Colloquium on fantasy and science-fiction at UNM

It’s short notice, but the University of New Mexico’s Hobbit Society organization is hosting its second annual Fantasy and Science-Fiction Colloquium in about one month’s time. The colloquium, on the provocative theme of “Intellectual Hooliganism”, is set for Thursday, April 1, 2010 and will run from 5:30—8:00 p.m. The event will consist of 8—10 presentations, each 10—15 minutes in length, “dealing with any fantasy and/or science fiction text in a scholarly fashion.”

The announcement I read makes it sounds as if all — not just UNM students or faculty — are welcome to submit a proposal to speak, but interested parties might want to check with Leslie Donovan to be sure. Assuming paper proposals are being accepted from the scholarly community at large, the announcement indicates that abstracts are due by 5:00 p.m. on March 10 — that’s just over one week from now, so chop-chop! Send them to tolkien@unm.edu.

In any case, if you’re in the neighborhood, the event is free and open to the public. If UNM were a bit less than a ten-hour drive, I’d consider going myself. Also, for those still paying attention, Leslie will be the guest of honor at the University of Vermont’s Tolkien conference this year, April 9–11. A bit more on that event in a future post.