The International Association for the Fantastic in the Arts (IAFA), founded in 1982, is a nonprofit association of scholars, writers, and publishers of science fiction, fantasy, and horror in literature, film, and the other arts. Its purpose is to promote and recognize achievement in the study of the fantastic.

Its principle activities are (1) the organization of the International Conference on the Fantastic in the Arts (ICFA), which was first held in 1980, (2) the organization of the Virtual International Conference on the Fantastic in the Arts (VICFA) held first in 2021, (3) the publication of the Journal of the Fantastic in the Arts (JFA), a peer-reviewed journal for scholarship within the field of the fantastic which has been published regularly since 1990, and (4) the production of a news blog and other social media that publish information of interest to the membership.

Membership in the IAFA is open, but almost all members are scholars, teachers, and graduate students in the field of Science fiction studies, Fantasy literature, Horror literature, or are authors.

The 46^th International Conference for the Fantastic in the Arts  

Theme: Night Terrors

Guest of Honor: Silvia Moreno-Garcia 

Guest Scholar: Sarah Juliet Lauro

March 19-22, 2025

Orlando Airport Marriott Lakeside

Night Terrors can be conceptualized both internally, as the shadowy corners of humanity's subconscious, and externally, as the unseen thing that lurks in the shadows under the bed, in the woods, or in the quiet depths of space. In many ways, both internal and external nightmares are manifestations of our anxieties, fears, and worries, which are buoyed by the nebulous unknown. Given the timelessness and cross-cultural similarities of human experiences, and as a creations of culturally-specific concerns and forms, sharing terrors give us the glimmer of hope that we can defeat these things. On internal levels, it means facing our fears, drawing on inner strengths, and creating community. Externally, it means making visible the unseen, and through the reliance on community, rendering monstrosity benign and defeating it. Proposals might consider traditional horror elements (e.g. ghosts, vampires, werewolves); stories of how children face their fears; the  monstrous Other -  including culturally-specific monsters like the Baba Yaga; how fear and terror are represented in art and visual media; the terror of new technology; revisiting ancient terrors; ways that terror can be culturally situated; how to build space in order to confront our fears or other iterations of nightmares. 

Please join us in 2025 as we shine a light on Night Terrors.

We welcome proposals for individual papers and for academic sessions and panels on any aspect of the fantastic, especially those concerning night terrors or nightmares, in any media. We encourage work from creatives, institutionally affiliated scholars, independent scholars, international scholars who work on the fantastic in languages other than English, and students.  

Proposals not related to the conference theme are also welcome. 

Academic Proposals can be submitted here: https://form.jotform.com/242408332699160

Invited Creative Proposals can be submitted here: https://form.jotform.com/242407671030144

DEADLINE EXTENDED Proposal portals close November 9, 2024.

Pricing for this year's registration can be found in this document: Pricing Tiers for ICFA 46.pdf 

Register for ICFA 46 here: https://iaftfita.wildapricot.org/event-5840224

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Please visit our sister organization, Gesellschaft für Fantastikforschung.

The Gesellschaft für Fantastikforschung (GFF) [Association for Research in the Fantastic] is the first academic association in the German-speaking world committed to furthering research on the fantastic in art, literature and culture. It strives to broaden scholarly and cultural insight in this area. To that end, the association publishes its membership journal "Zeitschrift für Fantastikforschung" twice a year as well as its own book series "Beiträge zur Fantastikforschung". In addition, an annual conference provides the opportunity for a membership assembly, taking place in different locations each year.