommended an article by Simone Weil Davis, "Loose Lips Sink Ships," published in the Spring 2002 issue of Feminist Studies, about "the new elective sex surgeries"-- "trimming" the labia and "cleaning up" the vulva-- an article that drew some startling parallels between "aesthetic" plastic surgery and FGM. I didn't get a chance to expand on that but was happy to cede the floor to Andrea, who explained the social issue of adult identity involved for the Mende.

As my memory has it (but since my memory's not what it used to be, I can't swear that I'm remembering correctly, and I haven't yet listened to the audio-file I made of the discussion), no one on the panel talking about the two sides of the FGM issue ever suggested their was any question of saving non-Western women from FGM. I assumed we were talking about what sort of issues might have to be bracketed when working in coalition. And so the question in this case would be "Do you work with women who favor FGM [thus bracketing your moral or political opposition to FGM], or do you refuse, no matter how important it might be to work with them on another issue, because you don't want to be complicit?" That's what bracketing is about. It seems from Micole's post that that must not have come across as clearly as I'd assumed.

IIRC, the only patronizing/missionary-attitude expressed was toward the women in Beth's small town, as Josh pointed out to me not long after the panel, noting the irony. (And I do think he and Micole are right to mention this.)

Perhaps if we'd used abortion or frequent elective plastic surgery as examples of an issue that might require bracketing, the panel might have ventured into the area that I'm guessing (in retrospect) Sylvia may have been interested in talking about. Abortion, I've been told by people who teach university-level Women's Studies courses, has become a taboo subject for many college-age women, too shameful to be mentioned (much less discussed) in public. And as I know from personal experience, sometimes feminists find it necessary to work in coalition with stridently anti-abortion groups.

Micole put her finger on an important problem when she wrote:

I agree more with the approach I perceived the rest of the panel as advocating, so I was more interested in hearing their takes, but I also feel like this was an example of the kind of differences feminists need to be exploring rather than smoothing over--that there was a lot of talk of conflict management and managing disagreement, but that what was operating was often an all-too-familiar dynamic of "feminine" discomfort with disagreement and patriarchial deliberate obliviousness to difference.

On the one hand, if the panel had lacked the fragile bit of consensus that it did have, we probably would not have had such a lively discussion and would have gotten bogged down in matters of definition. On the other hand, if the consensus had broken down at any point, it might have offered some (perhaps painful) illumination into the very issue we were talking about. Part of the problem, I think, is that these discussions aren't ongoing-- being one-offs, there's no opportunity to reflect and then re-engage-- there's just the moment, and then, sometimes, the possibility of reflecting (with the help of comments like Josh and Micole's)-- and that's it-- unless there's a second round at the next WisCon (though usually follow-up panels don't work quite like that).


Thank you, Josh and Micole. The art of conversation, as I'm always saying, is not easy, even though, at its most exciting, it tends to look that way.

My WisCon 32 GoH Speech

As promised, "The Matter of Tongues," my WisCon 32 GoH speech, is now available for download from my website.


ETA: my website address has changed. You can find my GoH speech at ltimmelduchamp.com, under the Essays tab.

More Stuff--Both WisCon- and Non-WisCon-Related

First, the non-WisCon stuff:

Terri Windling reviews Theodora Goss's Voices from Fairyland.

Cheryl Morgan confronts the loaded question "What Should Have Won the Tiptree?" that David Moles put to her.


Many WisCon reports, panel notes/comments and transcripts, and even short videos are emerging. Here are some that have caught my eye:

A brief video snippet of a discussion that continued after the official end of the panel on the Marq'ssan Cycle (which unfortunately appears sideways on my computer screen).

Badgerbag has posted her transcript of the Marq'ssan Cycle panel. (I have a tape of it, but I haven't yet listened to it to check its audio quality. If it's decent, I'll make it available.)

And badgerbag has a couple of posts on troll Rachel M. that made me flash back 25 years to Mary Daly's writings.

Badgerbag also has a transcript of the "Elves and Dwarves" panel and some video'd reactions in the hall afterward.

