Transformative Works and Cultures

When I say transformative work is like midrash, I mean... this, more or less. (Thanks, @journal.transformativeworks.org, for publishing this many years ago.) journal.transformativeworks.org/index.php/tw...

putting my journal editor hat on: one of y'all #fanstudies people please write me something for @journal.transformativeworks.org about the apparently universal fandom of Dolly Parton.

#TWC is excited to announce the publication of #TWC49, a our annual general issue edited by Poe Johnson and Mel Stanfill. Dive in at this link: rb.gy/pmxvrf

Congratulations to the 2026 Fans of Color research prize winner, Meihua Lu, author of "From Cinderella to i-woman: Web novels, fandom, and feminist politics in China"! The article was was part of the Chinese Fandoms special issue. journal.transformativeworks.org/index.php/tw...

TWC / SCMS Fan and Audience Studies group graduate student essay contest journal.transformativeworks.org/index.php/tw...

TWC Hiring Assistant Editor and Outreach/Comms Editor journal.transformativeworks.org/index.php/tw...

hey #fanstudies folks, come work with me at @journal.transformativeworks.org! journal.transformativeworks.org/index.php/tw...

If you're a graduate student member of SCMS and a member of the Fan and Audience Studies SIG, consider submitting to this contest for possible publication in a future issue of TWC!

#TWC is excited to announce the publication of #TWC48, a special issue on Disability and Fandom guest edited by Olivia Johnston Riley and Lauren Rouse! Dive in at this link: rb.gy/kose15

The Transformative Works and Cultures website will be down on Thursday, April 30, 2026, from 10am Eastern to 1pm Eastern as the Online Journal System (OJS) completes scheduled maintenance. We thank you for your patience during this time.

Did you publish an article in TWC from 2023-26? We're seeking entries for the Fans of Color Prize, which recognizes peer-reviewed research about fans and/or fandoms of color published in TWC in the preceding 3 years. There's a $500 cash prize! journal.transformativeworks.org/index.php/tw...

"A musician releases an electronic music album. A coder writes a horror game. An artist performs a gig, combining presequenced music with live sounds. These acts are perhaps unremarkable, yet what renders them theoretically significant is the platform...the Nintendo Game Boy." #TWC47 rb.gy/bzjo65

"Because of the inherent limitations when trying to explore stories and identities that go beyond AI's biases, there is a level of additional emotional labor for reader-users who...benefit most from the transformative ability of fan fiction, namely queer creators and readers.." #TWC47

#TWC is excited to announce the publication of #TWC47, a special issue on Gaming Fandom guest edited by Hayley McCullough and Ashley P. Jones! Dig in at this link: rb.gy/g6ioom.

Researching early discussions around @transformativeworks.org & @archiveofourown.org & it’s fascinating to see how many fans hated the idea of an academic journal . . . as the person who’s been editing @journal.transformativeworks.org for years & as we’re starting to plan for our 20th anniversary

TWC Updates Its Editorial Board journal.transformativeworks.org/index.php/tw...

Some Great Resources for Acafannish Work – Part 1: Journals rb.gy/uh5a60

The deadline is approaching for 2(!) upcoming special issues CFPs! Both Music Fandom and Latin American Fandoms have a January 1st submission deadline--don't miss your chance! Find more information on our front page:

Closing out #TWC46 is Fiona Katie Haborak's review of Elizabeth Affuso & @iheartfatapollo.bsky.social's edited collection, "Sartorial Fandom"! Read the full review here:

For #TWC46, @katiedidnt.bsky.social reviewed @tbaudinette.bsky.social's "Boys love media in Thailand"! Morrissey states that Baudinette "asks [us] to problematize [our] assumptions about queer media, embrace ambiguity, & resist older theoretical frameworks". Read the review here:

#TWC46 also reintroduces our Multimedia section as a space for nontextual contributions! Here, Kelsey Wildman Stokes presents an interview with Brannon Carty, the director of the fan documentary An Unlikely Fandom: The Impact of Thomas the Tank Engine. Read it today:

Next, Robert S. Santucci's "Polyphemus ❤️ Acis: The conduit in Ovid's Metamorphoses" applies the conduit, a motif from fan fiction, to offer a reparative reading of Ovid's story. Read it in #TWC46:

The first Symposium piece in #TWC46 comes to us from Sidnee Lim! In "Queer time and space in genderqueering fancams #transpeterparkeredit," Lim explores how fans use fan edits and fancams to reimagine characters as genderqueer! Read here:

Irissa Cisternino & Rebecca Radillo do a great job of laying out the stakes for creativity, especially fan creativity, in the wake of gen AI. They ask what it means to outsource 'labors of love' to a tool, a similar question asked by @elizabethminkel.bsky.social in ellipsus.com/blog/generat...

