Let me take you behind the scenes on the video I recorded this morning for the upcoming Current Research in Speculative Fiction conference. It looks like this: a phone mount, attached to a GorillaPod, attached to some ivy, attached to a tree.
With the requirement to film my presentation in advance, I decided to film it in the woods. I’m speaking on ‘Bodily Boundaries: Trans-Corporeality in Rivers Solomon’s Sorrowland‘ but I feel like if the only thing people remember about my paper is that I gave it in the woods then that is OK.
So this morning I went out and fixed my phone to a tree then talked to myself in the woods for a while. I had to do it twice because I didn’t realise my phone camera had a setting that limits videos to ten minutes. Second time round, the recording didn’t cut out two minutes before the end.
Before I set out I was definitely asking myself why I do these things. But it was a beautiful morning, I love the ambient sounds of birds and insects in the woods that have made their way into the recording, and it was nice to be somewhere that looks like this:
The Current Research in Speculative Fiction conference is online and in person at the University of Liverpool from Thursday 3 to Friday 4 July 2025. Tickets are free and you can sign up here.
My presentation will be shown on Thursday afternoon with a live Q&A after. The keynote speakers are Jeff VanderMeer on Thursday and Jasmin Kirkbride on Friday, and there are loads of amazing panelists, workshops and round tables. So I recommend booking a ticket!