And again-- badgerbag has a post/partial transcript of the "It's Not About Identity Panel." (Seems likely, doesn't it, that she'll be putting other goodies up soon, too...)

Coffeeandink has posted panel notes for "Can Internet Drama Change the World?"

Coffeeandink has posted a few thoughts that occurred to her while reading Volume 2 of The WisCon Chronicles.

Oracne has a post about the "Politics of Narrative" panel.

Susan Palwick has also posted on the "Politics of Narrative" panel plus other stuff on WisCon.

Scusteister has a post about the "Women in Hard SF" panel.

Megan McCarron reflects on community at WisCon.

Maddie Greene has a couple of posts on WisCon on the Madison collaborative blog, Dane 101: WisCon 2008, Day One and WisCon 2008, Day Two.

There's actually much, much more. I'll see what I can do about posting more links to WisCon reports soon. And if I can just manage to begin processing the weekend, I'll try to write up a few things myself. And that photo below? It's from WisCon-- just one of those moments (of which there were many this year).

Readings at WisCon 32

WisCon offers a wide variety of programming across eighteen (gasp!) tracks. Although there are two single-author readers by the year's Guests of Honor, all the rest of the readings are group presentations by four or five authors (or, in the case of the unique Broad Universe Rapid-Fire Reading, by numerous authors offering brief tantalizing bursts of their work). Most of these readings take place in a conference room equipped with several armchairs rather than straight chairs and a table with microphones facing the audience, which gives the room a slightly more comfortable and informal feel. This year, though, a few of the readings were held in other venues-- viz., Madison coffee shops. I wish I'd been able to get out to those, 'cause I love cafe readings. (Maybe next year?) I typically attend several readings in the course of the con, but this year I was able to attend only one, the second of the two groups of Aqueduct authors reading.

Kath and Tom attended the first one (which was held at the same time as one of my panels), though, and got some photos of Aqueduct's authors.

Here is Carolyn Ives Gilman, reading from Aliens of the Heart.















Nisi Shawl read from Filter House.





Anne Sheldon read from Adventures of the Faithful Counselor.



















Wendy Walker also read.


















And Sue Lange read, too.



I was able to attend the second group of Aqueduct authors reading, though. Eleanor Arnason has a few things to say about it in her posts on WisCon, which you can find on her blog. As she notes, she read a very short piece-- and she also announced that she was working on a rewrite of her sequel to A Woman of the Iron People, "Hearth World," for Aqueduct, which evoked a great, roaring cheer from the audience.

















Vandana Singh read the opening of her novella, Of Love and Other Monsters (which resulted in Aqueduct's selling out all the copies of it that we brought to the con by late Sunday afternoon). I know that text well; it was a pleasure hearing the author's own voice speaking it.










Nancy Jane Moore read the dramatic conclusion, rather than the opening, of one of her stories in her new collection from PS Publishing, Conscientious Inconsistencies.






Eileen Gunn read a tantalizing fragment of a story set on Christmas Day, involving elves, that was bizarre, frightening, and heartbreaking and literally had me sitting forward on the edge of my seat, waiting to see what would happen next. And later, after everyone had finished reading, she read her short, stunning poem "To the Moon Alice," which can be found in LCRW #22.

And finally, Andrea Hairston, who is hands-down the best reader I've ever had the pleasure to hear read, offered us the vivid, harrowing first chapter of her new, as yet unpublished novel, which opens in the late-19th-century American South.

I could fairly feel the audience around me shivering (and not just from the room's freezing air, which necessitated Andrea's wearing the jacket that an audience member kindly loaned her).


I loved the reading, I loved the thought that these authors and their fine work are what Aqueduct is all about. What a joy to be in such company!



