Announcements

AI and Fandom (3/15/2025; 1/1/2024)

2023-05-08

This special issue seeks to address the rapidly accelerating topic of Artificial Intelligence and machine learning (ML) systems (including, but not limited to Generative Adversarial Networks (GANs), Large Language Models (LLMs), Robotic Process Automation (RPA) and speech, image and audio recognition and generation), and their relationship to and implications for fans and fan studies. We are interested in how fans are using AI tools in novel ways as well as how fans feel about the use of these tools. From media production and marketing perspectives we are interested in how AI tools are being used to study fans, and to create new media artefacts that attract fan attention.
Read more about AI and Fandom (3/15/2025; 1/1/2024)
TWC No. 39 released

2023-03-15

Transformative Works and Cultures has released No. 39, “Trans Fandom,” guest edited by Jennifer Duggan and Angie Fazekas.
Read more about TWC No. 39 released
TWC No. 38 released

2022-09-19

Transformative Works and Cultures has released general issue No. 38, the first edited by new coeditors Poe Johnson and Mel Stanfill.
Read more about TWC No. 38 released
DEADLINE EXTENDED: Centering Blackness in Fan Studies (12/15/2024; 7/1/2023)

2022-05-11

This special issue centers Blackness in fandom studies. For this special issue, we seek to privilege and celebrate Blackness, not as a comparative but as enough on its own. We want essays that build on the relatively small but groundbreaking scholarly work that centers Black fandoms. We encourage work that engages, nuances, and challenges this foundational work, leading to novel reconsiderations of how fan studies defines and understands Black fandoms.
Read more about DEADLINE EXTENDED: Centering Blackness in Fan Studies (12/15/2024; 7/1/2023)
TWC No. 37 released

2022-03-15

Transformative Works and Cultures has released No. 37, “Fandom Histories,” guest edited by Philipp Dominik Keidl and Abby S. Waysdorf.
Read more about TWC No. 37 released
Fandoms and Platforms (3/15/2024; 1/1/2023)

2022-03-09

This special issue seeks to explore how, in the broadest sense, fans and fandom communities engage with platforms. We are particularly interested in essays that complicate a “black box” view of platforms or that engage critically with what platforms make possible for their users, as well as how and/or why. Ideally, such contributions will further understanding of how interactions among fans, fandoms, texts, and fan works are coconstitutive of the spaces in which they operate. We encourage contributions from fans as well as from fan studies scholars; we are particularly interested in works that cover or draw from global contexts.
Read more about Fandoms and Platforms (3/15/2024; 1/1/2023)
TWC Restructures Submission Guidelines [Press Release]

2022-02-11

Transformative Works and Cultures has launched a new structure for submissions which takes effect as of issue No. 38. New co-editors Mel Stanfill and Poe Johnson expand on why they believe these changes are important and necessary to better reflect “the reality on the ground.”
Read more about TWC Restructures Submission Guidelines [Press Release]
New section "Article" replacing "Theory/Praxis"

2022-01-03
"Article" replacing "Theory/Praxis" and Symposium expands word length as of No. 38.

UPCOMING ISSUES
- Fandom Histories, March 2022 (CLOSED)
- General issue, September 2022 (CLOSED)
- Trans Fandom, March 2023 (CLOSED, contact editors for Symposium)
- Chinese Fandoms, December 2023 (June 1, 2022)
- General issue, September 2023 (ROLLING SUBMISSION)
Read more about New section "Article" replacing "Theory/Praxis"
New general issue TWC 36 published

2021-09-15

We are happy to announce our 2021 general issue, TWC 36!
Read more about New general issue TWC 36 published
TWC New Coeditors [Press Release]

2021-09-01

Transformative Works and Cultures is pleased to announce that Dr. Mel Stanfill and Dr. Poe Johnson will soon be joining the editorial team as coeditors.
Read more about TWC New Coeditors [Press Release]
Trans Fandom (3/15/2023; 1/1/2022)

2021-06-15

This special issue seeks to widen our knowledge of trans fandom. We invite submissions that engage with trans theory as a lens for analyzing fandom, case studies of trans fans’ experiences of fandom, considerations of trans bodies in fan fiction, trans theorizations of cosplay cross-dressing, and so on. In particular, we seek work that centers trans people—that is, individuals who express their gender identities in a variety of ways, including but not limited to transgender, transsexual, nonbinary, gender fluid, genderqueer, agender, intersex, or otherwise gender nonnormative.
Read more about Trans Fandom (3/15/2023; 1/1/2022)
Chinese Fandoms (DEADLINE EXTENDED: 12/15/23; 7/1/22)

2021-06-10

This special issue of TWC seeks papers reflecting on the changing nature of fandom in China and on the role of Chinese fans transcending national boundaries. It asks questions regarding the characteristics of Chinese fans/fans of Chinese media in the contemporary globalized media landscape, and it queries the impact that the media industry has on the formation and ongoing expression of fan cultures.
Read more about Chinese Fandoms (DEADLINE EXTENDED: 12/15/23; 7/1/22)
TWC No. 33 released

2020-06-15
We are pleased to announce the publication of TWC 33 (2020): Fan Studies Methodologies, edited by Julia E. Largent, Milena Popova, and Elise Vist.

