EVENTS

Science fiction (SF) imagines how a society’s future, present, or past might be different, often through new technologies or discoveries. For much of its history, the genre reflected mainly Western ideas about the self, society, and progress. In recent decades, it has become a truly global genre, told through novels, short stories, film, comics, games, and other media.

Scholars of Asian SF have long criticised how Western works use Asia as an exotic backdrop. Food, clothing, martial arts, and other cultural details are often stripped of meaning and lived experience, and Asian characters are reduced to props for white protagonists.

However, Asian SF is more than a response to Western portrayals. Writers and artists across Asia have been producing speculative fiction for well over a century, in many languages and in forms ranging from novels and short stories to film, comics, animation, and games. These traditions have influenced one another as much as they have engaged with the West. They have also used SF to explore questions that matter in their own societies, such as colonial history, war and disaster, rapid development, migration, faith, and the effects of technology on people’s lives. 

We welcome papers on works from any part of Asia or its diasporas and from any period or medium, including works originally in other languages. We especially encourage papers on works that have received little scholarly attention or are not yet translated. Abstracts, bios, and papers themselves should be submitted in English.

This workshop offers a collaborative space for work in progress. Rather than standard conference presentations, it centres on close peer review and the practical refinement of drafts. We invite Asian and Asian diaspora scholars to critically examine SF by Asian creators, with attention to their own positionalities, and to help shape a vision of Asian futures on our own terms.

Possible topics include, but are not limited to:

• SF in film, comics, animation, picturebooks, games, and new media

• SF for children and young readers

• Colonial pasts and alternate histories

• War, disaster, and the environment

• Islands, oceans, and archipelagic worlds

• Cities, development, and state planning

• Work, markets, and economic inequality

• Technology, artificial intelligence, and what it means to be human

• Migration, diaspora, and borders

• Gender, family, and care

• Religion, myth, and the supernatural

• Language, translation, and how SF moves within Asia

We also welcome papers on other topics that fit the workshop’s theme. 

If you are interested in being a part of this workshop, please note the following details as you prepare your application: 

• Registration fee: There is no registration fee for this workshop.

• Airfare and accommodations: The organising committee will not be able to cover the cost of participants’ travel to and from Singapore, nor accommodation while in Singapore. Authors who can secure their own institutional funding once their application is accepted may request an official letter of acceptance from the organising committee if needed.

• Meals: During the two-day workshop, the following meals will be provided without charge to all authors—morning and afternoon refreshments, and lunch.

• Workshop schedule: Both days of the workshop are expected to run from 9 am to 5:30 pm.

Submission Format & Guidelines

Participants are expected to read pre-circulated papers before attending to facilitate feedback. Abstracts, bios, and papers must be submitted in English.

• Abstract Proposals: Please submit an abstract (~300 words) detailing your paper’s core argument, methodology, and primary text(s).

• Bio Note: Include a short biographical note (~100 words) indicating your institutional affiliation and research background.

• Full Papers (Post-Acceptance): Accepted participants will be asked to submit a working draft (4,000 to 5,000 words) by 26 February 2027 to be pre-circulated among workshop attendees.

Important Dates

• Abstract Submission Deadline: Monday, 30 November 2026

• Notification of Acceptance: Friday, 11 December 2026

• Full Working Draft Deadline (for pre-circulation): Friday, 26 February 2027

• Workshop Event Date: Thu and Fri, 18 & 19 March 2027

Post-workshop Publication

Selected papers will be developed for a journal special issue or edited volume, Alternate Futures, Critical Presents: Asian Science Fiction as Social Discourse, edited by Tina S. Clemente, Karl Ian Uy Cheng Chua, and Nona Pepito. Workshop feedback will focus on helping authors prepare their papers for submission to the target peer-reviewed journal or publisher. 

Submission & Contact:

Please submit your abstract and bio (in English) to this link: https://forms.gle/DiKHgMgH6o22Ng8K8

For questions regarding the theme, venue, or presentation formats, please contact: 

Karl Ian Uy Cheng Chua and Nona Pepito at asiansf.workshop2027@gmail.com. For abstract and bio submissions, please use the link above, not this email.