The format and setting of WisCon's GoH readings are quite different from that of the group readings, for they feature a single author in a 75-minute time slot. I wanted to attend Maureen's, but alas, it was not to be. I can, though, tell you about my own. First, I should probably mention that it was held in one of the larger rooms, where a long table with microphones is placed on a dais in front of many rows of chairs with an aisle between them. This is not a good setup for a reading. For one thing, I prefer to stand when I read. For another, I had no wish to be elevated and distant from the audience. My solution was to detach a microphone from one of its holders and stand on the floor, holding the mike in one hand an the book I was reading from in the other. This was a bit awkward, but it worked as long as I was holding a conversations pieces volume in my hand. (See the photo, which Kath took.) It couldn't work, though, for one of the books of the Marq'ssan Cycle (even the smallest of which are too heavy to hold open in one hand). So then I tried just projecting my voice, without a mike, and found that it worked.



I began by reading "Dear Alice Sheldon" from Talking Back: Epistolary Fantasies. (I have Lena de Tar to thank for having suggested that I read both nonfiction and fiction.) I then read a couple of nonspoilery scenes from Stretto, the last book of the Marq'ssan Cycle. I had prepared other things to read, but I thought, given the excellent composition of the audience attending, that a Q&A might be better. In fact, the Q&A turned into a lively, interesting conversation to which numerous audience members contributed. I'm still thinking about some of it.

The Day After

Tom and I got back from Madison last night, after a blissfully uneventful half-day of travel. Though he had to get up early to prepare a lecture and then teach, I got to sleep in, which I desperately needed to do. The short version of being GoH this year at WisCon: it was fabulous. The personal downside was that I didn't have time to sit and chat (much less share meals with) many of the people I usually spend time with at WisCon. But I loved the experience of chatting with so many different people, not only doing the usual fan talk that like most writers I love hearing, but also engaging in the conversation that I so ardently wish to foster. I got enormous gratification hearing the ideas and stories so many people brought to me over the weekend. Thank you all!

For those of you sending me emails, please be patient. I promise I will reply-- it may just take me a little while to do that.

For those of you wanting a transcript of the speech: that is definitely forthcoming. When it's been posted, I'll link to it here. (Its possible a podcast may be available, too. This will depend on the quality of the recordings we have access to.)

I'm sorry to say there were (at least) two skeletons at our feast. A violent upper-GI virus felled dozens of attendees, including some Aqueductians. Dora Goss and Vandana Singh succumbed early in the outbreak, and then Kath came down with it late Sunday night (leaving Tom and me scrambling to pack up in the Dealers Room and still make our plane on time, which we did with the wonderfully calm assistance of Kim Nash). I just spoke to Kath on the phone, and she reports that she's recovering, though her stomach is still not too thrilled to be openly confronted with food.

The second skeleton at the feast was Ms. Vapid, a misogynist, racist troll who attended WisCon in order to photograph attendees and ridicule them with deep malice aforethought. Some of the people she attacked are friends of mine. They are handling it.

And finally, an uplifting update: I've heard from someone who knows the department I was talking about in my speech on Sunday night. Apparently that department is now, forty years later, half women. When I was asked the name of my teacher back then, my informant said oh yes, I can easily believe it of him. (And he is no longer, I'm told, in that department.)

More will be forthcoming on WisCon 32. Stay tuned to this space!

More WisCon

I'd hoped to be posting more than this, but I've been a little busy, and before breakfast this morning I couldn't get a connection in my room.

Remember my mentioning participating in a Wisconsin Public Radio program on feminist science fiction on Thursday? WisCon's blog, A Momentary Taste of WisCon, has posted a link to the audio file.

The photo to the left, by the way, is from the Opening Ceremonies. (You can check out coverage of that event at the Feminist SF Blog.)

I'd write more, but I have three conversations going here at once, and I'm not so hot at multi-tasking. But I hope to report in later, with more photos.

WisCon Reception at Room of One's Own

Tom took a few photos at a Room of One's own: I'm posting a few here. Maureen read her story "Kingdom of the Blind," which is in Plugged In. A big crowd of people materialized, with lots of hugs all around, since many of us hadn't seen one another since the last WisCon. A Room provided wine and cheese and fruit before the reading began. The audience was positively electric. Maureen said she's never before had such a responsive audience. & I was chuffed because the audience knew exactly what was going on in the scene I read, in which activists of various persuasions met to trade info, something I'd never expect the usual audience at a reading to get.






