CGED Knowledge Exchange Series

Gender in Science Fiction and Fantasy Writing

Speaker:

Becky Chambers, Author

Tang Fei, Author

Zen Cho, Author

Moderator:

Professor Nicole Huang (Chairperson, Department of Comparative Literature, HKU)

Date: March 16, 2018 (Friday)

Time: 5:00pm-6:30pm

Venue: Rm. 4.36, Run Run Shaw Tower, Centennial Campus, HKU

Throughout the history of science fiction and fantasy literature, women writers have pushed the boundaries of the genre to probe topics at the edges of the human imagination. Mary Shelley, Ursula K. Le Guin, Octavia E. Butler, Margaret Atwood, and, of course J.K. Rowlings are all giants known beyond hardcore fns. With Hao Jingfang winning the prestigious 2016 Hugo Award, Chinese women writers add their names to the growing list of pioneering science fiction authors in the Chinese speaking world. This panel of three accomplished writers explores the world of women in science fiction by focusing on the reasons for their choice of genre, themes, characters and plots in their fiction as well as the particular challenges they face publishing science fiction literature.

Becky Chambers, Tang Fei and Zen Cho, as well as another 20 internationally-recognised writers and scientists, will also be speaking at Melon on March 17th at the JW Marriott. 

Becky Chambers is the author of the science fiction novels. Her work has been nominated for the Hugo Award, the Arthur C. Clarke Award, and the Bailey's Women's Prize for Fiction, among others.

Tang Fei is a speculative fiction writer and a member of SFWA. She has been writing and publishing nearly 400,000 words of short stories and novelettes since 2005 in Jiuzhou Fantasy and Science Fiction World.

Zen Cho was born and raised in Malaysia. She is the author of Crawford Award-winning short story collection Spirits Abroad and editor of anthology Cyberpunk: Malaysia. She has been nominated for the Campbell Award for Best New Writer and honour-listed for the Carl Brandon Society Awards for her short fiction.

Co-organized by:
MELON
Committee on Gender Equality and Diversity, Faculty of Arts, HKU
Center for the Study of Globalization and Cultures (CSGC), HKU
Department of Comparative Literature, HKU