KU News Release

Science Fiction Research Association to meet in Lawrence

LAWRENCE — The second week in July will bring a major science fiction scholarly association to Lawrence for the first time in 25 years.

The Science Fiction Research Association will meet July 10-13 in Lawrence in conjunction with the University of Kansas Campbell Conference. Faculty members, teachers and librarians in a six-state region will have an unusual opportunity to participate in the latest scholarship about a category of fiction that has become increasingly meaningful in the last quarter century.

Primary and secondary school teachers and librarians in the region will have a Campbell Conference program on teaching science fiction prepared especially for them. The association’s annual meeting features presentations of scholarly papers. Sessions are enlivened more than most academic meetings not only by the nature of their subject, which includes paperback novels, short stories, popular films, comic books and games, but by interactions with the writers who create what the academics are discussing.

Guest writers and scholars will include Karen Joy Fowler, Maureen Kincaid Speller and Paul Kincaid. The Campbell Conference will bring the winners of the Campbell Award for the best science fiction novel of the year and the Sturgeon Award for the best short science fiction of the year, as well as noted science fiction teacher and author Jim Van Pelt, keynote speaker for the “teaching science fiction” program. Other writers often attend both meetings.

Fowler is the best-selling author of “The Jane Austen Book Club,” which was recently released as a film. She also is the author of “Sarah Canary” (1991), “The Sweetheart Season” (1996), “Sister Noon” (2001) and “Wit’s End” (2008), as well as four short-story collections.

The two academic scholars are from the United Kingdom. Paul Kincaid is the author of “What We Do When We Read Science Fiction” (2008) and the editor of “The Arthur C. Clarke Award: A Critical Anthology.” He was one of the founders of the Arthur C. Clarke Award and its administrator for 10 years. His wife, Maureen Kincaid Speller, served as administrator of the British Science Fiction Association for seven years and has been a judge for the Arthur C. Clarke Award and chaired the jury for the James Tiptree Jr., Award, which Fowler helped found.

The Science Fiction Research Association and the Campbell Conference will combine their awards ceremonies on July 11 at the Lawrence Holiday Inn Holidome. The association presents its awards for contributions to scholarship, and the Campbell Conference recognizes the best science fiction novel and short science fiction of the year. The Campbell Conference will meet July 12 at the Kansas Union, where the sessions of Science Fiction Research Association also will be held.

Registrations for the Science Fiction Research Association meeting and the Campbell Conference can be make on the KU Continuing Education Web site. The Science Fiction Research Association registration fee is $140, including lunch on July 12. Hotel reservations should be arranged with the Holiday Inn. Optional housing is available in a university residence hall. Secondary school teachers and librarians may attend only the Campbell Conference on July 12 for $40.

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