From the SFRA Executive Committee
From the Vice President
Chris Pak
One of the joys of working with the SFRA is the sheer number of projects, events, creative works and public engagements that I hear about as vice-president through our quarterly country representatives meetings. From projects such as the Spanish-language Future Laboratories LabandJessica Imbach’s European Research Council funded project, Sinofantasy, the exciting activity being conducted by the new Zurich Science Fiction Network, chaired by our former SFRA secretary Sarah Lohmann, to the variety of talks and conferences, such as Petrocultures 2026, which is being held at TU Dresden, sf scholarship’s vigour and dynamism is always a delight to hear about. Events such as the Kyoto International Manga Museum’s ongoing exhibition of art from Nyaight of the Living Cat, the 2025 International Science Fiction Festival’s Les Utopialesin Nantes, the 46th Japan SF Awards, voted for by the SFF Writers of Japan, and the exciting scholarly and creative works published from around the world reaffirm the vitality of the field. It’s a pleasure to share these engagements and creative works through this column but I have also been exploring channels to communicate this information to our wider membership. I will thus be looking to develop ways to use the SFRA website to do so. Of course, if you have any suggestions, please do feel free to reach out to me to let me know of them. If you would like to get more closely involved with the SFRA then I would encourage you to consider becoming a country representative. Take a look at the Country Representatives page to see whether the country you would like to represent already has a liaison and, if so, do reach out to them to join the country network. Otherwise, do consider volunteering—just send me an expression of interest by email.
Plans for our annual conference at Michigan State University are well underway, and more details and conference acceptances will be issued shortly, if you’ve not already received them. Do consider applying for the travel grant. Further details about this grant will be shared along with the acceptance notifications. During this year’s conference we shall be using the ECR panel to explore a new mentorship scheme whereby the organisation shall pair mentees and mentors, who will collaborate to develop a mentorship programme that works for both. If you think you would benefit from being paired with a mentor or if you would like to volunteer to mentor someone during the 2026–2027 period, please do attend the ECR panel and let us know of your interest.
I shall be looking forward to seeing you at this year’s conference, which I shall be attending virtually. Until my next column, I wish you all the best for 2026.
SFRA Review 