In short, WisCon is off to a roaring start.

Aqueduct begins to arrive at WisCon

In the photo to the left, I'm meeting Joan Haran in the lobby of the Concourse today at noon. Last night at midnight, Tom & I flew in to the airport at Madison, where we were met by Kafryn L., driven to the Concourse, and were regaled with chocolate. Despite the comfortable bed, sleep was elusive (as you can probably tell from the photo). Too much excitement, I guess, besides crossing two time zones. This afternoon, Eileen Gunn & Lettie Prell appeared on a Wisconsin Public Radio show, Hear on This Earth, to talk about WisCon; I joined the show for the last few minutes and talked briefly about Gwyneth Jones's Life and Vandana Singh's Of Love and Other Monsters.

But of course everything's moving right along, regardless of my feeling like a zombie. The reception at Room of One's Own will begin at six-- and then I'll get to see more of the people I come to WisCon to see. I'm planning, by the way, to read a section from Alanya to Alanya (naturally something I haven't read in public before: I am still holding to my vow not to read the same piece ot text in a public reading more than once).

More later, I hope...

Aqueduct Goes to WisCon: the 2008 preview

So. Aqueduct will be at WisCon. Big surprise, huh? Besides me, twelve other Aqueduct authors will be attending: Eleanor Arnason, Carolyn Ives Gilman, Theodora Goss, Eileen Gunn, Lesley Hall, Andrea Hairston, Sue Lange, Maureen McHugh, Nancy Jane Moore, Nisi Shawl, Anne Sheldon, Vandana Singh, and Wendy Walker. In addition, some of the members of our blog who aren't authors will be attending, as well. Although Aqueduct wasn't able to snag a parlor for a party this year, we will be in the Dealers Room beginning early Friday afternoon. Come and see us! Kath Wilham, our managing editor, will be there all weekend, and our cover designer, Lynne Lampe, will be there on Friday and Saturday.

For those who've been wondering why Plugged In isn't posted on Aqueduct's orders page, here's the deal: we're bringing 150 signed and numbered copies of Plugged In to WisCon, where we'll be selling them for $8 apiece in the Dealers Room. Those that we don't sell will retail, after the con, for $12. (Still pretty cheap for a signed and numbered edition, no?) That's because this little volume is intended to complement WisCon. If we sell out, we'll think about reprinting an unsigned, unnumbered edition, depending on demand. But I suspect this little book will be a one-off.

As I did last year, I'm posting here a list of the programming Aqueduct's writers and blog members will be doing:

Thursday

6:00 Reception and reading at Room of One's Own-- Maureen & I will be giving short readings & everyone present will be celebrating the beginning of another WisCon

Friday

It's Not About Identity
Friday, 4:00-5:15 P.M. Assembly
M: L. Timmel Duchamp, Sylvia Kelso, Lauren Lacey, Joan Haran, Andrea Hairston

Opening Ceremonies
Nisi Shawl
7:30-8:30 P.M. Wisconsin

Aqueduct Press Writers II
Friday, 8:45-10:00 P.M. Conference 2
Sue Lange, Nisi Shawl, Wendy Walker, Carolyn Gilman, Anne Sheldon

Thinking Ahead: Feminists Thinking about possible near and middle futures and feminist responses to them
Friday, 8:45-10:00 P.M. Conference 4
M: Rebecca Holden, L. Timmel Duchamp, Sylvia Kelso

Not Just Japan: Asian Science Fiction and Fantasy
Friday, 8:45-10:00 P.M. Caucus
M. Rachel Kronick, Vandana Singh, K.Joyce Tsai

Academics & Fans: Bringing them Together #2
Friday, 10:15-11:30 P.M. Conference 3
M: Joan Haran

