Peter Watt’s acceptance speech at the Hugo Awards ceremony in 2010 (Johan Angelmark [CC BY-SA 2.0], via Wikimedia Commons)

The University of Toronto is hosting Space Vampires & the Future of ‘I’: The Fiction of Peter Watts, a FREE two day symposium, November 10-11.

Schedule of events

FRIDAY 10th NOVEMBER

• 1500-1515 Welcome / Event Introduction
• 1515-1600 Roundtable Discussion: On Peter Watts and the Science/Fiction Divide. Allan Weiss, Amy J. Ransom, Dominick Grace, Michele Braun
• 1600-1615 Peter Watts Introduction by Michael Johnstone
• 1615-1645 Peter Watts Reading
• 1645-1730 Peter Watts in Conversation with Ben Eldridge & Michael Johnstone
• 1730-1745 Peter Watts Q&A
• 1745-1800 Close / Drinks
• 1830-late Symposium dinner @ Duke of York.

SATURDAY 11th NOVEMBER

• 1000-1015 Welcome / Coffee
• 1015-1145 Canonical Distortions

TBA: Edward Keller (Parsons New School of Design)

“Lenie Clarke is God”: Religion & Peter Watts. Dominick Grace (Brescia University College)

Rifters and Beyond: An (Overly) Educated Fan’s Perspective. Amy J. Ransom (Central Michigan University)

• 1145-1245 Narratological Distortions

From Simile to Metaphor: The Alien in Clarke’s Rendezvous with Rama & Watts’ Blindsight. Michael Johnstone (University of Toronto)

Sculpting the Past: Fractal Narrative in Peter Watts’ Rifters Trilogy. Devin Oxman (Concordia University)

• 1245-1330 Lunch
• 1330-1430 Cyborgs, Hybrids, and Alien Others: Peter Watts’s  Posthumanism. Clare Wall (York University)
• 1430-1530 The (Grammatical) Autonomy of Angels: “Malak” and the Language of Logic. Ben Eldridge (University of Sydney)
• 1530-1630 The Influence of Paratextual Reputation on Textual Authority. Michele Braun (Mount Royal University)
• 1630-1645 Afternoon break
• 1645-1745 Peter Watts’s Rifters Trilogy and the Apocalyptic Tradition. Allan Weiss (York University)
• 1745-1800 Close / Drinks

For more info about BEYOND THE RIFT, visit the Tachyon page

Cover art by Hugh Sicotte

Design by Elizabeth Story