My schedule for ReaderCon 2019

My reading is at Friday at 3:00PM. Show up and hear me read a still-unpublished story about robots, a minor god of death, and ice dancing!

Recent Nonfiction Essay Club: “Decolonizing the Imagination” by Zetta Elliott
John Chu, Darcie Little Badger, Kate Nepveu (mod), Vandana Singh, Cadwell Turnbull
Fri 12:00 PM, Salon A
In her essay “Decolonizing the Imagination,” published in Horn Book Magazine and on their website, Zetta Elliott wrote of the challenge in crafting portal fantasies and time travel stories that partook as much of her heritage as of the colonial literature she grew up reading as a mixed-race girl in Canada. This discussion will consider the questions raised by her essay, including, “Can time and space be shaped by an author to satisfy needs left unfulfilled by an unjust reality?”

Reading: John Chu
Fri 3:00 PM, Salon C

Translation and Embedded Assumptions
Anatoly Belilovsky, John Chu, Neil Clarke, Pablo Defendini, Tamara Vardomskaya (mod)
Sat 2:00 PM, Salon B
In an interview with Fran Wilde, Emily Wilson described the effect of embedded cultural assumptions in translating The Odyssey—not only the assumptions in the original Greek, but the assumptions that past English translators have imposed on the text. Panelists will discuss how translators can and should approach these challenges.

Just Exotic Enough: Inclusion in and Exclusion from “World Literature”
John Chu, José Pablo Iriarte, Mary Anne Mohanraj, Mimi Mondal (mod), Vandana Singh
Sun 11:00 AM, Salon B
In the 2018 article “Comforting Myths,” Rabih Alameddine argues that the “world literature” genre consists of authors who “are basically safe, domesticated, just exotic enough to make our readers feel that they are liberal, not parochial or biased.” Panelists will discuss issues raised in the article, including what speculative literature’s comforting myths are, how the dominant culture identifies which writers are allowed to be heard, and the ways in which being labeled a “diverse” author can be a double-edged sword.

What Does Authenticity Look Like?
Steve Berman, Lisa Bradley (mod), John Chu, John Lawson, John Wiswell
Sun 1:00 PM, Salon 3
As the #ownvoices movement gathers steam, marginalized authors encounter demands for authenticity in their work from agents, editors, and readers who often have no idea what authenticity looks like. These authors often already pressure themselves, asking, “Am I #ownvoices enough?” But how else can they signal that their writing is for or about an underrepresented demographic? This panel of marginalized authors, led by Lisa M. Bradley, will discuss the concept of authenticity, the #ownvoices label, and how authors present and think about their work.