The eleventh year of Sirens focused on the Sirens community and the theme of heroes and presenters were invited to consider what it means to be a hero in fantasy literature. Presentations on female fantasy characters and authors were welcome as well.
Dates
October 24–27, 2019
Location
Hilton Inverness, Denver, Colorado
Conference - Guests of Honor - Schedule - Books and Breakfast - Reading Lists
Programming - Vetting Board - Call for Proposals
Guests of Honor
Mishell Baker is a 2009 graduate of the Clarion Fantasy & Science Fiction Writers’ Workshop. Her short fiction has appeared in Beneath Ceaseless Skies, Daily Science Fiction, Redstone Science Fiction, and Electric Velocipede. Her urban fantasy series The Arcadia Project, released by Simon & Schuster’s Saga imprint, includes Borderline, Phantom Pains, and Impostor Syndrome. The series is narrated by Millicent Roper, a snarky double-amputee and suicide survivor who works with a ragtag collection of society’s least-wanted, keeping the world safe from the chaotic whims of supernatural beasties. When Mishell isn’t convention-hopping or going on wild research adventures, she lives in Los Angeles with her co-parent and two changelings.
For more information about Mishell, please visit her website or her Twitter.
Ausma Zehanat Khan holds a Ph.D. in International Human Rights Law with a specialization in military intervention and war crimes in the Balkans. She is a former adjunct law professor and was Editor-in-Chief of Muslim Girl magazine, the first magazine targeted to young Muslim women, and is the award-winning author of both the Khorasan Archives (The Bloodprint, The Black Khan) and the Rachel Getty and Essa Khattak series (beginning with The Unquiet Dead). Originally from Canada, Khan now lives in Colorado with her husband.
For more information about Ausma, please visit her website or her Twitter.
Rebecca Roanhorse is a speculative fiction writer, who has won both the Hugo Award and the Nebula Award and been a Sturgeon/Locus/WFA Award Finalist, for her short fiction Welcome to Your Authentic Indian Experience™. She has also won the 2018 Campbell Award for Best New SFF writer. Her debut novel Trail of Lightning, Book #1 in the Sixth World series (Saga Press), is available now. Book #2, Storm of Locusts, will follow in April 2019. She also has a middle grade novel coming in 2019 from Rick Riordan Presents, titled Race to the Sun. And in 2020, a Mesa Verde-inspired epic fantasy Between Earth and Sky (Saga Press). Her nonfiction can be found in Invisible 3: Essays and Poems on Representation in SF/F, Strange Horizons, Uncanny Magazine and How I Resist: Activism and Hope for a New Generation (Macmillan). She lives in Northern New Mexico with her husband, daughter, and pug.
For more information about Rebecca, please visit her website or her Twitter.
Suzanne Scott is an Assistant Professor in the Radio-Television-Film department at the University of Texas at Austin. Her current book project, Fake Geek Girls: Fandom, Gender, and the Convergence Culture Industry (forthcoming from NYU Press, 2019) considers the gendered tensions underpinning the media industry’s embrace of fans as demographic tastemakers, professionals, and promotional partners within convergence culture. Surveying the politics of participation within digitally mediated fan cultures, this project addresses the “mainstreaming” of fan and geek culture over the past decade, how media industries have privileged an androcentric conception of the fan, and the marginalizing effect this has had on female fans. She is also the co-editor of The Routledge Companion to Media Fandom (2018). Her scholarly work has appeared in the journals Transformative Works and Cultures, Cinema Journal, New Media & Society, Participations, Feminist Media Histories, and Critical Studies in Media Communication as well as numerous anthologies, including Fandom: Identities and Communities in a Mediated World (2nd Edition), How to Watch Television, The Participatory Culture Handbook, and Cylons in America: Critical Studies in Battlestar Galactica.
For more information about Suzanne, please visit the University of Texas Radio-Television-Film department website or her Twitter.
Roshani Chokshi is the New York Times bestselling author of the Star-Touched series and Aru Shah and The End of Time, Book #1 in the Pandava series. She grew up in Georgia, where she acquired a Southern accent but does not use it unless under duress. She has a luck dragon that looks suspiciously like a Great Pyrenees dog. Her work has appeared in Strange Horizons, Uncanny Magazine, Shimmer, and Book Smugglers. She is a 2016 finalist for the Andre Norton Award, and a 2016 Locus finalist for Best First Novel. Her short story, The Star Maiden, was longlisted for the British Fantasy Science Award.
For more information about Roshani, please visit her website or her Twitter.
Schedule
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Pre-conference
Conference
Books and Breakfast
Friday, October 25, 2019
Religion
The Bird King by G. Willow Wilson
The Sisters of the Winter Wood by Rena Rossner
Race
Dread Nation by Justina Ireland
Future Home of the Living God by Louise Erdrich
Gender/Sexuality
Dreadnought by April Daniels
The Tiger’s Daughter by K Arsenault Rivera
Body
Faith Volume 1: Hollywood and Vine by Jody Houser, Francis Portela, and Marguerite Sauvage
Gullstruck Island by Frances Hardinge
Reading Lists
The following lists will open in your web browser.
2019 Accepted Programming
Papers and Lectures
- | - Panels
Workshops
- | - Roundtable Discussions
- | - Afternoon Classes
Combination Presentations
PAPERS AND LECTURES
Papers and lectures feature one or more presenters talking about the topic at hand. The specific style and formality of each presentation varies according to the speaker: some may be more formal readings of scholarly papers, with or without time for questions at the end; others may be relatively informal lectures with more audience participation.
Ascension: How Elizabeth Frankenstein Rises Out of Darkness
Jo O’Brien
Jo O’Brien is a writer, artist, cosplayer, mythical creature, and Viking who lives in northern Colorado, wrangling a host of familiar spirits. She writes about ambitious, unrepentant, sometimes vicious women in novels and for live steel horse theater. She has been a member of the Sirens community since 2011.
In
The Dark Descent of Elizabeth Frankenstein, Kiersten White explores the narrative of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein from another angle. From the perspective of the girl purchased to keep Victor Frankenstein's volatile behavior in check, the story becomes less about a man’s genius and more about what the people around him have to sacrifice to keep him comfortable. But as Elizabeth sinks into the darkness of Victor’s obsessions, her own genius subsumed by his, she learns what she needs to break free. Her terrible education is all too familiar, but as she rises, so too can we.