Saturday
Balancing Creativity And The Day Job
Saturday, 8:30-9:45 A.M. Senate B
M: Jennifer Pelland, Catherine Lundoff, Caroline Stevermer, Jordan Castillo Price, Vandana Singh

Technology and the Environment
Saturday, 8:30-9:45 A.M. Capitol A
M: Alexander Lamb, Matthew Austern, Sue Lange, Adrian Simmons

Defining God
Saturday, 10:00-11:15 A.M. Wisconsin
M: Bradford Lyau, Alexander Lamb, Mary Kay Kare, Carolyn Gilman, Gayle Kaplan

Guest of Honor Reading: L. Timmel Duchamp
Saturday, 10:00-11:15 A.M. Capitol B

Strong Or Stroppy?: Annoyingly Feisty Female Protagonists
Saturday, 10:00-11:15 A.M. ♦ Conference 4
M: Vito Excalibur, Lesley Hall, Alma Alexander, Paula Fleming, Jennifer Stevenson

Carl Brandon Society Update
Saturday, 10:00-11:15 A.M. Conference 5
M: Candra Gill, Claire Light, Nisi Shawl

Two Heads With But a Single Brain - Collaborators talk about writing together
Saturday, 10:00-11:15 A.M. 629
M: Richard Bowes, Mark Rich, Sarah Monette, Eileen Gunn

Broad Universe Rapid-Fire Reading
Saturday, 1:00-2:15 P.M. Assembly
M: Nancy Jane Moore, Lori Devoti, Theresa Crater, Katherine Villyard, Gwynne Garfinkle, Morven Westfield

Historical Research for Fiction Writers
Saturday, 1:00-2:15 P.M. ♦ Caucus
M: Bradford Lyau, Ellen Klages, Wendy Walker, M.K. Hobson

Magical Realism: Threat or Menace?
Saturday, 1:00-2:15 P.M. Capitol A
M: Delia Sherman, Catherynne M. Valente, Theodora Goss, Jeremy Lassen

How I Did It All Wrong And Got Published Anyway
Saturday, 1:00-2:15 P.M. ♦ Capitol B
M: Eileen Gunn, Kathy Steffen, Jim Munroe, Jeannie Bergmann

The Rights of Simulacra
Saturday, 2:30-3:45 P.M. Senate A
M: Amy Thomson, Carolyn Gilman, Eric M. Heideman, Deborah Stone

Here's Where The Story Ends
Saturday, 2:30-3:45 P.M. ♦ Wisconsin
M: Jim Munroe, Ellen Kushner, Rachel Swirsky, Maureen McHugh, Paul Stevens, Lyda Morehouse

Women and Hard SF
Saturday, 2:30-3:45 P.M. Conference 5
M: Margaret McBride, Victoria Gaydosik, Sue Lange, Janice Bogstad

Aqueduct Press Writers I
Saturday, 2:30-3:45 P.M. Conference 2
Eleanor Arnason, Eileen Gunn, Vandana Singh, Nancy Jane Moore, Andrea Hairston

Books You Haven't Heard Of, The People of Color Edition!
Saturday, 2:30-3:45 P.M. Conference 4
M: Nisi Shawl, David Anthony Durham, Debbie Notkin

The Bearded Man, The African, the Witch and the Whore
Saturday, 2:30-3:45 P.M. Fair Trade
Nnedi Okorafor-Mbachu, Catherynne M. Valente, Theodora Goss, Patrick Rothfuss

Retrospective Tiptrees
Saturday, 4:00-5:15 P.M. Caucus
M: L. Timmel Duchamp, Lesley Hall, Janice Bogstad

LGBTQ Fiction: Are we ready for the Mainstream? Are they ready for us?
Saturday, 9:00-10:15 P.M. ♦ Senate B
M: Cat Rambo, Moondancer Drake, R.R. Angell, Connie Wilkins, Xakara

What is Fabulist Fiction?
Saturday, 10:30-11:45 P.M. Conference 5
M: Theodora Goss, Leah Bobet, Darja Malcolm-Clarke

