The CRSF annual conference took place on 3-4 July 2025. It was a hybrid event and I joined remotely. The official theme of the conference was ‘boundaries’. However, I felt there were two other themes that emerged from the event. Firstly the global prevalence of SF, which the hybrid format supported as it allowed for attendees from around the world. Secondly, fungal fiction, a current favourite topic of mine.
Continue reading “Current Research in Speculative Fiction (CRSF) 2025 conference report”Tag: #ReadingList
Fungal fiction: a field guide to the mushroom trend in speculative fiction
Mushrooms are a big thing right now in speculative fiction. I’ve enjoyed putting together this glossary of terms relating to fungi and the trend for fungal fiction. I wrote this in response to Jasmin Kirkbride’s keynote on mushroompunk at the Current Research in Speculative Fiction conference in July 2025.
Continue reading “Fungal fiction: a field guide to the mushroom trend in speculative fiction”Review of Twoty-Twoty-Two (2022): Utopian Studies Conference
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”Hello! Here’s an awesome utopian reading list.
It’s my inaugural blog post! I thought I would start by sharing my current utopia-themed reading list with you. As you will see, it’s a list of Afrofuturist, African Sci-Fi and Black Utopias. This is where I’m at right now. In this post I’ll tell you how I got to this amazing place and why I think these books are must-reads.
Continue reading “Hello! Here’s an awesome utopian reading list.”