Anonymous
But Whips and Chains Excite Me: The Problem with Kink in Fiction
Kallyn Hunter
Kallyn Hunter is a researcher, writer, and knight from Fort Collins, Colorado. When she isn't hunched over a laptop, she can be found traveling the wilds of Colorado with her adventure-Pomeranian, Meister. She enjoys reading, sword fighting, and screaming into the void.
The inclusion of BDSM elements and power dynamics in fiction, including fantasy, is often reduced to devious dominatrixes who torment our protagonist, or evil masters who use their power dynamic to torture and abuse. Yet rarely do we see the risk-aware consensual kink that is required for a healthy and fulfilling BDSM experience. This presentation will explore how BDSM is used and misused, and explore the very real strength that can come with healthy, safe, and consenting submission and dominance.
Nivair H. Gabriel
Daydream Believer: The Everyday Fantasy in Jane the Virgin and Crazy Ex-Girlfriend
Amy Boggs
Amy Boggs is the assistant contracts manager at Kensington Books, having previously worked as a sf/f literary agent and bookseller. She is a devoted fan of fantasy, science fiction, and all the wibbly-wobbly of speculative art. In her spare time, she tiptoes through fandoms and rants about media on Twitter @notjustanyboggs.
Fantasy is often considered to be a realm beyond our reach, whether set on Middle Earth or in secret vampire bars in New Orleans, but there is one type of fantasy almost everyone experiences: daydreams. Often dismissed as empty and frivolous, this essay looks at how daydreaming becomes a thing of power in
Jane the Virgin and
Crazy Ex-Girlfriend, giving their female leads a conduit to finding their voices.
The Extraordinary Power of Heroines: Examining Women’s Heroism in Fantasy
Casey Blair
Casey Blair writes fantasy novels for adults and teens, and her weekly serial fantasy novel Tea Princess Chronicles is available online for free. She is a graduate of Vassar College and of the Viable Paradise science fiction and fantasy writing workshop. After teaching English in rural Japan for two years, she relocated to the Seattle area, where she now works as an indie bookseller. She is prone to spontaneous dancing, exploring ancient cities around the world, adventuring through forests, spoiling cats terribly, and drinking inordinate amounts of tea late into the night.
Heroism means different things to different people; it can also mean different things for women specifically. What are features of what heroism looks like for women, what does it mean to be a heroine, and why? This paper will examine the impact of real-world systemic marginalization on the depictions and perceptions of heroines in fantasy literature, including the double standards we hold female characters to, how sexism impacts whether a woman is perceived as monster or hero, how our society values—and doesn’t—stories that subvert masculine-coded modes of power, and why heroines' stories are so powerful and necessary.
Fight, Loli, Fight!: Lolita Fashion, Cute Culture, and Heroic Girlhood in Contemporary Media
Ren Iwamoto
Ren Iwamoto is a Japanese-Canadian grad student from the tenth dimension. Her areas of interest include studies in death, gender, memory, grotesquerie, and post-colonialism; she is in eternal search for the thesis topic that combines all of the above. Her poetry has been featured in multiple publications.
Inspired by Victorian dolls and ideas of girlish fancy, Lolita fashion was created as a direct rebuttal of strict patriarchal structures of 20th Century Japan, and represented the reclamation of young women’s bodies. Radical autonomy, revulsion of the male gaze, and girlhood are integral to Lolita subculture, making them the perfect subject of heroic narratives aimed at a feminine-identifying audience. We will explore how the tenets of Lolita subculture appear in Japanese contemporary media and how they may translate in Western narratives, the incursion of the male gaze, and what heroic girlhood may look like going forward.
Amy Tenbrink
“Girls” Disguised as “Boys”: The Evolution of the Cross-Dressing Hero(ine)
Kit Auner
Kit Auner is a trans* writer and MFA student at the University of Kansas. They write fantasy, young adult, and historical fiction with a focus on queer identities. Kit previously earned a Master of Arts in literature from Missouri State University and has taught English as a Second Language in the U.S. and abroad.
The girl-disguised-as-boy trope has a long history, from Shakespeare’s
Twelfth Night (and even earlier than that) to today’s most popular Korean TV dramas. However, cross-dressing adventure stories have failed to reflect our growing understanding and awareness of varying gender identities. This paper will examine the ways in which gender-bending adventure narratives have evolved over time, from treating cross-dressing as an unexamined plot device to a nascent acknowledgment of transgender feelings. It will also look to the future of transgender adventure stories.
Heroic Fantasy Saves Lives
Shaista Fenwick
Shai Fenwick was born in Trinidad and Tobago to two economists who spoke nine languages between them, and has been involved in both politics and education since she was a toddler. She has copy-edited engineers in Houston; edited and written for a daily newspaper and a monthly state magazine; studied anthropology and professional writing at OU; worked with hearing and visually impaired students on behavior modification; taught science and social studies; and worked with faculty, staff, and a diverse array of students, faculty and staff at the University of Oklahoma. Her history is multinational and multiethnic.
She has served on the board of the Oklahoma Coalition for Reproductive Justice and the steering committee for Take Root Conference on Red State Reproductive Justice. She serves on the board of the Future Society of Central Oklahoma and is hotel liaison for SoonerCon. She earned her bachelor's degree in anthropology, her master's in professional writing, and is currently pursuing her PhD in instructional leadership and curriculum. She is a founding partner of Cobalt Prairie Consulting LLC in Norman, working to elect progressive, justice-oriented candidates to public office throughout Oklahoma.
She is a fierce advocate for education and reproductive justice. She is an author, spouse, educator, student and adoptive mom to many furbabies, plants and wayward students. Her favorite hobby in addition to consuming and making stories, gardening, cooking, singing, sewing, and kayaking…is sleeping.
This presentation explores how heroic fantasy reading and writing can be part of pedagogical practice and therapeutic interactions with school age children and adults as a mechanism for de-escalation of diagnosed and invisible trauma (including ACEs). Attendees will leave with a vocabulary of theory and research supporting the need for heroic fantasy generation and consumption by women and nonbinary folks in mainstream education and therapeutic settings.
Heteronormativity in Young Adult Fantasy
Hallie Tibbetts
Hallie Tibbetts has been involved with Narrate Conferences since its inception in 2006, serving variously as education officer, communications officer, and vice president, along with chairing a number of conferences (including many years of Sirens). She works in editorial at Little, Brown Books for Young Readers on books for children age zero to eighteen, but doesn’t mind if grownups like those stories too.
