Stefan Ekman

Stefan Ekman

Vitruvius, Critics, and the Architecture of Worlds

Stefan Ekman has a PhD in English literature with a thesis on the functions of maps environments in fantasy literature, and an MSc in Economics with a focus on development and environment. He currently works as Research Coordinator for the Humanities at the Swedish National Data Service. His research is focused on fantasy literature, and his book Here Be Dragons: Exploring Fantasy Maps and Settings (Wesleyan UP, 2013) examines various functions of maps and environments in the genre. He currently pursues two projects, exploring social criticism in urban fantasy, and developing world-building as a critical tool for analysing fantasy texts through their worlds. (His most recent article on this, co-authored with Audrey Isabel Taylor, is available online in Fafnir, 3:3 (2016).)

 

He is also a judo black-belt, a keen RPGer, and fairly decent cook.

Farah Mendlesohn

Farah Mendlesohn

 

How to build a Jewish Fantasy World, Challenging the Christianity of Fantasy

Farah Mendlesohn has authored several books including The Inter-galactic Playground: A Critical Study of Children's and Teens' Science Fiction (McFarland) and Diana Wynne Jones: The Fantastic Tradition and Children's Literature (Routledge). And Children’s Fantasy Literature: An Introduction, which she wrote with her long time colleague Professor Michael M. Levy. She won a Hugo with Edward James in 2005 for The Cambridge Companion to Fantasy Literature. She is currently working on a book on children’s literature, memory and the English Civil War.