Readercon 33
Readercon 33 was held July 11-14, 2024 at the Boston Quincy Marriott in Quincy MA. Guests of honor were Rebecca Roanhorse and Amal El-Mohtar; Naomi Mitchison was the memorial guest of honor. The focus of Readercon is ‘‘imaginative literature’’ – literary science fiction, fantasy, horror, and their intersections, with ‘‘near-total focus on the written word.’’
There were 700 members, with a peak of 596 warm bodies on site Saturday. There were over 200 program items in two tracks, including talks, panels, workshops, readings, kaffeeklatsches, autograph sessions, awards presentations including the Shirley Jackson Awards and the Cordwainer Smith Rediscovery Award, parties, interviews with the guests of honor, and an expanded Meet the Pros(e) party. There was also, as usual, an extensive ‘‘Bookshop’’ dealer room with 32 vendors.
There were a variety of panels on all aspects of speculative literature, including ‘‘The Stories We Tell About Israel and Palestine’’ with Amal El-Mohtar, Benjamin, Karen Meisner, Noah Beit-Aharon, and Sophia Babai; ‘‘Graduating (?) to Novels from Short Stories’’ with A.C. Wise, Barbara Krasnoff, Elizabeth Bear, Gwynne Garfinkle, and Karen Heuler; and ‘‘Paranormal Romance, Romantasy, or ‘Just’ Fantasy?’’ with C.S.E. Cooney, Cecilia Tan, Mark Painter, Natalie Luhrs, and Victoria Janssen.
As always, there were a large number of notable professionals in attendance, including John Chu, Neil Clarke, Meg Elison, Gregory Feeley, Jeffrey Ford, Greer Gilman, Andrea Hairston, Rich Horton, James Patrick Kelly, RB Lemberg, and Zin E. Rocklyn.
The convention is asking attendees who tested positive for COVID after the event to contact < becca@readercon.org >; information will be kept confidential.
Readercon 34 is scheduled for July 17–20, 2025 at the Boston Marriott Burlington in Burlington MA. For more information, visit <www.readercon.org>
Photos by JoAnn Cox and Randee Dawn
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