Despite a crowded market and a recent boom in contemporary fiction for teen readers, young adult fantasy continues in popularity, and caters to a heavily female audience that welcomes both its magical details and its frequently romantic plotlines. While authors are offering stronger, better, more diverse worlds than ever before, the romantic focus is almost inevitably heterosexual, thus inscribing a single story. This paper will examine the ongoing romance phenomenon and recent books that feature alternatives to the heroine getting her hero, and offer options for creating more inclusive fantasy stories.
Ash
Katniss Everdeen: Strong, Fast, Larger Than Life?
Meg Belviso
Meg Belviso holds a BA in English from Smith College and an MFA from Columbia University. She's the staff editor of Angels on Earth magazine, though in her time off she prefers ghosts and monsters. As a freelancer, she has written for many properties, including several biographies in Penguin’s Who Was…? series.
In the Hunger Games, everyone is holding out for a hero—and hoping they'll bring the Capitol down. Katniss Everdeen finds herself cast as the hero of everyone else’s story, while unable to see herself as the hero of her own. Folk hero, ingénue, reality TV star—Katniss is all and none of the above. This presentation will examine how Katniss is a hero of her own making despite the Capitol's best efforts to control her story.
Shackled, Raped, Mad, Fridged: Intersectional Feminism Failures in Game of Thrones
Cass Morris, Amy Tenbrink (moderator)
Cass Morris works as a writer and educator in central Virginia and as a bookseller in the Outer Banks of North Carolina. She completed her Master of Letters at Mary Baldwin University in 2010, and she earned her undergraduate degree, a BA in English with a minor in history, from the College of William and Mary in 2007. She reads voraciously, wears corsets voluntarily, and will beat you at MarioKart. Her debut novel, From Unseen Fire (Book One of the Aven Cycle), is a Roman-flavored historical fantasy released by DAW Books.
By day, Amy Tenbrink dons her supergirl suit and practices transactional and intellectual property law as an executive vice president for a media company. By night, she dons her supergirl cape and plans literary conferences and reads over a hundred books a year. She likes nothing quite so much as monster girls, Weasleys, and a well-planned revolution.
For eight seasons, we have watched
Game of Thrones, George R. R. Martin’s impossibly popular A Song of Ice and Fire series adapted for television by white, cisgender male showrunners David Benioff and D. B. Weiss, only rarely with any female writers in the room. And for eight seasons, feminist viewers have criticized the showrunners’ immensely problematic and often gratuitous adaptation choices, such as the needless death of Missandei, the only main female character of color, while shackled; transforming consensual sex into rape for Daenerys and Cersei and introducing rape for Sansa, who credits that rape for her growth; the outcome of the gods’ madness coin toss for Daenerys, conveniently clearing the path to the Iron Throne for a man; and the show’s hero worship of Arya, the only female character to adopt the male trappings of antiheroism. This presentation will break down eight seasons of politics, war, and sexposition to expose how
Game of Thrones is really just another feminist fail fantasy story.
The Suppressed Powers of Women Heroes
Jennifer Gale
Jennifer Gale holds a BA in History and a Masters in the Arts and Theology, where she studied made-up religions in science fiction and fantasy. She has a deep interest in how the stories we grow up with shape our understanding of the world, our collective history, and of ourselves. She writes fantasy and science fiction where she explores those themes.
While the theme of suppressed power is common in fantasy, the narratives vary drastically. In some cases, the narrative is distinctly anti-power. This paper examines the suppressed powers of women heroes in fantasy narratives such as
The Shadow Speaker,
The Power, and
The Bone Witch: what kinds of powers are suppressed, who does the suppressing, how the suppression is achieved, the reasons given for the suppression, how the culture a character belongs to views her powers, and what happens when those powers are released.
Nivair H. Gabriel
There Is Method in It: Why We Tell Stories About “Madness”
Mishell Baker
Mishell Baker is a 2009 graduate of the Clarion Fantasy & Science Fiction Writers’ Workshop. Her short fiction has appeared in Beneath Ceaseless Skies, Daily Science Fiction, Redstone Science Fiction, and Electric Velocipede. Her urban fantasy series The Arcadia Project, released by Simon & Schuster’s Saga imprint, includes Borderline, Phantom Pains, and Impostor Syndrome. The series is narrated by Millicent Roper, a snarky double-amputee and suicide survivor who works with a ragtag collection of society’s least-wanted, keeping the world safe from the chaotic whims of supernatural beasties. When Mishell isn’t convention-hopping or going on wild research adventures, she lives in Los Angeles with her co-parent and two changelings.
For as long as we've been storytellers, we’ve been fascinated by the idea of “madness.” Although our working models about the genesis of mental illness are no longer linked to the supernatural, symptoms of psychiatric disorders are often evoked in genre fiction to create a chilling effect, to disorient the audience, or to indicate a character’s sensitivity to things unseen by normal mortal eyes. Why do these tropes persist even as we become more educated about the biological and environmental roots of psychiatric pathology? What purpose does the idea of an “uncanny madness” serve in our narratives, and in our lives? This talk will attempt to unpack our attraction to “mad” characters in popular fiction and media, and will discuss alternate mental frameworks for these universal human fears.
Kate Larking
Trends in Speculative Poetry by Disabled Poets
Lisa M. Bradley
A queer Tejana raised on the Texas–Mexico border, Lisa M. Bradley now lives in Iowa with her spouse and their teenager. Her fiction and poetry have appeared in numerous venues, including Sunvault: Stories of Solarpunk and Eco-Speculation, Uncanny Magazine, Strange Horizons, and Fireside Magazine. Her first collection is The Haunted Girl (Aqueduct Press). In her debut novel, Exile (Rosarium Publishing), an obsessed young woman schemes to escape her hometown, which has been quarantined for 20 years because of a toxic spill. Find Lisa on Twitter @cafenowhere or visit her website: www.lisambradley.com.
“Speculative poetry by disabled poets” may sound like a very narrow niche, but it’s actually quite expansive. Learn the current trends in fantasy poetry written by disabled poets and how these trends differ from those in the wider spec field. What do merfolk and changelings mean for poets with disabilities? For that matter, who identifies as a disabled poet, and how do gender, race, and ethnicity interact in their poetry? Disabled poet and editor Lisa M. Bradley will share insights from editing the poetry for
Uncanny Magazine’s special issue “Disabled People Destroy Fantasy.”
The Unconscious Depiction of Autism: Robots, Aliens, and Fae
Mette Ivie Harrison
Mette Ivie Harrison is the author of Mira, Mirror and The Princess and the Hound, as well as The Bishop's Wife adult mystery series. She was diagnosed with autism in early 2017 and is at work on several autism-positive novels.
