Exploring literary visions of greener, fairer ways of being
I will be giving a paper as part of this year’s conference of the Science Fiction Foundation. The topic for the conference, which will be held online on 7-8 December 2024, is Women in the Black Fantastic. Full details of the programme and a link to buy tickets can be found here.
Continue reading “Women in the Black Fantastic: Upcoming Online Conference”
For the past year or so I have been collaborating in a group poetry project organised by Bean Sawyer. Each month, a poem is started by Bean or another guest poet, then posted on to the next person to write the next verse, then the next person to write the next verse, and so on. When the poem is complete, it is sent home to Bean.
Bean has aptly named this project ‘The Murmuration of Words’. As a writer, Bean is very good at naming things. In this post I’ll explore more about murmurations as a model for working collectively, and about the experience of writing as a group.
Continue reading “The Murmuration of Words Project: Writing Poetry Collectively”
The thing that took me farthest out of my comfort zone in 2022 was attending the Utopian Studies Society conference. I thought it would be nice to have a few days away to discuss all things utopian but I was wrong. I stretched my elastic too far just to get there. It was my first time travelling on my own and travelling much at all since the pandemic and having a child (both things that have tied me to home over the past few years). Having to then leave my room and attend events was so hard. This is despite my room (in student halls) being unbearably hot and depressing.
Yes, this was another USS conference in a heatwave, like the previous one in Prato, Italy in 2019 where we discussed utopia, dystopia and climate change in 40 degree heat (Celcius, folks). Just the thing to make discussions feel urgent and hopeless at the same time.
Continue reading “Review of Twoty-Twoty-Two (2022): Utopian Studies Conference”
The People’s Republic of Stokes Croft are putting together their School of Activism programme for April 2022. More news on this to follow! In the meantime, it’s got me thinking about literature and activism.
Continue reading “Literature and Activism: Octavia Butler, farming and community”
As I mentioned in my last post (the one before Rob Bryher’s article on car free cities and environmental justice), I haven’t been reading novels lately. Since admitting this, I’ve felt more able to focus on what I am currently enjoying in the world of utopia, and consciously taking pleasure from those things. This includes essays, online talks and events, and adding to my reading list for that future day when the book lust kicks in again. It’s a lesson in being led by what I enjoy. So here’s my round up of the utopian things bringing me joy this month.
Continue reading “Three utopian things bringing me joy this month”