Jing Bai's exploration of Japanese fandom otaku communities treats thinking about the incursion of gen AI into fan activities as a consideration of the information seeking and organisation practices of humans. Thought-provoking stuff!

Closing out our Fans & AI section, Jing Bai asks us to reconsider the relationships between humans and AI in "Otaku and AI: Reconsidering human, machine, and animal"! Read their Symposium piece in #TWC46 today!

In a New Currents symposium, Irissa Cisternino & Rebecca Radillo ask us to consider major questions about how generative AI problematizes existing power structures in and around fandom in #TWC46! Read their piece here:

This article examines ChatGPT's biases around queer and heteronormative representation in creative writing and fanfiction. Interesting stuff!

This article by Tara Heimberger delves further into the popular fan activity of creating, sharing and interacting with characters chat bots, and places this activity in a contimuum of creative and immersive fan practices.

@journal.transformativeworks.org published an amazing fanzine on the theme of friendships in fandoms. It's really nice to read about what is, essentially, the core and result of many fandoms ! You can read it for free on their website : www.transformativeworks.org/fandom-frien... #zine #fandom

This is such a great article by Eva Cheuk-Yin Li & Ka-Wei Pang about a specific incident in fandom in which discourse around AI deepfakes was weaponised by fans. Beyond the incident itself, it offers a thoughtful example of how to engage with fandom incidents with care and respect.

Eva Cheuk-Yin Li & Ka-Wei Pang close out the New Currents Articles with ""This is a deepfake!": Celebrity scandals, parodic deepfakes, and a critically speculative ethics of care for fandom research in the age of artificial intelligence"! Read it in #TWC46:

Tara Heimberger moves beyond static fan fiction to examine immersive character chatbots that allow fans to carry out a conversation with fan objects in "Character.AI and the quest for immersion in fan fiction practices" for #TWC46! Read it now:

Next in New Currents, @drtlwagner.bsky.social & Alison Harding use traditional analyses to examine work created using generative AI in ""Remember, love knows no boundaries and comes in many forms": The conceptualization of queerness within AI-generated fan works"! Read it in #TWC46:

oooo, you want to be edited by these two, they are wonderful! <3

Our account doesn't and will not promote AI fanworks or fanarts, as we value human made works of art. But if you want to know more the place of AI in fandoms, this editorial is a nice gateway to this subject ! #fanfic #fandom

This article by @julianeugarten.bsky.social is a fascinating glimpse into fanfiction responding to Ancient Greek mythology as well as a meditation on the suitability of specific digital methods for analysing fanfic, emphasising the importance of close reading in computational literary studies 👀📖

In #TWC46's first New Currents article, @julianeugarten.bsky.social explores the potential of a suite of natural language processing and machine learning tools to examine power and gender dynamics in fan fiction featuring characters from Greek mythology! Read it here:

Opening #TWC46's New Currents on Fans and AI, guest editors @suzannerblack.bsky.social & @ladylark.bsky.social identify potential areas of disruption to contemporary fandom & fan studies arising from AI and suggest what the consequences might be. Read the editorial here:

#TWC46 features our first ever section titled New Currents! This section collects articles on new topics or approaches at a smaller scale than a special issue. In this issue, New Currents focuses on how fans and fan studies scholars engage with AI as a tool for transformative engagement! Stay tuned!

#TWC46's Article section ends with @janpoi.bsky.social's "Intergenerational dynamics of children's music fandom: An enculturation perspective"! This study of intergenerational music fandom, also looks at the continuation of fannish attachments and practices over time. Read it here:

For #TWC46, James Brooks Kuykendall turns our attention to historical fan studies in his analysis of the Gilbert and Sullivan Society! Read "Fandom and the early years of the Gilbert and Sullivan Society (1924–45)" today:

In "Beyond the "fandom as religion" comparison: Measuring the sacred dimensions of Comic-Con fan devotion," Michael A. Elliott & Marissa Mowers challenge scholarship that considers fandom as a type of religious devotion via an exploration of Comic-Con attendees. Read it in #TWC46: