Schedule

This panel will discuss the Nommo Award and other awards and contests that create visibility for speculative fiction writers on the African continent.

Let’s visit horror traditions from all over the world, providing creatures such as manananggal, vampire pumpkins, and Wurdulac. What frightens us? What do our fears tell us about the way societies work? How do different traditions write fear?

The Scientific Core of African Sci-fi, African lore and religion in Science & Magic systems & world building. One of the core features of African SFF writing is the continuity of traditional and spiritual belief—and their validity as effective technologies and sciences.

Three academic talks:

Gillian Polack: Jewish Cultural Representation in Novik’s Spinning Silver. 

Foodways are integral to interpreting the use of food. How Jewish characters and culture are depicted in Spinning Silver through foodways demonstrates how Novik depicts cultures and religious values in the novel. Viewing foodways in the context of the culture of Jewish Lithuania in illuminates Novik’s invented Litvas.

Alison Baker: Folklore in Three British Children’s Fantasy Books.

In this paper I will be discussing the use made of three characters from folklore (the Black Dog, the Headless Horseman and the Brownie or Hob) in Briggs’ Hobberdy Dick, Rowling’s Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire and  Pratchett’s The Wee Free Men. I will outline the use the authors make of folklore to underpin or under cut the sense of Britishness and social class.

Eugen Bacon: African Creation Mythologies.

Aligned with cultural influences on international genre works, this paper will gaze at creation mythologies in the African continent. It showcases the rich belief systems that carry across Africa and the diaspora, and that might inform current and future black speculative fiction. 

Americans may not hear much about it, but there’s a thriving culture of space exploration and science outside of the United States. Come hear about some of the notable missions, developments, and discoveries of 2020 and 2021.

The Shōnen manga formula goes something like this: take relatable underdog characters marketed towards teenage boys, add melodramatic themes of friendship, loyalty, loss, and struggle plus some cool fights, and sprinkle with redemption arcs, coming-of-age conflicts, and character deaths to taste. What makes certain titles iconic or commercially successful? How do Shōnen stories distinguish themselves from Western coming-of-age narratives like Harry Potter or A Wrinkle in Time?

The Arabic countries have a rich history of storytelling, but what stories are being told in the modern day? Who is telling them and who is reading them? What is the relationship of present-day storytelling to the colonial and romanticized past? Panelists will discuss Arabian fiction’s past, present and future, how it influenced fiction worldwide, what happened to it, where it is going, and what this all means to the rest of the world.

One of the astounding things about the internet has been the way historians—both amateur and professional—have used it to research, write, and make available histories that have not been accessible before. Histories of the marginalized, oppressed, sidelined, and disappeared are now available as the stuff of story. This panel will discuss the pleasures, possibilities, and pitfalls of the new true stories writers are discovering and using.

There has been an explosion of interest in African science fiction and fantasy internationally. What is the situation of publishing on the continent? What impact has been had by the internet?  What are the highs and lows—and what may be coming next? Is there a downside to authors finding new audiences outside of Africa?

Science fiction prototyping is a promising way of thinking about future societies in the VUCA (Volatility, Uncertainty, Complexity, and Ambiguity) era. SF prototyping creates scenarios using workshops to activate the knowledge of multiple persons in a company, and to discuss how society should be by backcasting from a future image. We welcome distinguished researchers from Japan.

Translation is more than simply replacing words. Translators must ensure that the target audience can understand the work, while communicating the author’s voice as closely as possible. Panelists will discuss the creative art of translating and how translation can enhance, detract from, or even recontextualize an original text.

What does it mean to envision Black futures? This panel will discuss Afrofuturism, Africanfuturism, and methods to draw on the mythology and history of the African diaspora to imagine technologically advanced tomorrows and fantastical alternate universes.

The concept of bloodsucking monster that looks (vaguely) like a person but actually feeds on people isn’t unique to European folklore. Let’s dive into mythology from around the world to explore other conceptions of the vampire and what makes them compelling.

Many of us enjoy reading speculative fiction in translation, but don’t appreciate the nuanced work that goes into creating it. In this translation slam*, each panelist has translated a piece from its original language into English. They will share their translations with the audience and discuss their decision-making process and the nuances that went into their choices.

*slam (noun, informal): a performance in which competitors recite their entries to an audience

Three academic talks:

Emad El-Din Aysha: Sufi Science Fiction

Sufism has been deployed many times in genre works, not least SF. Sufism however is lacking in Arabic and Islamic science fiction. The situation is changing as Arab SF authors, old and young, brave this fledging subgenre. The downside is commercialization and commodification of Sufism and Islam.

Ahmad Al-Mahdi: Law, Economics and Arabic Science Fiction

World-building involves translation. There is futurespeak but also the way a world is introduced via motifs and tropes the audience can recognize, a process of familiarization analogues to translation. Linguistic translation of a work of science fiction involves another layer, a shift from one cultural-historical set of experiences to another. 

Simone Pettine: The Birth of Science Fiction in Italy

This paper will discuss the first sf novel published in Italy, by Dino Buzzati in 1960: Il grande ritratto. Using the strategies of textual criticism, the proposal therefore aims to make a point of the influences that led to the drafting of Il grande ritratto of Dino Buzzati, as well as the themes that it left as a starting point for posterity. 

Feminism doesn’t stand still. Nor is there only one feminism. Since the 1970s, science fiction and fantasy have been the genres par excellence to work out new ideas and explore what feminism can be and do. Our panelists discuss how feminism has grown and developed alongside the publishing world of science fiction and fantasy, how each has changed, and how they have changed each other.

Fanfiction is a worldwide culture. Archive of Our Own (AO3) hosts fanfic in over 70 languages, and fanfiction has been many fans’ first exposure to English. There is great variation, however, in different fanfic language communities in terms of popular fandoms, tropes, and communal norms. This panel features fanfic writers from around the world sharing what is unique about their home fanfic communities.

Please note that captions for this item are available at https://www.streamtext.net/player?event=dc-non-english-fanfic

Nalo Hopkinson is an award-winning author and 2021’s SFWA Damon Knight Memorial Grand Master. This panel will discuss the range and scope of Hopkinson’s work across fiction and nonfiction, and explore her impact on writers and on writing.

Join the Glasgow in 2024 Worldcon Bid for a traditional Gaelic ceilidh dance. Learn the easy steps to this group dance and have some fun!

This panel of experts will discuss the history of the Seiun Award, the Japanese speculative fiction award for the best science fiction works and achievements of the preceding year, and the state of Japanese speculative fiction today.

There are thriving speculative fiction publishers, magazines, writers and communities in many places outside the U.S. How do these communities position themselves relative to other SFF markets and readers? How successful are they?

The stringy-haired ghost girl is a Japanese trope, while the isolated cabin in the woods is very American. How much of horror is culturally specific? How do such tropes develop, and how do they translate to foreign audiences?

Space law is a real, existing field of law, but it’s only beginning to touch on the complexity of property rights in space. The Treaty on Principles Governing the Activities of States in the Exploration and Use of Outer Space, including the Moon and Other Celestial Bodies is the international treaty that addresses these issues, but current events suggest that we may soon reach the limits of its provisions. What happens when Elon Musk tries to sell you a condo on Mars?

Two academic talks:

Laura Osur: Alt-Histories Against Technological Determinism.

For All Mankind (Apple TV+, 2019-) and Mary Robinette Kowal’s Lady Astronaut series (2018, 2020) present alternative histories of the space race. Read in conversation with each other and as part of a global debate around ethical technology and the commercialization of space, these two properties argue against the theory of technological determinism and for a more active, nuanced, and gendered discussion of the history and future of technological development.

Jenna N. Hanchey: Africanfuturism as Developmental Rebellion.

I examine how Africanfuturism pushes back against Western visions of development through what Nyerere calls developmental rebellion. Examining the work of Nnedi Okorafor, Tade Thompson, Wanuri Kahiu, Suyi Davis Okungbowa, & Tendai Huchu, I trace four ways that Africanfuturism decolonizes development. Africanfuturism: (1) releases radical desire; (2) recreates ecological contexts; (3) uses alien technology in decolonial ways; and (4) limns alternative possibilities for life itself.

This panel will discuss the range of awards and other markers of achievement on the Continent, and how they raise the profile of African authors.

Anime and manga are frequently altered during the process of translation. Changes can range from small shifts in wording for the sake of comprehension to significant changes in plot and character. How do Western publishers and media companies decide what changes to make for their English-speaking audiences? When do these changes work well, and when do they damage the story? Are fans who don’t speak Japanese missing out?

What are the best new science fiction movies across the globe? The panel will make its recommendations, and you, the audience, can add more. This is a chance to contribute to watch lists for the 2022 Hugo Awards.