Sunday

Cliche or Trope?
Sunday, 8:30-9:45 A.M. ♦ Senate A
M: Sean M. Murphy, M.K. Hobson, Gregory Frost, Theodora Goss

Timmi Duchamp's Marq'ssan Cycle
Sunday, 8:30-9:45 A.M. ♦ Capitol B
M: Sue Lange, Nancy Jane Moore, Joan Haran, Liz Henry

Old Age, Illness and Death in SF/F
Sunday, 10:00-11:15 A.M. ♦ Senate A
M: Carrie Ferguson, Jodi Piwoni, Eleanor Arnason, Margaret McBride, Richard Chwedyk

Narrative and Politics
Sunday, 10:00-11:15 A.M. ♦ Wisconsin
M: L. Timmel Duchamp, Susan Palwick, Carolyn Gilman, Pat Murphy, Eileen Gunn

Power, Ethics, & Possibility in Fantastic Ecofeminist Fiction
Sunday, 10:00-11:15 A.M. Conference 3
(1) Fantastic Ecofeminist Fiction, Lauren Lacey
(2) Feminist SF and the future of Feminist Nature Cultures, Joan Haran

Can Internet Drama Change The World?
Sunday, 10:00-11:15 A.M. Conference 5
M: Alexis Lothian, Julia Starkey, K. Tempest Bradford, Woodrow Hill, K. Joyce Tsai

The Fictional Is Political — Political SF/F Of Both Sorts
Sunday, 1:00-2:15 P.M. Senate A
M: Nancy Jane Moore, Richard F. Dutcher, Gavin Grant, Maureen Kincaid Speller, Liz Gorinsky

Writing Working-Class Characters
Sunday, 1:00-2:15 P.M. Wisconsin
M: Paula Fleming, Eleanor Arnason, Joyce Frohn, Christopher Barzak, Elissa Malcohn

Guest of Honor Reading: Maureen McHugh
Sunday, 1:00-2:15 P.M. Capitol B

Taboo
Sunday, 1:00-2:15 P.M. Conference 2
M: M.K. Hobson, Jennifer Pelland, Rachel Swirsky, Vylar Kaftan

Get Out Your Secret Decoder Ring
Sunday, 1:00-2:15 P.M. 629
M: David Levine, Catherynne M. Valente, Lesley Hall, Janine Young, Tisha Turk

Publishing, Profit, Agendas, and Ideals: The Eclipse One Cover Debate
Sunday, 2:30-3:45 P.M. ♦ Wisconsin
M: K. Tempest Bradford, Micole Sudberg, Eileen Gunn, Jeremy Lassen

Workshops and Critique Groups
Sunday, 2:30-3:45 P.M. Capitol A
M: Naomi Kritzer, Shweta Narayan, Nisi Shawl, Ada Milenkovic Brown, Richard Chwedyk

Octavia Butler, SF, and the Political Imagination
Academic ♦ Sunday, 2:30-3:45 P.M. ♦ Conference 3

(1) "Sun Woman" or "Wild Seed"? Lessons in Negotiating Narrative Drawn from the Early Novels of Octavia Butler, L. Timmel Duchamp
(2) Abduction and Amnesia, Pardon and Power in Octavia Butler's "Amnesty", Frann Michel

On The Lifespan Of Genres
Sunday, 4:00-5:15 P.M. ♦ Assembly
M: Benjamin Rosenbaum, Eleanor Arnason, Helen Keeble, Gregory Rihn, Darja Malcolm-Clarke

Publishing: Meritocracy or Social Construct?
Sunday, 4:00-5:15 P.M. ♦ Wisconsin
M: Jed Hartman, Sharyn November, Gavin Grant, Paula Guran, Andrea Hairston

Writing and parenting, and Writing About Parenting
Sunday, 4:00-5:15 P.M. Capitol A
M: Amy Thomson, Naomi Kritzer, Vandana Singh, Doug Hulick, Sara Amis

Some of Us Are Brave: Identity Intersections in an Election Year
Sunday, 4:00-5:15 P.M. Conference 5
M: Candra Gill, Bradford Lyau, Nisi Shawl, Jacqueline Gross

