About Us

About IASFS

Establishment:

IASFS was established on Asimov’s birthday on January 2, 1998. The day not only marks the Isaac Asimov’s birthday but also it coincides with the centenary publication of Indian Science Fiction story “Agosh” by Scientist Jagadish Chandra Bose.

Team IASFS

Sl No	Name	Designation (Honorary)	Email id	Contact no
1.	Dr. Srinarahari (Ph.D in Scieince Fiction) Bangalore, Karnataka	Secretary -General	iasfsindia@gmail.com;	+91 9448946359
2	Dr. Purushothaman KS (Ph.D in Science Fiction) Vellore, Tamil Nadu	Founder -President	kspsf1951@gmail.com;	+91 9443309951
3	Mr. Raghavendra S Vanjari Grants’ Officer, R & D Cell, Flame University, Pune, Maharashtra Head, IASFS Regional Office: Pune, Maharashtra.	Director	director.iasfs@gmail.com; rvanjari02@gmail.com;	+91 90287 69182
4	Ms. Neha Jain, Masters in Literature and Mass Communication & Journalism (Gold Medalist). Research Scholar, NIT, Silchar, Cachar District, Assam	Executive -Secretary	nehajn2023@gmail.com;	+91 8724090960.
5	Ms. Hemalatha MA (Rank holder) NET, Ph.D Research Scholar in English Literature, Sri Sarada Women’s College, Selem, Tamil Nadu	Accounts Officer & Executive -Secretary	hema99940@gmail.com; executivesecretary.iasfs@gmail.com;	+91 9994015102
6	Mr. Showik Chatterjee VFX Expert, Asansol, West Bengal	Technical Team Head	sammaac01@gmail.com;	+91 9676145882
7	Mr. Shankar S Bhat Advocate Bangalore, Karnataka	Legal Consultant	shankarbhat@yahoo.com;	+91 9483633046

Founding Members:

Dr. Purushothaman KS, Dr. Srinarahari, Dr. Bhimsen Joshi

Mrs. Girija S, Mrs. Kamala CK, Mrs. Suma B J,

Mr. Bhagwan Das Muralidhar, Mrs. Sangeetha B Bhavnani.

Latest Event Held:

25th Annual/ 10th International Science Fiction Virtual Conference was held on December 07, 2025. Details are provided under the menu “conferences” Also, Watch the entire Event Video/s by clicking the link/s which are provided under the same menu ‘Conferences’.

Objectives of the Association:

The objectives of the Association are to provide guidance to students who would pursue their research for their Masters and Doctoral degrees in the field of Science Fiction and to provide a platform for the SF enthusiasts to share their views in the form of presenting papers, to read the self-authored stories, actively partake in panel discussions, special guest lecture sessions, interact with attendees from all walks of life like scholars, supervisors, organizers, writers, publishers, media persons, delegates, movie makers, webmasters, industrialists, technologists, scientists, academicians, farmers, distinguished guests, readers, sci-fi fans and other eminent personalities during the Conferences.  

Life Membership:

The life membership is open for all. The membership is not restricted to any class, caste, gender, religion, color, race, nationality, minimum educational level, employment position, status, geographical region, languages, basic knowledge of science fiction and others. It is desired that the aspirant may be 18+ in age.

For registration, the association is not demanding and collecting any one of the applicant’s personal i’ds like Passport, Aadhar, voters Id, students’ institutional id, employees id, senior citizens’ card, ration card, and others.

Please click the link below to fill the prescribed form for Life Membership of this association:

https://forms.gle/rArMAmnV834dfBWb8

(The aspirant who wishes to enroll as a Life Membership by filling the prescribed proform before clicking the above link provided, should know that it is optional to upload a brief resume/profile; and a digital signature. However it is mandatory to upload a recent photo limited to 100kbs and be ready to pay a registration fee 0f ₹ 2000/- only may have the following option for payment:

payment link of the Accounts officer: Mobile no: +91 9360416724; OR use UPI id: hema99940@okaxis; OR

Net banking: Dr. Srinarahari M H, Savings Bank Account no. 30272788836; State Bank of India, Padmanabhanagar, Bangalore Karnataka – PIN 560070; IFS Code: SBIN0007981; OR paypal account: paypal.me/iasfs;

After a successful submission of the prescribed application form, they are further requested to mail (iasfsindia@gmail.com; and director.iasfs@gmail.com;)their details of their respective name, registered email, mobile number and the postal address to where the official receipt and the complimentary gifts* are to be sent by speed post. The receipt will display the Life membership I’d. However, the aspirants could also opt to get the receipt over their email. In both the cases of opting for hardcopy or soft copy the aspirants will have to send a mail. *complimentary gifts will be sent until stocks exhaust.