Popular speculative characters, including Mr. Spock and Data on Star Trek, as well as the unworldly, unemotional depictions of fae in many stories, might be unconscious depictions of autists. What traits are similar across these depictions, and what do they tell us about the collective unconscious view of autistic people by allists?
Upgrading Your Words to Say More
Callie Stoker
Callie Stoker is a freelance editor for The Manuscript Doctor with over ten years of helping writers become authors. She is a member of the Editorial Freelancers Association, the Horror Writers Association, and The League of Utah Writers. She also has a background in theater and is a champion for those with disabilities, including her two sons with ASD.
Editing isn’t just about correcting mistakes; it is also an opportunity to identify lazy or flat words and replace them with words that can do more for your story. Identify which words are most likely to need an upgrade to reflect tone, mood, and voice. Learn to add depth to your writing without adding length.
Witch, Please: An Apologia for and Indictment of Mean-Girls Stories in Young Adult Fantasy Literature
Amy Tenbrink
By day, Amy Tenbrink dons her supergirl suit and practices transactional and intellectual property law as an executive vice president for a media company. By night, she dons her supergirl cape and plans literary conferences and reads over a hundred books a year. She likes nothing quite so much as monster girls, Weasleys, and a well-planned revolution.
Like young adult literature generally, young adult fantasy literature offers its share of popular mean-girls stories: those works where a girl transforms herself into a skinny, hair-tossing, dragon-lipstick-wearing, miniskirt-sporting witch in order to gain friends, status, and magic—and into someone she can properly redeem herself from in the end. Because that’s how these stories do end, with our heroine rejecting her power in order to properly subordinate her hair-tossing, dragon-lipstick-wearing, magic-wielding self to the heteropatriarchy once more. Perhaps more than any other trope, mean-girls stories are about female magic and female power: what it takes to get it, what it takes to keep it, and just how unseemly it is to want it or wield it. But mean-girls’ power necessarily relies on the heteropatriarchy; without the promise of romantic and sexual exchanges with boys, and exclusive access thereto, mean girls’ power disappears, and we’re left with the conclusion that power derived from proximity and tokenism isn’t worthwhile power at all.
Cady Heron
Wolves and Werewolves: How Our Beliefs About One Influence the Other
S.M. Mack
S.M. Mack is a Clarion grad, an MFA candidate at USM Stonecoast, and the first place winner of the 2017 Katherine Patterson Prize for Young Adult Writing. Her prize-winning story “The Carrying Beam” was published by Hunger Mountain. She also has a story at Fireside Fiction and can be found on Twitter at @whatsmacksaid.
The portrayal of werewolves in modern fantasy literature tends to draw on either the hostile fabrications about real wolves that plague the public consciousness or on fact-based evidence about wolves discovered over the last seventy-five years. This presentation will cover an overview of what modern researchers know about wolves in the wild and a sampling of the lurid stories passed off as facts during the early twentieth century, then proceed to analyze the usage of these facts and fictions in fantasy literature. We’ll also consider how fantasy readers conflate their emotional connections with werewolves to real wolves and the conservation thereof.
Amy Tenbrink
“The Woods Are Lovely, Dark and Deep”: When Heroines Overtake Liminal Spaces
Sami Thomason
Sami Thomason has been a bookseller at Square Books, Jr. in Oxford, Mississippi, for three years. Before that, she got a bachelor’s degree in English literature at Millsaps College and worked briefly at Walt Disney World (she’s seen some stuff). Her lifelong love of books was encouraged by the staff at Jr. as a child, and she now runs the book club she used to attend. You can find her on twitter at @SamiSaysRead and instagram as @sami.says.read.
Fairy tales would have you believe that any girl who wanders into the forest is destined for a wolf at the door. In opposition, the male hero's journey uses the woods as a transitional space in which the hero gains the strength and wisdom to defeat their final obstacle by the story’s end. Recent young adult literature has turned this trope on its head with novels like
The Hazel Wood,
Sawkill Girls,
We Hunt the Flame, and
The Darkest Part of the Forest. This paper explores how new young adult literature twists and reimagines these tropes by letting female characters into traditionally male spaces and having them emerge not as victims, but as legends, monsters, and saviors.
Brittany Krysinski
Papers and Lectures
- | - Panels
Workshops
- | - Roundtable Discussions
- | - Afternoon Classes
Combination Presentations
PANELS
Panels feature several speakers discussing a topic before an audience. Panels may take questions or discussion from the audience, but are not required to do so.
Building Inclusive Bookish Communities
Faye Bi, Casey Blair (moderator), Traci-Anne Canada, Shaista Fenwick, Cass Morris
Faye Bi is the director of publicity at Bloomsbury Children's Books, and spends the rest of her time reading, cycling, pondering her next meal, and leading the Sirens communications team. She’s yet to read an immigrant story she hasn’t cried over, and is equally happy in walkable cities and sprawling natural vistas. You can follow her on Twitter @faye_bi.
Casey Blair writes fantasy novels for adults and teens, and her weekly serial fantasy novel Tea Princess Chronicles is available online for free. She is a graduate of Vassar College and of the Viable Paradise science fiction and fantasy writing workshop. After teaching English in rural Japan for two years, she relocated to the Seattle area, where she now works as an indie bookseller. She is prone to spontaneous dancing, exploring ancient cities around the world, adventuring through forests, spoiling cats terribly, and drinking inordinate amounts of tea late into the night.
Traci-Anne Canada is a high school literature teacher and middle grade and young adult SFF writer. She runs a YouTube account discussing writing, books, and the publishing industry. She also runs multiple online book communities. When she isn’t thinking about books, she is obsessively watching YouTube videos and Netflix.
Shai Fenwick was born in Trinidad and Tobago to two economists who spoke nine languages between them, and has been involved in both politics and education since she was a toddler. She has copy-edited engineers in Houston; edited and written for a daily newspaper and a monthly state magazine; studied anthropology and professional writing at OU; worked with hearing and visually impaired students on behavior modification; taught science and social studies; and worked with faculty, staff, and a diverse array of students, faculty and staff at the University of Oklahoma. Her history is multinational and multiethnic.