GoH Speeches
Special ♦ Sunday, 8:30-10:00 P.M. ♦ Wisconsin
Maureen McHugh, L. Timmel Duchamp

OUFISCIPO: Writing SF/F with Arbitrary Constraints
Sunday, 10:00-11:15 P.M. Caucus
M: Tom LaFarge, Wendy Walker

The Brave New World of Twenty-First Century Publishing
Sunday, 10:00-11:15 P.M. Conference 4
M: Jeremy Lassen, Fred Schepartz, Stephen Eley, Paula Guran, Rachel Swirsky

Imagination as Resistance
Sunday, 11:30-12:45 A.M. Senate B
M: Andrea Hairston, Pamela Freeman, Darja Malcolm-Clarke, Ben Phillips

Monday

On Being an Aging SF Writer
Monday, 10:00-11:15 A.M. ♦ Conference 4
M: Carol Emshwiller, Richard Chwedyk, Eleanor Arnason

The SignOut-- most of us

Add to that, K. Joyce Tsai will be organizing spontaneous programming on Shoujo Bodies in Shoujo Manga. For anyone interested in seeing the complete topic listing for each item above, see to the WisCon programmng page.

WisCon 32: Call for Paper Proposals

WisCon 32: Call for Paper Proposals for Academic Track

WisCon 32, the world’s leading feminist science fiction convention, will be held on Memorial Day weekend, May 23 - 26, 2008, at the Concourse Hotel in downtown Madison, Wisconsin, USA. WisCon encourages discussion, debate and extrapolation of ideas relating to feminism, gender, ‘race’ and class in the context of feminist science fiction and fantasy. The convention focuses on writers, editors and other artists, and their work exploring these themes and opening new dimensions and territory in these issues. As well as an extensive program of fan and author oriented events, WisCon has a single track of academic programming that is open to undergraduate, postgraduate and independent scholars. This track operates very much like a conventional academic conference, with scholarly presentations based on extensive research. The use of PowerPoint presentations, the screening of DVDs, or more performance-oriented presentations is encouraged, subject to the limitations of time available and the demand on the academic programming room.

We invite individual papers and panel presentations on science fiction and fantasy, with an emphasis on issues of feminism, gender, ‘race’, and class. Scholarly work on fandom is also invited. We especially welcome papers on the work of this year's guests of honor, Maureen McHugh and L. Timmel Duchamp. The due date for proposals of 300 words is Monday, January 14, 2008. For panels, one abstract of 300 words should be submitted by each panel member: all three panel members, and the panel title, should be identified by name on each abstract. They should be sent to the convener of academic programming at academic32@wiscon.info In addition to your preferred paper title and the full abstract, please supply a short title (60 characters max) and a brief abstract (no more than 100 words) for inclusion in the program book if your abstract is accepted. Acceptance of abstracts will be notified by 31^st January 2008 so no extensions to the stated deadline will be available.

Please note that academic panels have a total duration of 75 minutes. As an individual speaker, you should therefore expect that your maximum allotted speaking time will be 20 minutes with 5 minutes for questions. If you would like to give a longer presentation, this will be considered, subject to space availability in the academic program. At WisCon 31, however, the space was fully occupied with 3 papers per session.

However, if you would like to suggest a more extensive presentation and / or a participatory session, please do consider submitting your ideas to WisCon by filling in a Program Idea Submission Form. This online form can be found at (insert URL. WisCon programming tracks have been restructured this year, under the headings of: Reading, Viewing and Critiquing Science Fiction; Feminism and Other Social Change Movements; Power, Privilege and Oppression; Politics, Spirituality and Organized Religion; The Craft and Business of Writing Science Fiction, and Science and Technology. Detailed descriptions of the type of programming solicited for each track can be found on the WisCon website (insert URL here).

For detailed information about WisCon, the world’s leading feminist science fiction convention, see: http://www.wiscon.info/index.php

Please feel free to circulate this call to your own networks.