(Disclaimer: The association has the right to deactivate the membership of those who are reported to have a criminal background, carrying out criminal activities, belonging to a terrorist group, drug peddlers or involoved in those activities directly or indirectly, carrying out anti-social activities, turned out to be insane, anti-human activities for the destruction of the society or a section of the society -found out later, will be removed automatically from the membership and in participating any IASFS activiites without giving any reason or notice).

Conferences held:

IASFS has organized 24 conferences among them 9 are international conferences held at different locations in India. The first conference was attended only by a dozen delegates. But from the second conference there was no turning back. The Association had begun to collaborate with many Colleges, Universities, Local Bodies and Institutions in organizing conferences. So far the Annual Conferences were held at Chennai, Coimbatore, Gandhigram, Gudiattam and Vellore in Tamil Nadu, Bangalore, Mysore and Yelahatti in Karnataka, Varanasi in UP, Aurangabad and Pune in Maharashtra States, Pondicherry a Union Territory and Ernakulum in Kerala State in India. It is noteworthy that 52 PG departments and affiliated colleges of Bangalore University, Bangalore, Karnataka had hosted the virtual International Science Fiction Conference in collaboration with IASFS. Another unique feature is that 10 organizations had joined hands in organizing the immediate past Science Fiction Conference. They were Marathi Vidnyan Parishad, Mumbai, Maharashtra; University Research Publication, Valamboor, University of   Kerala, Kerala; TWJ Foundation: The Social Reforms, Pagmala, Chiplun, Ratnagiri District, Maharashtra State; adbhut.in; Bangalore, Karnataka; Kalpabiswa.com; Kolkata, West Bengal; Department of Studies in English, Elphinstone College, Dr. Homi Babha State University, Mumbai, Maharashtra; Department of Studies in English, Deogiri College, MSP Mandal, Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar Marathwada University, Aurangabad, Maharashtra; Department of Studies in English, Ganeshi Lal Agrawal University, Mathura, Uttara Pradesh; Department of English, KSR Institute for Engineering & Technology, Thiruchengode, Namakkal District, Tamil Nadu; and Guru Nanak College of Arts, Science & Commerce, Mumbai, Maharashtra state.

Themes dealt in the past conferences:

During the annual conferences, participants have shown keen interest in discussing the following topics namely, A Tribute to Kalpana Chowla, Aliens, An exclusive session on Voice of the Researchers, Artificial Intelligence, Cinema and SF, Colonialism, Fantasy, Feminism, Forms of science fiction, Genetic Engineering, Hindi SF, Impact of IT industries on the Society, Indian Responses to World SF, Indian SF in Vernacular languages, Information Technology, Interdisciplinary and Multidisciplinary prospective, Literary Criticism on Indian SF, Media and SF, Myth, Nanotechnology, Poetry and Science, Popular Science, Print versus Visual SF, Recent Trends in Indian/South- Asian SF, Robotics, “Science Fiction Film: Seventy Years of Synergy, 1926 to 2003”, Science and Science Fiction, Science Fiction Today, Science Today, Seminar on Science Fiction which could cover the status of Indian Science Fiction in Marathi, Punjabi, Hindi, Tamil, Kannada, Assamese, and English languages, SF & Technology, SF and Mainstream Fiction, SF Narration, SF the Human Aspect, Space travel, Technology and Science Fiction, Telugu Science Fiction, Time, Utopia, Women in Science Fiction, A panel discussion on “Issues Related to Science Fiction Research”, A panel discussion on “My Experiments with Science Fiction Writings”, A panel discussion on “Recent Trends in indian/South -Asian SF”, A panel discussion on “Impact of IT industry on humanity” and others.

Historical events:

1. The association had a video conference with Professor James E Gunn Director, Center for Science Fiction Studies, Kansas University, Kansas, USA.

2.  IASFS had also arranged an SF Story Writing Workshop conducted by Eric Miller and story reading session by respective SF writers.

3. Dr.Srinarahari has conducted a number of Science Fiction Short Story Writing Workshops to all ages and levels. Late Professor Rajashekar Bhoosnurmutt (Vice- President of IASFS), Late Bhairnatti HS, and Abdul Rahman Pasha were in the team during the first decade of the present century in conducting the workshops.

4. The association has held the 19^th Annual/5^th International Science Fiction Virtual Conference in collaboration with Bangalore University, Bangalore on, December 7, 8, 9, & 10, 2020. The unique feature of the conference is that all the 52 PG departments of the University, Sci-Fi fans, media and the general public had converged at “All Roads to Science Fiction” as ISFC -2020. There were themes varying from Myth to advanced technology and to the life in other worlds. The conference was inaugurated by Honorable Chief Minister of Karnataka State, The Hon. Deputy Chief Minister & The Minister for Higher Education, Hon.Minister for Primary and Secondary Education, Hon. Vice Chancellor of Bangalore University, Nobel Laureate Professor Didier Patrick Queloz (Keynote- Physics 2019), had made their august presence. Plenary sessions, presentations, special lectures, interviews, panel discussions, narrating stories of tomorrow variety of programs from the PG department of Performing Arts and others were the highlights of this mega event.     

