BayCon will host both Westercon 77 (2025) and 78 (2026).  Site selection for 2026 was held during Westercon 76, July 4-7, 2024 in Salt Lake City UT. BayCon 2025 was previously awarded the right to host Westercon 77, announced on June 14, 2024.

More information about the vote is available on the Westercon website. Information about BayCon 2025/Westercon 77 is available at the BayCon site.

While you are here, please ...Read More

VICFA 3, the third Virtual International Conference for the Fantastic in the Arts, is open to academic and creative proposals. The theme of the conference is “Pantheology in World-Building and Magic Systems,” but VICFA welcomes proposals “on any topic of interest and specialization whether part of the conference theme or independent of it.” Submissions are open until July 31, 2024, and the conference will take place online from October 9-12, ...Read More

LuxCon, which celebrated its tenth anniversary this year, is a large comicon-like festival in Luxembourg, Europe’s ‘‘seventh smallest country.’’ It did make me wish to visit a convention in Liechtenstein next, just for comparison! While the main attraction of the festival is its truly impressive cosplay display, it is also home to numerous roleplay­ing and board game en­thusiasts, with a large dealers’ room. Some of the merchandise, such as those ...Read More

The annual Writers and Illustrators of the Future Awards gala event was held on April 25, 2024 at the Taglyan Complex in Los Angeles. This years’ proceedings marked two important mile­stones: the 40th anniversary of the Awards for Writers and the 35th for Illustrators. The lavish ceremonies commemorated 24 new winners and included retrospectives on four decades of imagi­native achievement; Grand Prize winners were Jack Nash in writing (for his ...Read More

Iain J. Clark will design the base of the 2024 Hugo Award tro­phy, and Sara Felix will design the 2024 Lodestar Award trophy. Each year, the rocket-shaped Hugo Award trophy ‘‘is given a unique base design to reflect the personality of the hosting Worldcon.’’ The Lodestar trophy is also given a unique design every year. Felix previously designed the first Lodestar trophy in 2018. The designs will be re­vealed on ...Read More

The 47th Williamson Lectureship was held April 11-13, 2024 in Portales NM. The theme of Lectureship, held at Eastern NM University and around town to honor SF pioneer Jack Williamson, was “Oh, the (In)Humanity”, and included discussions of AI, robots, posthumans/anti-humans, and guest of honor Martha Wells’s Murderbot Diaries, including 2023’s System Col­lapse. Connie Willis served as toastmistress.

San Jose criminalist Cordelia Willis started events Thursday with a presentation ...Read More

Glasgow 2024 has announced that LA in 2026 (Los Angeles) is the only site bid submitted by the filing deadline of February 18, 2024, as required by the WSFS Constitution. The election to select the site of the 2026 WorldCon will be administered by Glasgow 2024, the 2024 WorldCon. The documents filed by LA in 2026 are available at glasgow2024.org/for-members/wsfs-site-selection. The proposed convention dates are August 27-31, 2026, at the ...Read More

Montréal, Québec, Canada has announced a bid to host the 85th World Science Fiction Convention, to be held in 2027.

The 67th Worldcon in 2009 in Montréal was the last Canadian Worldcon and Montrealers will be happy to see it return. We are bidding to bring the convention to the Palais des Congrès from September 2-6, 2027.

The bid is led by Terry Fong, a Montréal native and a veteran ...Read More

Worldcon Intellectual Property (W.I.P.), the California non-profit that holds the service marks of the World Science Fiction Society including “Hugo Award,” issued this statement in a press release on January 31, 2024:

W.I.P. takes very seriously the recent complaints about the 2023 Hugo Award process and complaints about comments made by persons holding official positions in W.I.P. In connection with these concerns, W.I.P. announces the actions listed below. There may ...Read More

The Science Fiction & Fantasy Writers Association (SFWA) has announced that the 2024 Nebula Conference and Awards will be held June 6-9, 2024 at the Westin Pasadena in Pasadena CA, and virtually online. “The team has already begun preparations and we hope to once again welcome you no matter which way you decide to attend! Registration will be opening soon, but before it does, we’re looking for both programming ideas ...Read More

StokerCon 2024 has announced new Guests of Honor Justina Ireland and Nisi Shawl, who will be joining previously announced guests Paula Guran, Jonathan Maberry, and Paul Tremblay.

StokerCon 2024 will be held May 30-June 2, 2024 at the San Diego Marriott Mission Valley Hotel in San Diego CA.

For more information, see the official website.

