Call for Papers:

The Virtual Conference on the Fantastic in the Arts 5 (VICFA5)

Speculative Visions of Care and Hope

Organized by IAFA and CoFutures

Guests of Honor: Zoha Kazemi (Iran) and Ahmed Naji (Egypt)

Date: 17-19 September 2026

Visions of care and hope are central to contemporary speculative fiction across media, even in, and perhaps especially in, postapocalyptic and dystopian narratives. Against the fundamental brokenness of the technofascist structures of the contemporary world system, speculative fiction is perhaps the most realistic of our genres that demand the impossible: alternative futures of what can be, and alternative pasts of what might have been: worlds with their own economic, social, and technological structures.

From the standpoint of speculative fiction, three primary strands of these new speculative visions may be immediately observed: a) Contemporary CoFuturisms, including Indigenous Futurisms, Afrofuturisms, Arab- and Gulf-Futurisms, Latinx Futurisms, Crip Futurisms, and Xenofuturisms offer their own challenges to prior speculative thinking; b) emergent genres of hope, care, and restoration and renewal, for instance solarpunk, hopepunk, healthpunk, and; c) shifts in the generic form itself as it renews itself through new social and political sensibilities. These three strands unite established voices who have always been at the forefront of thinking with the radical potentials for speculative thinking, as well as a new generation of creatives invested in pushing the boundaries of (and even embodying) speculation itself as an act of care of hope. What is fundamental to these new visions is that these speculative worlds not only exist in fiction, they also seek to transform the world itself by building and organizing new communities of practice.

This edition of the VICFA is open to speculative visions of care and hope from around the world. Our Guests of Honor are Zoha Kazemi and Ahmed Naji, leading contemporary voices who have redefined these visions through experimental speculative fiction with bold social and political critique.

Proposals on speculative visions across media and communities of practice on - but not limited to – the following topics are welcome:

- Speculative ethics and philosophies of care, hope, community building

- Speculative storytelling, worldbuilding, and futuring as methods of care

- Archival practices of care, remembrance/commemoration practices, caring for ruins, historical repair 

- More-than-human communities and forms of care

- Rethinking kinship, connection to past and future ancestors, reproductive care, family, love

- Caring in the end times, post-apocalyptic care: visions of survival, rebuilding community 

We are open to presentations in different languages, as well as more creative approaches to these themes.

Proposals on topics transcending this year’s theme are welcome.

This call for papers can also be found at https://iaftfita.wildapricot.org/page-1820583

Please submit abstracts of 300-500 words along with a brief bio statement by July 15, 2026 through this portal: https://form.jotform.com/261554977711163.

Questions about the conference theme can be directed to the CoFutures organizing team at vicfacon@proton.me.

Questions regarding registration can be directed to the IAFA Membership and Registration Coordinator: iafareg@gmail.com