5. The 20th Annual SF conference is also a milestone in the path of progress of IASFS. This Virtual Conference was held during the last week of August 2021 in collaboration with ISFWA, Ayodhya. UP; Kalpabishwa, Kolkata, West Bengal; Marathi Vidnyan Parishad, Mumbai; Malayalam SF Association, Kerala; and the host institution Deogiri College, Aurangabad, Maharashtra state.

6. The Association has organized the 21^st Annual/ 6^th International Science Fiction Virtual Conference during July 2022 in collaboration with ten organizations.

7. The 22^nd Annual/7^th International Online Science Fiction conference was held on April 8th and 9th, 2023.

8. A preliinary meeting was held during the month of June 2023 with the SF writers, translators, publishers, Editors, Webmasters, Experts in the field of Performing Arts and Visual Arts to take up translation of texts of both critical writing and creative writings from local to global and vice versa. It was also explored how the text could be transformed into a dance, music, art, drama, animation, audio books and long short SF movies. Please find details on the menu: Tributaries.

9. IASFS used to celebrate the birthday of Science Fiction doyen Dr. Jayant V Narlikar (Renowned Astro -Physicist and SF author) as INDIAN SCIENCE FICTION DAY every year on July 19th. Please find the details of the event held on July 19th and 20th, 2023 on the menu: Tributaries.

10. The Association has organized the 23rd Annual/8th International Science Fiction Virtual Conference on July 21, 2024 with a theme: Spotlight on Professor Jayant V Narlikar’s Works. The links for the sessions are provided in the menu Conferences.

11. Successfully completed the Mega Event: 24th Annual/9th International Science Fiction Virtual Conference held on November 17 & 18, 2024. Browse the menu ‘Conferences’ on this website to find brochure, program list and live recorded conference video links in 2 number are available Day 1 & Day 2 {the total length of the edited version of a single uninterrupted video is for a duration of more than SIX hours}.

Publication Matters:

The Association was bringing out quarterly magazine entitled Indian Journal of Science Fiction Studies. It comprised of papers and stories presented in the previous conferences, review of books, and an interaction by the readers. The publication of hardcopies of the above categories is closed now as the invasion of the electronic media has made communication easy, inexpensive and instantaneous. As an editor Dr.Reema Sarwal used to bring out bi-monthly News Letters.

The selected scholarly papers/self-authored stories presented during each upcoming conferences will be outsourced to be published in Science Fiction Special Issues of peer-reviewed, ISSN numbered UGC approved journal Insight in the form of anthologies entitled Silver Line by University Research Publication, Kerala University, Kerala, India. The publication charges will be seperately collected by the publisher if selected for publication. Please visit: https://universitypublication.in/; the same publisher details will be provided in the respective conference brochures. For more details one can also mail to editor@universitypublication.in; IASFS is a facilitator only. Any issues regarding publication will be handled by the Publication division only.

Recently Added Sections:

Details of Award winners in Library menu; Obituary as a last section in the menu Tributaries.

Complimentary offers:

Metallic Badge

A Brief Profile of Dr.Srinarahari

Please click on the link:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/10kj1QIQxQXPjcc1P8A0Zn8uGNETm4iK1/view?usp=sharing;

Dr. Purushothaman’s Brief Profile:

Please click on the link: https://drive.google.com/file/d/16HCa52KDML_9Xn0eitAkLqGRpYE4TFeG/view?usp=drive_link;

We are indebted to…

IASFS remains grateful to the life members, collaborating institutions, resource persons, authors, sponsors, media persons, delegates, participants, executive committee members of our team, technical personalities, publishers, and SF fans for your valuable contribution in making the past events a grand success. Hope you will all join hands in providing necessary inputs to enhance the quality during the upcoming events.

Contact and Feedback:

iasfsindia@gmail.com; (+91) 9448946359;

kspsf1951@gmail.com; +919443309951;

For Legal matters the Jurisdiction will be Bangalore City only

Follow us on: Facebook/Twitter/Instagram/Linkedin/ What’s app

https://www.facebook.com/Dr.Srinarahari;

twitter.com/drsrinarahari@gmail.com;

https://www.instagram.com/srihari2122/;

Linkedin: drsrinarahari/

What’s app: IASFS Forum & IASFS Research.

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