She has served on the board of the Oklahoma Coalition for Reproductive Justice and the steering committee for Take Root Conference on Red State Reproductive Justice. She serves on the board of the Future Society of Central Oklahoma and is hotel liaison for SoonerCon. She earned her bachelor's degree in anthropology, her master's in professional writing, and is currently pursuing her PhD in instructional leadership and curriculum. She is a founding partner of Cobalt Prairie Consulting LLC in Norman, working to elect progressive, justice-oriented candidates to public office throughout Oklahoma.
She is a fierce advocate for education and reproductive justice. She is an author, spouse, educator, student and adoptive mom to many furbabies, plants and wayward students. Her favorite hobby in addition to consuming and making stories, gardening, cooking, singing, sewing, and kayaking…is sleeping.
Cass Morris works as a writer and educator in central Virginia and as a bookseller in the Outer Banks of North Carolina. She completed her Master of Letters at Mary Baldwin University in 2010, and she earned her undergraduate degree, a BA in English with a minor in history, from the College of William and Mary in 2007. She reads voraciously, wears corsets voluntarily, and will beat you at MarioKart. Her debut novel, From Unseen Fire (Book One of the Aven Cycle), is a Roman-flavored historical fantasy released by DAW Books.
How do we build inclusive book-centric communities? Learn more about the individual and systemic challenges and forms of labor that people often overlook, and ideas from curated recommendation lists to moderated physical gatherings. This panel of book purveyors, online bookish community managers, and educators will discuss the work that goes into intentionally managing community through a focus on books, actively creating space for it, and why it is so fundamentally important.
Here, Queer, and Changing the World: Addressing the Influential Power of Sexuality and Gender in Worldbuilding
K.A. Doore (moderator), A. J. Hackwith, Jo Ladzinski
K. A. Doore got a degree in classics and then bounced around doing a variety of things, including fixing bicycles, keeping chickens, and photographing saguaros. She now lives in Michigan with her wife and daughter, two cats, and no ghost—yet. The Chronicles of Ghadid is her debut trilogy, beginning with The Perfect Assassin. Find her shouting about queer books at her website kadoore.com or on Twitter @KA_Doore.
Amanda is a queer speculative fiction writer who writes contemporary fantasy as A. J. Hackwith and sci-fi romance as Ada Harper. The first in her contemporary fantasy trilogy, The Library of the Unwritten, releases October 2019 with Ace. Her writing has appeared in Uncanny Magazine and various anthologies, and she's an alumni of Viable Paradise workshop. She's represented by Caitlin McDonald of Donald Maass Literary Agency. You can find her at ajhackwith.com or on other dark corners of the internet yelling about books as @ajhackwith.
Jo Ladzinski is a New Yorker who moved to Chicago with a degree in nutritional sciences and integrated marketing communications. They enjoy hitting pixels with big pixelated swords, adding tape and paper to their bullet journal, and lifting heavy objects only to put them down. Find them at jowritesfantasy.me or on Twitter @joeatsfood for constant yelling about the hypest.
Writers make many choices when they build worlds, both conscious and unconscious. One choice is whether or not to reflect the queerphobia endemic to our modern society, or instead actively work against those biases and build a world that's inclusive by default. But what does this choice mean for the worlds we build? This panel will ask: What choices are unique to writing queer heroes (or heroic queers)? What should we keep in mind so we're not just performing another variety of erasure? Is it necessary to use modern words to reflect queer identities, or is there space for other identities, other interpretations?
Anne Lister
Why We Write About War
Cass Morris, Tina LeCount Myers, Rook Riley, Cristal G. Thompson (moderator), K.B. Wagers
Cass Morris works as a writer and educator in central Virginia and as a bookseller in the Outer Banks of North Carolina. She completed her Master of Letters at Mary Baldwin University in 2010, and she earned her undergraduate degree, a BA in English with a minor in history, from the College of William and Mary in 2007. She reads voraciously, wears corsets voluntarily, and will beat you at MarioKart. Her debut novel, From Unseen Fire (Book One of the Aven Cycle), is a Roman-flavored historical fantasy released by DAW Books.
Tina LeCount Myers is a writer, surfer, and gluestick artist who grew up on Southern California tennis courts with a prophecy hanging over her head; her parents hoped she’d one day be an author. Tina is the author of The Song of All and Dreams of the Dark Sky (Books 1 and 2 of The Legacy of the Heavens series). Her work has also appeared in Literary Hub and on Tor.com. Tina lives in San Francisco with her adventurer husband and demanding Siamese cat. Breath of Gods (Book 3 The Legacy of the Heavens) will be out 2020 from Night Shade Books.
An Army veteran and former government contractor, Rook Riley splits her time between teaching history and helping run the family farm. She lives with anxiety and PTSD by taking medication, writing, and hitting a heavy bag. After attending the University of Texas, Kansas State University, the Defense Language Institute, and George Washington University, she eventually earned a BS in psychology. A dog, a kid, and a significant other share her space and occasionally expect to share her time.
Cristal G. Thompson holds dual master's degrees in US history and religious studies with a specialization in the intersection of war and religion. She has written about religious themes in Frank Capra’s World War II Why We Fight Series, Christian Hunting Culture, and Lost Cause propaganda in the United States. Growing up South Carolina, she was drawn at an early age to the frustrating futility of war and the malleability of its memory. She lives now in eastern North Carolina with her spouse and two very rotten dumpster dogs. She is currently working on a historical fantasy series, the Danziger Forgeries.
K.B. Wagers is the author of the Indranan War trilogy as well as There Before the Chaos, the start of the Farian War trilogy with Orbit Books and the upcoming NeoG series from Harper Voyager. They hold a bachelor's degree in Russian studies and a second-degree blackbelt in Shaolin Kung Fu. A native of Colorado, K.B. lives at the base of the Rocky Mountains with their partner and a crew of recalcitrant cats. In between books, they can be found attempting to learn Spanish, dying in video games, dancing to music, and scribbling new ideas in their bullet journal. They are represented by Andrew Zack of The Zack Company.
Why do we write about war? With such a vast quantity of fantasy novels with war as either the primary focus or the landscape is there something particular that makes writers—even those without military backgrounds—come back to war stories again and again? Do we write about war because we are writing fantasy? Or do we write fantasy so that we can write about war? This panel will discuss not the reality of war, but the writing of it.
K. Blount
Papers and Lectures
- | - Panels
Workshops
- | - Roundtable Discussions
- | - Afternoon Classes
Combination Presentations
WORKSHOPS
Workshops are hands-on explorations of a topic. This category can include writing workshops, practice in strategies for teaching and learning, craft-based presentations, and other hands-on and highly interactive topics. Please note that the seating in workshop rooms is very limited to allow the presenters the maximum hands-on teaching time for each attendee, as well as to control costs that the presenters incur in providing materials. Thank you for your understanding.
