Mythcon51 Preliminary Schedule

We're excited to announce the preliminary schedule of our upcoming virtual conference. It promises to be a very full and inspiring weekend. If you haven't signed up yet, there is still time to join us! Go to www.mythcon.org for more information.

Mythcon51 Presentation Schedule (subject to change)

Saturday:

• Philology and the Lived Imagination: Vico, Collingwood, and Tolkien - Reno Lauro
• Cities and Strongholds of Middle-earth Part 1 - Cami Agan, et al.
• Q&A with Mythopoeic Award Winners
• Her Enchanted Hair’: Rossetti, ‘Lady Lilith,’ and the Victorian Fascination with Hair as Influences on Tolkien - Kathryn Colvin
• (Un)Fair(ly) Unknown: New and Neglected Arthurian Television Programming - Michael Torregrossa, et al.
• The Mythopoeic Fantasy and Scholarly Awards Discussions - David Lenander
• The Keystone or the Cornerstone - Donald Willams
• Adam’s Task: Naming and Sub-creation in Good Omens - Janet Brennan Croft
• Transmedia Mythopoeia: Towards an Interactive Mythology - Brian Thomson
• A Saga Re-Written: The Character of Odin and J.R.R. Tolkien's Addition of Eucatastrophe in "The New Lay of the Volsungs" - Matthew Gidney
• Writing Against the Grain: T. Kingfisher's Feminist Mythopoeic Fantasy - Robin Anne Reid
• Mythopoeic Dungeons & Dragons - Megan Abrahamson
• Finding and Organizing Tolkien’s Invented Languages - Eileen Moore
• The Mythic, the Fantastic, and the Alien - El Hudson
• The Fanastic Short Story - Vicki Ronn
• Back to Camelot: 21st-century Reinterpretations of the Arthurian Mythos - Jennifer Spirko
• Mythopoeia in American Gods - Danica Stojanovic
• Other Than Him: Superman as the Alien That Made Good - Roy Schwartz
• Spoilers & Sequels; Bifurcated Fandoms in the Age of Adaptation - Joe Young, et al.
• Habla Amigo y Entra: Tolkien and the language of wonder - Martha Celis Mendoza, et al.
• Realizing History: Tolkien and the Desire called Marx - Robert Tally

Sunday:

• The Philosophy and Theology of Fairy-Stories:Fantasy, Escape, Recovery, and Consolation - Giovanni Costabile
• Cities and Strongholds of Middle-earth Part 2 - Cami Agan, et al.
• Fairy Tale Retellings for the Modern World - Sarena Ulibarri
• From Malacandra to Mars: Representations of the Red Planet in C. S. Lewis, Robert Sawyer, and Andy Weir - Bill Thompson
• ‘Descensus Ad Inferos’: Dante's Mythic Nekyia Journey in The Inferno - Ron Boyer
• How Mythopoeic Stories Carve Space For Change - Rivera Sun
• 
  
• “Long Anguish and Self-Murdering Thought”: Gollum and the Figure of Jealousy in The Faerie Queene - Anne Acker
• The Speculative Worldbuilding of ADÁL’s Blueprints for a Nation - Matt Goodwin
• Eärendil’s Errand and “Errantry” - Janet Brennan Croft, David Emerson, David Bratman, Verlyn Flieger
• Q&A with Unofficial Mythsoc Historian Lee Speth - Lynne Darga
• The Personhood of Nature in J. R. R. Tolkien’s Legendarium - Sophia Parrila
• Those Who See the Unseen West - Scott Hodgman
• My Mother She Killed Me, My Father He Ate Me - John Rosegrant
• Faerie Reality in The Spiral Dance by Rodrigo Garcia y Robertson - Robert Treday
• Lil Nas X’s Montero: A Visual Mythology - Alicia Fox-Lenz, Jessica Dickinson Goodman
• Sterner Stuff; Sansa Stark and the System of Gothic Fantasy - Joseph Young
• Spray-painting the Sistine Chapel: Aesthetic Problems in Leaf by Niggle - John Holmes
• Tolkien, Race and Racism - Robin Reid, Megan Abrahamson, Helen Young, Craig Franson, Will Sherwood

Mythcon 51: A VIRTUAL “HALFLING” MYTHCON Progress Report

July 31 - August 1, 2021 

Get ready for Mythcon 51, the first Mythcon where you don’t have to leave your house to go “there and back again.” This year we are scheduling over 50 events, including papers, panels, roundtables, and alternative programming such as games and watch parties, over the course of our two-day conference. 

