Wiscon and Convergence programming
Title: " Sparkly Boys and Tough Girls, Revisited "
"A few people commented after last year's session that it seemed like we had barely scratched the surface of this topic (I know, that never happens at WisCon), so let's pick up where we left off: Given that many gendered behaviors seem to be hard-wired in many kids, and we don't want to force kids out of their comfort zones, is it possible to parent kids into being more tough or more sparkly? Is that actually the goal, or are we looking for something else, really? "
Saturday, 2:30-3:45 P.M.
Assembly
Title: Phillip Pullman vs. C.S. Lewis: Smackdown!
"Philip Pullman has attacked the work of C.S. Lewis as, among other complaints, antifeminist. He has set his own His Dark Materials trilogy up as the anti-Narnia, and proclaimed his own atheism as a rebuttal of Lewis's Christianity. Although Lewis isn't available to debate, and Pullman probably won't be at WisCon, it seems worth discussing the remarkable parallels in the two collective works, as well as the recent competing major motion pictures: The Golden Compass and The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch & the Wardrobe and Prince Caspian. So far, Pullman may be winning some of the battles: the Whitbread prize, the all-time Carnegie Medal (Lewis's Carnegie Medal-winner, The Last Battle, wasn't even listed as a finalist), etc. On the other hand, first movie was a huge popular hit and Compass has been something of a box-office disappointment. "
Sunday, 8:30-9:45 A.M.
Capitol A
8:30 on Sunday! Good thing I was planning to (groan) get up anyway.
I need a Wiscon 32 icon. I am currently reading Pullman, as I have this panel and one at Convergence. Well, while I'm at it,
Time Room Panel
Fri 8:00pm - 9:00pm A6
Lit Philip Pullman - The Anti-Narnia
Discuss the "His Dark Materials" trilogy and Lyra's Oxford novella. What are Pullman's plans for "The Book of Dust" and other entries in this universe?
David Emerson, Alexandra Howes, Philip Kaveny, Amada Marquez, me
Fri 11:00pm - 11:59pm A6
Lit Guilty Pleasures
The long requested return of a CONvergence favorite. Come clean and share your literary guilty pleasures with everyone!
Nessa Fedde, Doug Texter, me, Karl Wolff
Sat 3:30pm - 4:30pm A6
Lit Influence of Classic Lit
How does classic literature tie into and influence speculative fiction?
Ann Laabs, Doug Texter, me, Karl Wolff
Ooh, guilty pleasures is late at night. I LOVE this panel. I get to be all enthusiastic about trashy books, and usually there's a Guilty Secrets section, where I explain that I loathe some books beyond the telling. Wuthering Heights and Dhalgren, I'm looking at you! And this late, there will be DRINKING. Because nothing make lit better than a bit of lubrication.