Managing Burnout as a Creative
Amanda Hudson
Amanda Hudson is a game developer who recently relocated to Seattle after living abroad in Sweden for two and a half years. She holds a JD from Baylor University and previously practiced law in Texas. When not reading or writing fantasy, Amanda enjoys exploring the great outdoors, playing board games with friends, and baking but not cooking.
Burnout is a term often mocked or misrepresented in the United States, particularly in the media. This workshop will provide an overview of the history of the term from a creative perspective and examine what it encompasses, including mental and physical responses. Then, attendees will have the opportunity to participate in exercises related to burnout, and to discuss what we can do to manage burnout and stress as creatives.
Navigating New Waters: Understanding the Nuances of Creating Disabled and Mentally Ill Characters
V. S. Holmes
V. S. Holmes is an award-winning science fiction and fantasy author. She created the epic fantasy Reforged series, and an archaeological sci-fi series, the Nel Bently Books. In addition, she runs Amphibian Press, dedicated to helping hybrid authors with publishing, and has a blogging residency at Aspiring Authors focused on writing disability and mental illness. When not writing, she is a contract archaeologist and, as a disabled gender-queer person, an activist for equal rights and climate change.
Disability representation is crucial to writing realistic and inclusive fantasy worlds—but where do you start? And how do you avoid blundering into disrespectful territory? We will discuss the importance of disabled representation, explain common clichés, and detail how to write a character with a mental or physical disability respectfully and realistically.
Papers and Lectures
- | - Panels
Workshops
- | - Roundtable Discussions
- | - Afternoon Classes
Combination Presentations
ROUNDTABLE DISCUSSIONS
Roundtables are interactive discussions of a topic led by a moderator, and attendees are encouraged to take an active part in the discussion. Please note that seating in roundtable rooms is very limited to allow everyone in the room the opportunity to participate.
Breaking the Honor Code: Notions of Honor, Who They Empower, and What It Means to Be Dishonorable
Amy Boggs
Amy Boggs is the assistant contracts manager at Kensington Books, having previously worked as a sf/f literary agent and bookseller. She is a devoted fan of fantasy, science fiction, and all the wibbly-wobbly of speculative art. In her spare time, she tiptoes through fandoms and rants about media on Twitter @notjustanyboggs.
Whether attached to awards, oaths, or societal conventions, the notion of honor often goes hand in hand with nobility and heroics. Why? This roundtable will discuss what we mean when we talk about honor, how honor is utilized in fiction and our world, and whether sometimes being dishonorable is the more heroic action.
Hope Is Like the Sun: Women's Power in Star Wars
Jo O’Brien
Jo O’Brien is a writer, artist, cosplayer, mythical creature, and Viking who lives in northern Colorado, wrangling a host of familiar spirits. She writes about ambitious, unrepentant, sometimes vicious women in novels and for live steel horse theater. She has been a member of the Sirens community since 2011.
The women of Star Wars have always occupied positions of political power, and as the galaxy far, far away has grown more inclusive, visions of feminine power have expanded to include capable warriors, wise sages, and headstrong padawans. In this roundtable, we'll discuss the women that hold the galaxy together, the choices they have to make, how they use their power, and what we can learn from them.
Rose Tico
The Infatuation with Child Warriors in SFF
Kate Larking
Kate Larking has never been without stories. During the day, she works for an independent publisher. In her off hours, between binge-watching anime and leveling up game characters, she writes speculative fiction for both young adult and adult markets. Her queer space opera comic, Crash and Burn, has been a multi-year Aurora Awards finalist for best English Graphic Novel. She resides in Calgary, Alberta, with her wife, daughter, and cats.
Speculative fiction narratives frequently follow youth and child soldiers, who can be both the celebrated hero—be they magical girls, teenage superheroes, rebel insurgents, or mech pilots—and a war’s most tragic victim. In fiction, youth fighters can appear as smart, capable, and morally grounded—often accompanied by a naïve simplification of war and resistance. But children are far from infallible; they are easily manipulated and deceived into using their lives and power for others without agency or informed consent. Let’s explore how these characters are presented.
Picture Me Saving the Day: Animated Heroines
Faye Bi
Faye Bi is the director of publicity at Bloomsbury Children's Books, and spends the rest of her time reading, cycling, pondering her next meal, and leading the Sirens communications team. She’s yet to read an immigrant story she hasn’t cried over, and is equally happy in walkable cities and sprawling natural vistas. You can follow her on Twitter @faye_bi.
The heroines in animated films come in many forms—and frequently, the same shapes. This roundtable discussion will examine heroines in animation. Heroines to be discussed might include classic animated Snow White and modern Moana, women in the Shrek films, magical anime girls, Sophie and other Studio Ghibli heroines, and more. Come ready to talk about your favorites, how they display heroics (or not), and how their visuals are used to frame heroines.
Reinventing the Literary Canon—Why Don’t We Teach That?
Katie Passerotti
Katie Passerotti lives in the hills of Pennsylvania where she works as a high school English teacher. She loves sharing her passion for reading and for language with her students and helping them to find their voices. When she’s not teaching, Katie can be found reading or writing about messy girls completing fantastic quests, at the barn riding her horse, or eating cookies and geeking out with her friends.
In high school English classes, students are required to read books considered classics within the literary canon. With few exceptions, these books are written by white, cis-het men. The adherence to this list is stifling today’s students. The world is changing and the current educational system no longer meets the needs of its students. This discussion will examine how the needs of students are evolving, what the purpose of English classes should be going forward, and ways to expand the curriculum to include more diverse books that better represent not only the student population, but the world students live in.
There’s No I in Hero: A Discussion of Communities as Agents of Change
Jennifer Shimada
Jennifer Shimada is a fantasy reader, tea drinker, world traveler, and academic librarian. She is originally from California, earned a BA in history in Texas, taught fifth grade in Oklahoma, and currently works at a graduate school of education in New York. Along the way, Jennifer earned a MLIS from San Jose State University.
One of the most pervasive American myths is the idea of “rugged individualism”—that individual heroes can save the world or push their society toward progress. However, real, lasting change never comes from a single hero fighting on their own, or even from a small band of heroes working together. Real progress and change comes from movements and communities, with many people working together and separately over a long period of time. In this roundtable, we’ll discuss the problems with depending on individual heroes to save the day, and the ways in which fantasy stories can center movements and communities instead.