While you are here, please take a moment to support Locus with a one-time or ...Read More

Chengdu Worldcon, the 81st World Science Fiction Convention, took place October 18-22, 2023 at the Chengdu Science Fiction Museum in the Pidu district of Chengdu, Sichuan, China. Guests of honor were Liu Cixin, Sergey Lukianenko (absent), and Robert J. Sawyer, with “promotion ambassadors” Roc Chen, Yang Lei, Gong Linna, and Zhu Tiexiong. One of the joys of having an international convention is seeing the ways different countries embrace and interpret ...Read More

The 49th World Fantasy Convention was held as a hybrid event October 26-29, 2023, with the in-person portion held at the Sheraton Kansas City Hotel at Crown Center in Kansas City MO. Guests of honor were Adam-Troy Castro, Kij Johnson, Elizabeth Leggett, Jonathan Strahan, and Vincent Villafranca, with toastmasters Steven Barnes and Ta­nanarive Due. Pat Cadigan had been announced as a special guest but was unable to attend. Life Achievement ...Read More

Glasgow 2024, A Worldcon for Our Futures, the 82nd World Science Fiction Convention, to be held August 8-12, 2024 in Glasgow, Scotland, pub­lished Media Release #7 on November 16, 2023, announcing its full Disease Mitigation Policy, which can be found at < glasgow2024.org/about/disease-mitigation-policy>. ‘‘The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted that conventions need to be more mindful of communicable diseases when planning our events. This is why Glasgow 2024 is issuing a ...Read More

Virtuous Con has announced Tananarive Due, Victor LaValle, and L.L. McKinney as special guests for 2024.

Virtuous Con will be held virtually February 23-25, 2024. The theme is “The Future is Ours” and is “dedicated to celebrating independent Black artists and creators worldwide.”

For more information, see the Virtuous Con 2024 website.

While you are here, please take a moment to support Locus with a one-time or recurring donation. We ...Read More

Report on the Disruptive Imaginations Conference

by Sylvia Spruck Wrigley

From August 15-19, 2023, the Science Fiction Research Association (SFRA) and the Gesellschaft für Fantastikforschung (GfF) came together for a joint annual conference: Disruptive Imaginations. The event was hybrid, with the in-person aspect hosted by Technische Universität Dresden in Germany.

Julia Gaterman and Moritz Ingwersen, the chair of North American Literature and Future Studies, organised the event, which was infused ...Read More

Can*Con 2023 was held October 13-15 online and in person at the Sheraton Hotel in Ottawa, Canada. Guests of honour were Nivia Evans, Fonda Lee, Sara Megibow, and Annalee Newitz.

In-person programming fea­tured 95 panelists at around 50 sessions, discussing science, writ­ing, literature, and more, such as ‘‘Disability in Sci-Fi and Fantasy: Worldbuilding for Disabled He­roes’’ with Melissa Blair, Cait Gor­don, Ada Hoffmann, and A.D. Sui; ‘‘Spotlight on Québec Sci-Fi ...Read More

Pemmi-Con, the 15th North American Science Fiction Convention (NASFiC 15) was held July 20-23, 2023, at Delta Hotels Winnipeg and the RBC Convention Centre in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. Philip John Currie, Julie E. Czerneda, George Freeman, John Mansfield, Waubgeshig Rice, Nisi Shawl, and katherena vermette (absent) were guests of hon­our; Tanya Huff was toastmaster; Lorna Toolis was ghost of honour. Cana­dian Unity Fan Fund (CUFF) delegate Garth Spencer and Trans-Atlantic ...Read More

Clarion

The Clarion workshop ran from June 25-August 5, 2023 in San Diego CA. Their 2023 faculty included Andy Duncan, Alaya Dawn Johnson, Tochi Onyebuchi, Anjali Sachdeva, Rae Carson, C.C. Finlay, and Jac Jamc (faculty director).

Alpha Workshop for Young Writers

The 2023 Alpha Workshop for Young Writers workshop ran from July 19-July 30. Their guest authors were Ayana Gray, Cassandra Khaw, Sarah Gailey, and Tamora Pierce.

Clarion West

Clarion ...Read More

Readercon 32 was held July 13-16, 2023, in Quincy MA. Guests of honor were Jeff Van­derMeer and Justina Ire­land; L.A. Banks was the memorial guest of honor. Total attendance was 613 warm bodies. The focus of Readercon is ‘‘imaginative literature’’ – literary science fiction, fantasy, horror, and their intersections, with ‘‘near-total focus on the written word.’’

The event was held at the Boston Marriott Quincy, returning from the convention’s 2022 ...Read More