I’ve just returned from a mini lecture tour in Germany! It was an honour to be invited to share my work on the current elemental aesthetics book project with colleagues and students at the University of Konstanz and TU Dresden, at the invitation of Prof. Timo Müller (Professor of...
Ekow Eshun in Conver...
posted by Caroline Edwards
The Black Fantastic: Ekow Eshun in Conversation with Ekow Eshun and Dr Caroline Edwards Friday 24th February 2023, 6-8pm, Keynes Library, 43 Gordon Square, Bloomsbury, London WC1H 0PD How are contemporary Black artists reimagining fantastic genres and motifs to address racism and social...
Arboreal Revelation
posted by Caroline Edwards
I’ve been working on a new chapter about trees as part of my current book project, Hopeful Inhumanism: The Elemental Aesthetics of Ecocatastrophe. Titled “Arboreal Revelation,” the chapter will extend my analysis in earlier case studies on rocks...
Black Utopias
posted by Caroline Edwards
I’ve been teaching Pauline Hopkins’ lost race narrative, of One Blood: Or, The Hidden Self (1902-3) on Birkbeck’s BA Science Fiction module over the past year and was delighted to have the chance to develop this work into a conference paper as part of a panel on...
Princeton Keynote
posted by Caroline Edwards
Featured image: “Soma Goddess” by Emily Balivet, 2015. used with permission. I was really pleased to be able to deliver my postponed keynote lecture at the “Idyll and Utopia” conference, organised by graduate students at Princeton University’s German...
Hypnotic Inhumanism
posted by Caroline Edwards
I was delighted to be able to deliver my keynote online for the rescheduled 10th anniversary conference of Current Research into Speculative Fiction (CRSF) on the theme of “Survival,” which took place on 1-2 July 2021. My keynote was titled “Hypnotic Inhumanism: The Welcome...
Utopian Hope
posted by Caroline Edwards
This lecture considered how the idea of Utopia helps us galvanise political literary readings within the context of an increasingly dystopian sense of global crisis. Despite the seemingly relentless, dystopian nature of these issues, I argue that contemporary writers are responding by using...
Coastal Dystopias
posted by Caroline Edwards
18 March 2021, 2-3.30pm GMT Online via Zoom (booking required) I’ll be speaking about “Coastal Dystopias” as part of the Institute for Historical Research (IHR) series on “Coastal Connections.” Caroline will join Prof. Dr. Silja Klepp (Kiel), Dr...
Whitechapel Gallery
posted by Caroline Edwards
I’m currently working on my new book project, Arcadian Revenge: Science Fiction in the Era of Ecocatastrophe, which considers “ecocatastrophe” narratives in literature, film, graphic fiction, contemporary art and music. Drawing on debates in eco-socialism and anti-humanism, as well as...
British Academy
posted by admin
I was delighted to be asked to chair a recent panel discussion for the British Academy on Dystopian Literature in Our Time. The panel brought together three important contemporary writers, Season Butler (author of Cygnet, 2019), Francesca Haig (author of The Fire Sermon trilogy, 2014-17) and...
Ralahine Keynote
posted by Caroline Edwards
I was thrilled to be invited by the Ralahine Centre for Utopian Studies at the University of Limerick to give the opening keynote lecture for their conference “(Un)Fair Cities. Equity, Ideology and Utopia in Urban Texts” co-organised with the Association for Literary Urban Studies...
Automated Futures
posted by Caroline Edwards
I’ve been working on a new side project on automation and utopian visions of futurity – from Marxist revolutionary theory to theories of post- and anti-work. When the London Science Fiction Research Community (LSFRC) invited me to deliver one of the keynote talks for this...
Economic SF
posted by Caroline Edwards
The economics magazine STIR hosted a panel discussion on “Economic Science Fictions” to celebrate the launch of its Autumn 2018 issue on “Co-operating out of Crisis.” I was pleased to be ask to contribute with a short talk on “The Economics of Nowhere”...
Fantastika Keynote
posted by Caroline Edwards
In July 2018, I was delighted to be invited to deliver one of the keynote addresses at After Fantastika: An Interdisciplinary Conference, the fifth annual conference organised by Fantastika Journal. The theme of the 2018 conference was what comes ‘after’, with papers...
Utopian Topographies
posted by Caroline Edwards
I was recently invited to deliver a guest lecture at the City Literary Institute in London as part of their evening lecture programme, titled “Mapping Imaginary Topographies and Times: Literary Utopias from the Renaissance to the Present.” Since I’m currently writing a...
Grrrl Zine Fair
posted by Caroline Edwards
The Grrrl Zine Library at Royal Albert Wharf, which opened as a dedicated space for the library and community meetings, recently held a Feminist Christmas Fair on Saturday 9th December 2017. I was asked to contribute to a panel discussion titled "All I want for Christmas is Utopia"...
Atwood Interview
posted by Caroline Edwards
As part of the New Scientist Live 2017 festival of ideas, I was thrilled to be asked to interview Margaret Atwood. The event, titled "Science, fiction and the future", took place on the Main Stage – VIP Area at the ExCeL Centre in London on Sunday 1st October...
LLS Keynote
posted by Caroline Edwards
I was really pleased to be invited to deliver one of the plenary addresses at the London Literary Society's annual conference in July 2017, which was organised around the theme of "Fantastic London: Dream, Speculation and Nightmare" and held at the Institute of English Studies,...
Hull City of Culture
posted by Caroline Edwards
Following a talk I gave on "The Deep Sea in Science Fiction" at the Wellcome Trust in 2015, as part of the "Incredible Encounters with Light" exhibition, I was delighted to be invited by Invisible Dust to give a follow-up talk as part of the Sounding the Sea...
Dystopia Now
posted by Caroline Edwards
Birkbeck's Centre for Contemporary Literature recently organised a one-day conference titled "Dystopia Now," held at the School of Arts on 26 May 2017. I was really thrilled to be asked to deliver the opening keynote for the conference, alongside Dr Mark Bould who gave the...