When Consumers Become Fans: Identity and Power in Fan Culture
Suzanne Scott
Suzanne Scott is an assistant professor in the Radio-Television-Film department at the University of Texas at Austin. Her current book, Fake Geek Girls: Fandom, Gender, and the Convergence Culture Industry (NYU Press) considers the gendered tensions underpinning the media industry’s embrace of fans as demographic tastemakers, professionals, and promotional partners within convergence culture. Surveying the politics of participation within digitally mediated fan cultures, this project addresses the “mainstreaming” of fan and geek culture over the past decade, how media industries have privileged an androcentric conception of the fan, and the marginalizing effect this has had on female fans. She is also co-editor of The Routledge Companion to Media Fandom (2018). Her scholarly work has appeared in the journals Transformative Works and Cultures, Cinema Journal, New Media & Society, Participations, Feminist Media Histories, and Critical Studies in Media Communication, as well as numerous anthologies, including Fandom: Identities and Communities in a Mediated World (2nd Edition), How to Watch Television, The Participatory Culture Handbook, and Cylons in America: Critical Studies in Battlestar Galactica.
This roundtable will offer a quick historical overview of the field of fan studies from the 1990s to the present, with an emphasis on its roots in feminist media studies and queer theory. Discussion questions will engage the field’s enduring focus on issues of identity and power, consider fan production as a space for space for marginalized voices to speak back to media industries, and interrogate how the field might better contemplate how axes of identity beyond gender and sexuality shape the experience of fan culture.
Why the Damage? Breaking and Unbreaking Our Heroines
Bonnie Nichols
Bonnie Nichols has been a reader since she can remember. She grew up outside of Fort Collins, Colorado, and her childhood was made infinitely better by books. Always partial to genre, she reads mysteries, fantasy, science fiction, romance, and loves any skillful blending in between. Her companions are a dog named Emmy and a cat named Nefret.
So many of our heroines stand tall and mighty at the end of battles, triumphant but bruised, bleeding, and in many cases mentally worn or even broken down by their fight to become heroines. Or maybe they start their journey by being broken—by culture, villains, family, or circumstance—and grow stronger through the story. Let’s explore how tortured our tortured heroines must really be to be compelling characters, and see if there’s a way to do more than break.
With Great Power...
Meg Belviso
Meg Belviso holds a BA in English from Smith College and an MFA from Columbia University. She's the staff editor of Angels on Earth magazine, though in her time off she prefers ghosts and monsters. As a freelancer, she has written for many properties, including several biographies in Penguin’s Who Was…? series.
Power. Some are born with it. Some would do anything to get it. Some can never have enough. Let’s look at how stories deal with power in this roundtable discussion: What forms can it take? What types of characters are allowed to wield it? What does it cost? And how can writers keep powerful characters from running amok in a narrative?
Papers and Lectures
- | - Panels
Workshops
- | - Roundtable Discussions
- | - Afternoon Classes
Combination Presentations
AFTERNOON CLASSES
Some presenters have been accepted to teach classes in topics related to fantasy literature and the activities of its characters. These tend to be heavily demonstration-based and interactive. You may be required to sign a liability waiver to be in the room during physical sessions.
Chainmail 101 and the Steampunk Maker Ethos
Fred Loucks-Schultz (moderator), Rebecca Loucks-Schultz
Fred Loucks-Schultz finished his first chain mail dice bag in 2010 and began building steampunk accessories a few years later—watch fobs, necklaces and even a full-sized armor piece. Fred and Rebecca Loucks-Schultz have been making things for years.
Rebecca Loucks-Schultz enjoys sewing and has designed and created several steampunk and anime outfits. Rebecca and Fred Loucks-Schultz have been making things for years.
From Bilbo’s mithril shirt to Red Sonja’s infamous bikini, and from steampunk retro-futurism to post-apocalyptic Hollywood movies, chain mail has long been a staple of fantasy literature. Learn about the Maker side of Steampunk, the cross-cultural history of mail both as armor and decoration, the tools and techniques for making modern mail accessories, and then build your own key fob or bracelet in this hands-on workshop.
Every Hero Needs a Shield: Heraldry Basics
Karen Bailey
When she is not wrangling students (and co-workers) for a music non-profit or working on completing the current Sirens Reading Challenge, Karen Bailey is an avid quilter and crafter. This year’s theme gave her the impetus to dive into a new subject and try something new.
Is your armor looking a bit drab? Do your fans have trouble recognizing you at tournaments? Are there feats of daring you want to showcase? If the answer to any of these questions is yes, you need a banner or shield upgrade. In this afternoon class, we will take a look at the history of heraldry and then dive into making your own shield or banner.
Power Up Your Gauntlets of Power
Manda Lewis (moderator), Erynn Moss
Manda holds a BS degree in aerospace engineering and a Masters of Tourism Administration, and served in the Air Force for seven years. She currently works for a children’s museum in Raleigh, North Carolina, hosting after-hours special events. She is also the caretaker of two small humans who look like her and often have dragon tea parties. Manda has always made it a habit to draw, color, and doodle on just about everything within reach and loves themes far more than anyone really should. Manda has been a volunteer for Phoenix Rising, Terminus, and Sirens for the last eleven years.
Erynn Moss enjoys sewing, reading, and riddles. Here’s a good one:
Named for clansmen proud and free
My saw-edged teeth cut better than a tear
From me you take a binding hard to see
I spin around a hub that isn't there
Join a hands-on tutorial for creating your own power gauntlets for yourself and your heroic alter ego! We will learn the basics of soft circuitry using fabric and electronic elements. You'll take home your very own powered-up work!
A small materials donation is welcome.
Papers and Lectures
- | - Panels
Workshops
- | - Roundtable Discussions
- | - Afternoon Classes
Combination Presentations
COMBINATION PRESENTATIONS
Combination presentations include two or more elements of the other presentation types. For example, a paper may precede a related roundtable discussion.
Sari Draping as Costume and Cultural Celebration
Shaista Fenwick
Shai Fenwick was born in Trinidad and Tobago to two economists who spoke nine languages between them, and has been involved in both politics and education since she was a toddler. She has copy-edited engineers in Houston; edited and written for a daily newspaper and a monthly state magazine; studied anthropology and professional writing at OU; worked with hearing and visually impaired students on behavior modification; taught science and social studies; and worked with faculty, staff, and a diverse array of students, faculty and staff at the University of Oklahoma. Her history is multinational and multiethnic.
