Marleen Barr will present the paper “Why Science Fiction is Pertinent to Black Children’s Literature
Pedagogy” at the “State of African American and African Diaspora Studies Conference” held in New York on January 8. Barr is scheduled to present at 10:15 AM in room C-205 at the CUNY Graduate Center. The conference runs from January 6 through January 8 and costs $20 for non-students and is free for students.
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The American game show Jeopardy! will feature a series of three games between champion players Ken Jennings and Brad Rutter and an IBM computer, named Watson, from February 14-16, 2011. IBM has been in talks with the show’s producers for two years for the match-up, which IBM sees as a major test for their computer. Before the show’s producers would agree, the computer had to pass the same test human have to take. The purse for the three-day tournament will be $1,000,000, with the entire amount going to charity if Watson wins and 50% going to charity if one of the humans wins.
Jane Frank has announced her annual Worlds of Wonder art sale, running through January 2. Frank is offering most art featured on her website or in catalogs 22-25 at a 15% discount. Art featured in catalog 26 or sale items by Jim Burns are not included in the sale.
The original hand-written manuscript to Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, considered by some to be the first science fiction novel, will be on display at the Bodleian Libraries in Oxford as part of the display Shelley’s Ghost: Reshaping the Image of a Literary Family, scheduled to run from December 3 through March 27. This is the first time the manuscript has been displayed publicly. After the exhibit closes in Oxford, it will move to the New York Public Library.
ChiZine Publications and Rue Morgue are presenting a screening of the horror film Pontypool on December 3 at the Toronto Underground Cinema, 186 Spadina Ave in Toronto, Ontario. The film is based on the Bruce McDonald’s novel Pontypool Changes Everything, published by ECW and ChiZine. Following the film, there will be a question and answer session with screen writer Tony Burgess and actors Stephen McHattie and Lisa Houle.
Amazon has announced a $15,000 grant to Shared Worlds, a science fiction/fantasy writing camp for teens sponsored by Wofford College of Spartanburg, SC. The grant will be used to help pay for guest writers, awarding scholarships for disadvantaged students, and general operating expenses. The 2011 camp will take place the final two weeks of July.
“Hugo Gernsback: An Amazing Story” opens at the National Literary Centre in Luxembourg on October 27 and runs through March 18, 2011. The exhibit, which is open Monday through Friday from 10-6, documents Gernsback’s life, including his interest in technology and science fiction and his ties to Luxembourg.
“Harry Potter: The Exhibition” opens this weekend at the Pacific Science Center in Seattle Center. On the other side of Seattle Center, the exhibit “Battlestar Galactica” opens at the Science Fiction Museum. The Harry Potter exhibit, which debuted at the Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago, is touring and making its fourth stop, its first on the West Coast. The Battlestar Galactica props, which include three spaceships, fifteen costumes, and more, are now part of the SFM collection and will be sent on tour in about 18 months.
The Odyssey Writing Workshop will be offering a series of on-line workshops following the success of last year’s offerings. This year’s workshops will include Three-Act Structure in Fantastic Fiction (January 5-February 2 with Jeanne Cavelos), Worldbuilding in Fantastic Fiction (January 12-26 with Melissa Scott), and Writing in Scenes (February 9-23 with Nancy Kress).
The SF Playhouse in San Francisco will be hosting the West Coast debut of the new musical Coraline, based on Neil Gaiman’s novel. The musical features a book by Gaiman and music by Stephin Merritt. It will be directed by Bill English and is scheduled to run from November 16-January 15.