We are thrilled to announce our keynote speakers at the 2023 EFA Conference, taking place August 17-19, 2023, at The Westin Alexandria Old Town!

Dr. Cathy Hannabach is the founder and CEO of Ideas on Fire, where she helps interdisciplinary academics write and publish awesome texts, enliven public conversations, and create more just worlds. Passionate about interdisciplinary indexing and editing, she leads a transnational team helping scholars make an impact.

She hosts Imagine Otherwise, highlighting those bridging art, activism, and academia in the service of social justice. Author of Blood Cultures: Medicine, Media, and Militarisms and Book Marketing for Academics, her research and commentary appears in outlets including New Learning Times, Cultural Politics, the BBC, Women and Performance, Contra*, Social Text: Periscope, Studies in Gender and Sexuality, and Dismantle Magazine.

Cecilia Tan is the Director of Publications for SABR (Society for American Baseball Research) and the founder of Circlet Press (purveyors of erotic science fiction/fantasy), as well as an award-winning novelist and short story writer. She has edited books and anthologies for numerous publishers ranging from the Baseball Prospectus annual (Wiley) to Sex In The System (Carroll & Graf), and was inducted in 2010 into the GLBT Writers and Editors Hall of Fame at the Saints & Sinners Literary Festival. When she’s not writing or editing something in her home office, she can be found writing and editing while traveling the world.

Ran Walker is an award-winning author of thirty books. His writing has appeared in a various anthologies and periodicals. Prior to becoming a writer and educator, he worked in magazine publishing and practiced law in Mississippi.

Ran teaches creative writing at Hampton University and for Writer’s Digest University. He is also a contributing editor at Writer’s Digest, where he freelances regularly. A member of the National Novel Writing Month’s Writers Board, Ran lives in Virginia with his wife and daughter.


Early Bird” registration for EFACON 2023 will open on Monday, February 13 at noon ET. Check the News & Blog on Monday for an announcement about the conference registration website and an EFA member access code for a substantial discount.

Office Closed Monday April 8.

The EFA Offices will be closed Monday, April 8, 2024. We will reopen on Tuesday, April 9. Job postings, discussion list subscriptions, and other customer service requests may not be responded to until then.

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