She has served on the board of the Oklahoma Coalition for Reproductive Justice and the steering committee for Take Root Conference on Red State Reproductive Justice. She serves on the board of the Future Society of Central Oklahoma and is hotel liaison for SoonerCon. She earned her bachelor's degree in anthropology, her master's in professional writing, and is currently pursuing her PhD in instructional leadership and curriculum. She is a founding partner of Cobalt Prairie Consulting LLC in Norman, working to elect progressive, justice-oriented candidates to public office throughout Oklahoma.
She is a fierce advocate for education and reproductive justice. She is an author, spouse, educator, student and adoptive mom to many furbabies, plants and wayward students. Her favorite hobby in addition to consuming and making stories, gardening, cooking, singing, sewing, and kayaking…is sleeping.
This workshop/afternoon class exposes participants to the six families of sari drapes, gives them the experience of draping and wearing a sari, and discusses the question of complexity and appropriation when borrowing from other cultures in writing.
Papers and Lectures
- | - Panels
Workshops
- | - Roundtable Discussions
- | - Afternoon Classes
Combination Presentations
Vetting Board
Dr. Kinitra Brooks is the Audrey and John Leslie Endowed Chair in Literary Studies in the Department of English at Michigan State University. Dr. Brooks specializes in the study of black women, genre fiction, and popular culture. She currently has two books in print: Searching for Sycorax: Black Women’s Hauntings of Contemporary Horror (Rutgers UP 2017), a critical treatment of black women in science fiction, fantasy, and horror; and Sycorax’s Daughters (Cedar Grove Publishing 2017), an edited volume of short horror fiction written by black women. She is the co-editor of The Lemonade Reader (Routledge 2019), an edited volume dedicated to analyzing Beyoncé’s audiovisual project, Lemonade (2016). Dr. Brooks will serve as the Advancing Equity Through Research Fellow at the Hutchins Center for African & African American Research at Harvard University for the 2018–2019 academic year.
Alyssa Collins is an assistant professor of English and African American Studies at the University of South Carolina. Her work explores the intersections of race and technology as depicted in 20th century and contemporary African American literature, digital culture, and new media. When she’s not working, she writes about race, superheroes, television, and embodiment around the internet.
Ruqayyah Daud is an editorial assistant at Little Brown Books for Young Readers and a graduate of the Pace University M.S. in Publishing program. She is passionate about children's books, especially middle grade and young adult fantasies that take you out of this world. In her free time, she enjoys binging Netflix shows and attempting to be an active member of her local running club.
Sharon K. Goetz is a technical product manager at a real estate brokerage. Too fond of textuality for her own good, she has also worked in scholarly textual criticism and web publishing, tested software, documented software, and completed a PhD investigating medieval English chronicles amidst their manuscript contexts. As time permits, she reads widely and plays computer games.
Joy Kim works as a public librarian in Massachusetts. She is a past chair of YALSA’s William C. Morris YA Debut Award and Great Graphic Novels for Teens committees and a lifelong reader of speculative fiction. In her free time, she enjoys cooking, running, and watching Korean reality shows.
Yoon Ha Lee is the New York Times bestselling author of the middle grade novel Dragon Pearl. His debut novel, Ninefox Gambit, won the Locus Award for best first novel and was a finalist for the Hugo, Nebula, and Clarke awards; its sequel, Raven Stratagem, was a finalist for the Hugo Award. He is also co-author of the Serial Box space opera The Vela with Becky Chambers, Rivers Solomon, and S. L. Huang. He lives in Louisiana with his family and an extremely lazy cat, and has not yet been eaten by gators.
2019 CALL FOR PROPOSALS: Sirens
Denver, Colorado
October 24–27, 2019
A conference on women in fantasy literature presented by Narrate Conferences, Inc.
Sirens, a conference focused on literary contributions by women to the fantasy genre and on fantasy works with prominent female characters, will take place October 24–27, 2019, in Denver, Colorado. The conference seeks papers, panels, interactive workshops, roundtable discussions, and other presentations suitable for an audience of academics, professionals, educators, librarians, authors, and readers.
The theme for 2019 is “heroes” and presenters are invited to consider topics related to gender, heroism, and fantasy literature. Proposals that address women in fantasy literature, such as specific aspects of a work or series, works related by other themes, and studies of the fantasy genre across all disciplines are encouraged as well. A non-exhaustive list of sample topics includes literary analyses of novels; studies of genre history; use of fantasy works in schools and libraries for education; examination of related business and legal issues; media and fan studies; craft-based workshops in writing, art, and publishing; and overviews of how fantasy works fit into larger contexts.
Presentation submission to the vetting board is by online system only. No other format or contact will be considered. The deadline for proposals is May 15, 2019, and notices regarding proposals will be sent no later than June 12, 2019. Those requiring an early decision in order to obtain funding from their institutions should contact the programming coordinator at (programming at sirensconference.org).
At the time of proposal submission, presenters must provide an abstract of 300 to 500 words, a 50 to 100 word presentation summary for publication, and a presenter biography of 50 to 100 words. Those wishing to submit a proposal for a panel or an interactive roundtable discussion may submit a brief explanation of a topic and a list of 10–15 sample discussion questions in lieu of a formal abstract; workshop proposals may be formatted as lesson plans. Afternoon classes—interactive demonstrations of interest to fantasy readers that may be less formally related to the theme—may also be presented as lesson plans. Panelists must submit supplemental abstracts detailing their contributions to the panel.
Accepted presenters must be available to attend the conference in its entirety; no partial or day registrations will be offered. Presenters must be registered (and fully paid) for the conference no later than July 10, 2019. Conference papers will be collected for optional publication at a later date.
For more information about programming, the review process, suggested timing and structure of presentations, audio-visual availability, and proposal submissions, please see the Sirens website at <http://www.sirensconference.org/present/>. Questions specifically about programming may be directed to (programming at sirensconference.org), and general conference inquiries may be sent to (help at sirensconference.org).
Sirens is a presentation of Narrate Conferences, Inc., a 501(c)(3) charitable organization with the mission of organizing academic, literary, and exploratory educational conferences that address themes of interest to scholars, educators, students, professionals, and readers. For inquiries about Narrate Conferences, Inc., please write to (info at narrateconferences.org).
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Conference - Guests of Honor - Schedule - Books and Breakfast - Reading Lists
Programming - Vetting Board - Call for Proposals
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