From the President
Hugh O’Connell
The dreaded date of August 1st looms heavy. That period when time compression kicks in, and all those research projects and new syllabi that we had “all summer” to work on will now be crammed into the final waning weeks and days of summer break. However, amongst the scramble to finish that work we swore that we wouldn’t put off—again—this year, we can look forward to the upcoming combined SFRA/GFF “Disruptive Imaginations” conference at TU-Dresden. Along with all of the research presentations and special events organized by the fantastic team of Julia Gatermann and Moritz Ingwersen, everyone should check out Vice President Ida Yoshinaga’s column in this issue for a rundown of the special panels and events sponsored by the SFRA Executive Committee (including programming that specifically addresses early career scholars and Equity/Diversity/Inclusion).
And perhaps this is a good time to offer some other calendrical reminders. Typically, at this point in August, I’d be using this President’s column to reflect on the end of the conference. However, following the theme of this year’s conference in Dresden, “disruption” is working its way through the usual SFRA calendar. The SFRA’s annual conference traditionally takes place in mid-to-late June, after many of us have turned in final grades and projects and are looking for a well-deserved break and chance to catch up with our friends and colleagues. However, this is a reminder that not only this year’s but also next year’s conferences are bucking this tradition as we continue to partner with some of our European colleagues. So, while it may feel odd since we haven’t had our 2023 conference yet, we should however also be planning for a quick turnaround, as the 2024 conference has been penciled in for the second week of May. This may be a difficult time for some of us in the US to get away (a quick look reveals that it coincides with my last week of spring classes), but it will certainly be worth it. While we will hopefully be presenting more details about this timing at the Dresden conference, part of the reason for this earlier 2024 conference date is to coincide with the “Futures Better and Worse” literary festival, which features a number of events and writers that will be of interest to the SFRA membership. So, please be on the lookout for more information at the conference and then through the usual lists and social media sites!
Speaking of events that are of interest to SFRA members, if you have an event that you’d like the SFRA to distribute through its email lists or social media sites, or you have other ideas or concerns about the work the organization is doing, please don’t hesitate to reach out to me at hugh.oconnell@umb.edu. I’d love to hear from you.
SFRA Review 