Times

All conference times will be written in Mountain US Time Zone (UTC −07:00) as the default, but Time Zone calculators will be included wherever possible: look for “What time is that for me?” links.  

Programming of some kind will run Saturday and Sunday from 9:00am to 9:00pm both days to accommodate people from all corners of the globe, with the more formal programming from 10am to 5pm. We hope you’ll attend what you can! 

What time is the conference for me? 

Important times to get on your calendar now include: 

• Tech Check drop in hours, for those unfamiliar or less familiar with our two major platforms, Zoom and Discord. The Mythcon 51 committee is handling the technology for this event ourselves, not paying for extra tech support. 

• Saturday, July 24th, 2PM-5PM, one week before the conference. What time is that for me? 

• Friday, July 30th, from 4PM-6PM, the day before the conference. What time is that for me? 

• Members Meeting

• Sunday, August 1st, from 4PM-6PM. What time is that for me? 

Zoom: This Year’s Virtual Conference Medium

Many of us got very familiar with Zoom over the past year. Whether we like it or not, it has become the most widely used platform for virtual conferencing, and the Mythopoeic Society has joined the twenty-first century in purchasing a Pro suite for this conference. 

We have organized the conference into several “tracks”—just like you’d have different “rooms” where you would attend programming at an in-person conference. For this conference, this means you will get several Zoom links as stand-ins for the different rooms, and you’ll pop in and out of them depending on the programming you’re interested in. 

Learn more about Zoom here. 

Discord: This Year’s Virtual Conference “Space”

The Mythopoeic Society has had our own server on Discord since 2020. For this conference, we will add Conference-Only areas that only registered members can see. 

So, instead of checking into a physical hotel, check out our Discord server! 

You can do so at any time before the conference, giving yourself plenty of time to get comfortable with the “space.” Follow this link: https://discord.gg/x3QTt6dbxd and sign up for the free application. It can run in a browser or be downloaded as an app for mobile or computer. If you have any trouble with the invite, you can contact any of the Mythsoc Stewards (Alicia Fox-Lenz or Megan Abrahamson will be your best bet). 

You can attend this conference without getting involved in the Discord. Registered members will be sent the same Zoom links and the times when to log in for programming they are interested in. Only a very little alternative/evening programming such as watch parties and games will be Discord-only and inaccessible through Zoom.

However, we think Discord will make Mythcon 51 a much richer experience. Discord users will be able to converse in between panels, either chatting by instant message text or by opening up a video chat with friends, while Zoom-only users will have to “vacate” the space after their panel, paper, or roundtable. Discord users can share links, continue conversations or start new ones, and get reminders in real time about when panels are beginning. In short, you don’t have to join us on Discord, but we hope you will. 

Learn more about Discord here. 

Other changes due to the Virtual Model

We are introducing a new model of Panels this year which we are calling “Roundtables.” These were designed to provide more active programming options mixed in with the passive listening and asking maybe one question at the end model. 

These Roundtables will encourage audience participation, and will be discussion-driven rather than presentation-driven. If you show up to a topic labeled “Roundtable,” you can expect to be asked to weigh in—what a great way to talk with fellow Mythies we haven’t seen in over a year!

Additionally, formal papers and panels will be asked to keep their programming to under an hour, ideally 45 minutes. This is to try to reduce that “Zoom fatigue” we’ve all been battling, and many of us continue to battle! 

Preparing for Mythcon 51

• Register for Mythcon by July 17th to ensure you don’t miss an update! 

• Join the Mythopoeic Society Discord at https://discord.gg/x3QTt6dbxd. 

• Make sure you’re running the latest version of Zoom here.  

• If you are presenting or leading a panel, roundtable, or other programming, keep an eye out for an email with tips for running your session. All panels will have at least one Mythcon 51 committee member in attendance to help with technical difficulties. 

• Plan to attend one of the Tech Check drop in sessions if you’re uncomfortable with any of the software. 

• Get excited for this “Halfling” Mythcon!