<html><body style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space; "><!--StartFragment--><p class="MsoNormal"><font class="Apple-style-span" size="4"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 14px;"><b>Upcoming Science Fiction-Related Events at UC-Riverside</b></span></font></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;
text-autospace:none">The state’s budget cuts have had a devastating impact on plans
to develop a science fiction studies program here at UCR, but I do plan to keep
the torch burning through these dark times with a number of major events slated
for 2010 and early 2011.</p><p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;
text-autospace:none"><o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;
text-autospace:none">The 32<sup>nd</sup> Annual Writers Week celebration, which
runs from February 8-15, 2010, will include a <b>colloquium on science fiction</b><span style="font-weight:normal"> featuring Gregory Benford, Larry Niven, and Sheila
Finch, moderated by me. The panel will take place on </span><b>February 9, from 12-2 PM</b><span style="font-weight:normal">,
in the reading room of the Special Collections and Archives Department of the
Rivera library, with a reception following. This is believed to be the first science fiction-themed
event in the history of Writers Week, California’s longest-running free
literary festival.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;
text-autospace:none">The <b>Second Annual <i>Science Fiction Studies</i></b><span style="font-style:normal"><b> Symposium</b></span> will be held on <b>May 27, 2010,
from 2:30-5:00 PM</b> in the reading room of the Special Collections and Archives
Department of the Rivera library, which houses the J. Lloyd Eaton Collection of
Science Fiction, Fantasy, Horror, and Utopian Literature. The <i>SF Studies</i><span style="font-style:normal"> Symposium brings together three major scholars to
speak on a topic of theoretical importance to the field. (The proceedings from
the first Symposium will be published in the March 2010 issue of the journal.) The
2010 theme is “Animal Studies and Science Fiction,” and the participants will
be Sherryl Vint, Joan Gordon, and Carol McGuirk (the titles of whose talks may
be found on the spiffy flyer, designed by Sara Stilley, attached to this
email). At the reception following the talks, we hope to be able to celebrate
the launch of Professor Vint’s new book, </span><i>Animal Alterity: Science
Fiction and the Question of the Animal</i><span style="font-style:normal">, due
for publication in Spring 2010 by Liverpool University Press. My thanks to the
English Department’s lecture committee for their support in helping me mount
this event.</span></p>
<div class="MsoNormal">Finally, the <b>30<sup>th</sup> Annual Eaton Conference</b><span style="font-weight:normal">, on the topic of “Global Science Fiction,” will be
held in Riverside on </span><b>February 11-13, 2011</b><span style="font-weight:normal">. The conference committee—consisting
of me, Mark Bould (University of the West of England), Melissa Conway (Head,
UCR Special Collections and Archives), Pawel Frelik (Marie Curie-Sklodowska
University, Poland), M. Elizabeth Ginway (University of Florida), Howard
Hendrix (CSU-Fresno), George Slusser (Eaton Curator Emeritus), Takayuki Tatsumi
(Keio University, Tokyo), and Sherryl Vint (Brock University, Ontario)—is in
the process of drafting a Call for Papers that will be circulated and posted by
February 1, with a likely submission date for paper abstracts of June or July
2010. The CFP should also include information about attending writers,
including the Guest of Honor, who will receive the Third J. Lloyd Eaton Award
for Lifetime Achievement in Science Fiction—the first two having been bestowed
on Ray Bradbury and Frederik Pohl. UCR Professor of Creative Writing Mike Davis,
whose many works have explored links between social history and popular culture,
has agreed to give the keynote address. The new Science Fiction and Fantasy
Translation Awards will also be debuting at the conference (see the award
homepage at <<a href="http://www.sfftawards.org/">http://www.sfftawards.org/</a>> for more information).The
conference will be held, for the first time ever, at the historic Mission Inn
hotel.</span></div><p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;
text-autospace:none">These events, and others still in the planning stages,
will affirm UCR’s reputation as an international center of science fiction scholarship, even
amidst the draconian budget cuts and general malaise. I hope you can join us
for some or all of them!</p><p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;
text-autospace:none">Rob Latham</p><p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;
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