_{We are aware of various difficulties with the web site, especially the inability to download essays. For fan-created PDFs of issues, please see https://fanlore.org/wiki/Transformative_Works_and_Cultures.}

UPCOMING ISSUES
- General issue, September 2020 (CLOSED)
- Fan Studies Pedagogies, March 2021 (CLOSED, contact editors for Symposium)
- General issue, September 2021 (ROLLING SUBMISSION)
- Fandom Histories March 2022 (January 1, 2021)
Read more about TWC No. 33 released
Fandom Histories (3/15/22; 1/1/21)

2020-06-07

The goal for this special issue of Transformative Works and Cultures is to explore the question of how fans produce knowledge about the past and actively engage with history. We are particularly interested in essays that show what fans do as historians, such as running publicly accessible archives and museums, and using archival materials for the production of nonfiction media.
Read more about Fandom Histories (3/15/22; 1/1/21)
TWC No. 32 released

2020-03-18
We are pleased to announce the release of TWC 32 (2020): Fan Fiction and Politics, guest edited by Ashley Hinck and Amber Davisson.

UPCOMING ISSUES
- Fan Studies Methodologies, June 2020 (CLOSED)
- General issue, September 2020 (CLOSED)
- Fan Studies Pedagogies, March 2021 (CLOSED, contact editors for Symposium)
- General issue, September 2021 (ROLLING SUBMISSION)
Read more about TWC No. 32 released
TWC No. 31 released!

2019-12-22

We are pleased to announce the release of TWC 31 (2019): Fan Fiction and Ancient Scribal Cultures, guest edited by Frauke Uhlenbruch and Sonja Ammann.

Read more about TWC No. 31 released!
New general issue TWC 30 published

2019-09-15

We are happy to announce our 2019 general issue, TWC 30!

_{We are aware of various difficulties with the web site, especially the inability to download essays. For fan-created PDFs of all issues, please see https://fanlore.org/wiki/Transformative_Works_and_Cultures.}

Read more about New general issue TWC 30 published
Fan Studies Pedagogies (3/15/21; 1/1/20)

2019-07-02

This special issue seeks submissions that specifically address the pedagogical methods, styles, contributions, and concerns of the fan studies course, classroom, and online space(s).
Read more about Fan Studies Pedagogies (3/15/21; 1/1/20)
TWC No. 29 (2019): Fans of Color, Fandoms of Color

2019-03-15

We are proud to announce our new issue, Fans of Color, Fandoms of Color, edited by Abigail De Kosnik and andré carrington.

Read more about TWC No. 29 (2019): Fans of Color, Fandoms of Color
TWC No. 28 (2018): The Future of Fandom, special 10th anniversary issue

2018-09-15

We are aware and working on the mobile display issue and the inability to print articles in Chrome and Safari. If you encounter other issues, do email us with your results, your device type, the name of your browser, and a screenshot if appropriate (editor AT transformativeworks.org).
Read more about TWC No. 28 (2018): The Future of Fandom, special 10th anniversary issue
TWC No 27 (2018): Tumblr and Fandom, edited by Lori Morimoto and Louisa Ellen Stein

2018-06-16
We are proud to release TWC issue No. 27, Tumblr and Fandom, guest edited by Lori Morimoto and Louisa Ellen Stein.

FUTURE ISSUES
- General Issue with emphasis on The Future of Fandom, September 2018 (CLOSED, email us for Symposium)
- Fans of Color, Fandoms of Color March 2019 (CLOSED, email us for Symposium)
- Fan Fiction and Ancient Scribal Cultures December 2019 (CLOSED, email us for Symposium)
- Fan Studies Methodologies March 2020 (January 1, 2019)
- Fandom and Politics June 2020 (January 1, 2019)
- Fandom and Theatre March 2021 (January 15, 2020)
Read more about TWC No 27 (2018): Tumblr and Fandom, edited by Lori Morimoto and Louisa Ellen Stein
Fandom and Theatre (1/15/20; 3/15/21)

2018-06-16

This special issue of TWC explores intersections between theatrical performance and fandom.
Read more about Fandom and Theatre (1/15/20; 3/15/21)

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