Author: Claudia Rebaza

Transformative Works and Cultures announcement

Transformative Works and Cultures releases No. 25

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Transformative Works and Cultures has released No. 25. The essays in this general-topic issue focus on book history, women’s writing, Teen Wolf, World of Warcraft, Sherlock, and cosplay, among other topics. Each issue includes articles representing theory, fannish meta, and book reviews, such as the following:

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5 Things an OTW Volunteer Said

Five Things Naomi Novik Said

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Every month or so the OTW will be doing a Q&A with one of its volunteers about their experiences in the organization. The posts express each volunteer’s personal views and do not necessarily reflect the views of the OTW or constitute OTW policy.

As part of our 10th anniversary celebrations, we have a special retrospective Five Things this month. Today’s post is with Naomi Novik, one of the founders of the OTW, a past board member, and a current staffer with the Accessibility, Design, & Technology Committee. The following is an interview transcript which has been edited for length and clarity.

What was the first year of the OTW like? What do you remember most from it?

I don’t remember the high points as well, I find that over time what I remember are the problems. In the beginning there was a lot of work we had to do to reassure people about what we were trying to do, such as that they weren’t going to get into [legal] trouble, that there would be ways to give people control over their stories. The other piece that first year is that some people expected to see something 5 minutes after we formed! You know, where is the Archive? But it all takes time, there were a lot of growing pains you have when you’re putting things together from scratch that the OTW has been left with. But my philosophy is to do the thing if you have the momentum, and it’s better to have done something that was not perfect than to not have anything done at all.

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OTW 10th Anniversary Chat

Transcript of the 10th Anniversary Chat with Lev Grossman

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If you missed any of our posts or events celebrating our 10th anniversary, or want to attend future events, check out our announcement post. Below is the transcript for the chat held on September 9th.

The transcript has been edited for arrivals and departures in the room, greetings from the audience, and moderator instructions.

Hello and welcome! As advertised, the Organization for Transformative Works is running a series of chats during the month of September in celebration of our 10th anniversary. Today’s chat focuses on Book & TV Fandom! A transcript will be made public later today.

I’m your moderator, Janita Burgess, and I’m a co-chair of the OTW’s Communications Committee. We have some prepared questions for our guest and then we’ll be opening the floor to audience questions.

Today’s guest is author Lev Grossman. You can check out his bio by following the links on our announcement post.

Lev, as this event is part of the OTW’s 10th anniversary celebration, we thought we’d get things started by asking you some questions about your last 10 years! First off, what do you like to look back on as your major achievement(s) since 2007?

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