The 2021 SFWA Nebula Conference was an online event, held June 4-6. There were 812 attending members from 27 countries, up slightly from 2020’s online event, which had 808 members from 33 countries. 2019’s in-person event in Los Angeles had seen a record-breaking 475 registered members.
Thirty panels were offered over the course of three days, with 111 program participants. Early online programming began on March 15, before the event ...Read More
Read more
The Baltimore-Washington Area Worldcon Association (BWAWA) has announced Mary Robinette Kowal as the new chairperson of DisCon III, the 79th World Science Fiction Convention, following Bill Lawhorn’s resignation in June.
Because Kowal is a finalist in two categories, DisCon III intends to keep a full firewall between the chair (and any other Hugo finalists working on the convention) and the voting and administration of the 2021 Hugo Awards. One of ...Read More
Read more
DisCon III, the 79th World Science Fiction Convention, to be held December 15-19, 2021 in Washington DC, announced that Bill Lawhorn has resigned as chairperson, effective immediately.
The Baltimore-Washington Area Worldcon Association (BWAWA) has begun the process of finding a permanent replacement. Until the position is filled, the DisCon III Division Heads and staff will continue with the business of the convention.
We wish to thank Bill for his hard ...Read More
Read more
The 2021 Hugo Awards administration team — consisting of Kathy Bond, Kat Jones, Cassidy Riddlebarger, Marguerite Smith, and Nicholas Whyte — released a statement announcing their resignation:
The 2021 Hugo Administration team came on board, at short notice, at the start of this year. we were committed to the words in the 12 January statement by the DisCon III chair, Bill Lawhorn: “The Hugo Awards exist to celebrate and honor ...Read More
Read more
The Winnipeg in 2023 committee has announced its intention to bid for the 81st World Science Fiction Convention. If selected, this would be the first Worldcon in Winnipeg since 1994. They want to hold the convention August 24-28, 2023 at the RBC Convention Centre in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. The committee is headed by experienced conrunner Terry Fong and includes John Mansfield, who chaired the 1994 convention, as a senior advisor. ...Read More
Read more
The Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America (SFWA) will livestream the 56th Nebula Awards ceremony on June 5, 2021 at 5 p.m. Pacific Time. The ceremony will be available to the public on YouTube and Facebook, and will be hosted by Aydrea Walden. Award presenters include Tobias S. Buckell, Jeffe Kennedy, Mallory O’Meara, Mark Oshiro, Carrie Patel, Adam Savage, Nisi Shawl, and Troy L. Wiggins.
For more information, see ...Read More
Read more
The Speculative Literature Foundation (SLF) announced the new Convention Support Grant for fantasy, science fiction, and literary conventions with significant speculative literature content. Grants of $500 to $1,000 will be awarded throughout the year, for a total of $10,000. For conventions taking place between June 1 and December 31, 2021, the application period is May 15–June 15, 2021. For conventions taking place between January 1 and May 31, 2022, the ...Read More
Read more
Finalists for the 2021 Imadjinn Awards have been announced, including several categories of genre interest:
Best Science Fiction Novel
Best Fantasy Novel
Norwescon 43 was held April 1-4, 2021 as an online event; the theme was “The Longest Night”. Guests of honor, held over from 2020, were Jacqueline Carey (writer), Sana Takeda (artist), and Susan Langley (science). Tor was the spotlight publisher, represented by Claire Eddy. There were 1,469 registrations and over 1,000 attendees. The weekend included over 250 hours of programming with hundreds of panels, 40 readings, 69 gaming slots, ten ...Read More
Read more
The 41st International Conference on the Fantastic in the Arts (ICFA 42) took place virtually March 17-20, 2021, with a theme of “Climate Change and the Anthropocene”. Academics, writers, publishers, editors, artists, students, independent scholars, and more participated, with a record 555 people registered (compared to 2019 with 480 attending), and about 340 either presenting a paper or appearing on a panel (up from 285 in 2019). Jeff VanderMeer was ...Read More
Read more
The International Association of the Fantastic in the Arts (IAFA) is open to proposals “for pre-formed panels, paper sessions, roundtables, and workshops” on the theme of “Trans/Inter/Cross: The Fantastic Between Genres, Media, and Cultures”. Proposals can be submitted through the online portal here. Submissions close June 1, 2021. The symposium will be held October 1-3, 2021 at the Marriott Orlando Airport Lakeside in Orlando FL.
For more information, see the ...Read More
Read more
Chicon 8, the 80th World Science Fiction, has announced the formation of the Chicago Worldcon Community Fund (CWCF) “to help defray the expenses of attending Chicon 8 for the following groups of people”:
For information on how to donate or apply, see the Chicon 8 website.
Chicon also announced that it will not
Westercon 73, the West Coast Science Fantasy Conference scheduled for July 1-4, 2021 in Seattle WA, has announced that the convention will not be held. It is disbanding its committee due, in part, to the coronavirus pandemic.
They are working with LASFS, owner of the Westercon service mark, to implement Section 1.9 of the Westercon Bylaws regarding a Westercon committee failure. Loscon 47, scheduled for November 26-28, 2021 at the ...Read More
Read more
DisCon III, the 79th World Science Fiction Convention, announced that it will be held as an in-person convention December 15-19, 2021, at the Omni Shoreham Hotel in Washington, DC. The move comes “after nearly two-thirds of respondents to a public survey put out by DisCon III said they would prefer an in-person December convention over a virtual convention in August.” Virtual memberships to the December convention will still be available. ...Read More
Read more
The 19th Annual/5th International Science Fiction Conference was organized by the Indian Association for Science Fiction Studies Bangalore (IASFS) in collaboration with Bangalore University and held online December 7-10, 2020. The theme was “All Roads Lead to Science Fiction”, and participants included members of 58 departments at the university, faculty from 700 affiliated colleges, scientists, authors, editors, journalists, and luminaries from all over the world.
A variety of activities and ...Read More
Read more
The 2021 World Fantasy Convention has announced Brandon O’Brien as Special Guest, joining guests Owl Goingback, Yves Meynard, John Picacio, André-François Ruaud, Nisi Shawl, and Christine Taylor-Butler. WFC 2021 will be held November 4-7, 2021 in Montréal, Canada. The theme is “Fantasy, Imagination, and the Dreams of Youth.” Attending memberships are currently $150. For more: <www.wfc2021.org/index.php>.
While you are here, please take a moment to support Locus with a one-time ...Read More
Read more
The International Union of Writers (IUW) announced the winners of several awards during Aelita 2020: the XXXVII International Literary Festival of Fiction, held online December 18-20, 2020:
Bugrov Award (named after V.I. Bugrov)
Aelita-Start Award
Hyperboloid Award
Order of the Knight of Science Fiction Award (named after I.G. Khalymbadzhi)
The literary festival combined the Aelita Convention, Second International
Following reports of calls for political violence on Baen’s Bar, the online forum of Baen Books, and the subsequent temporary closure of the board by publisher Toni Weisskopf, Discon III, the 2021 Worldcon, has announced that it has removed Weisskopf as guest of honor.
Chair Bill Lawhorn sent a press release on February 19:
DisCon III condemns the violent and hostile content found within Baen Books’ forums. We also cannot ...Read More
Read more
The Horror Writers Association (HWA) has decided to change StokerCon 2021 “from an in-person event to a virtual platform” according to a special announcement posted on the StokerCon 2021 site.
Our hope is to preserve the spirit of StokerCon™ and create an event that will resemble as closely as possible our usual programming—panels, presentations, interviews, author readings, ceremonies, and the Bram Stoker Awards® presentation. At this time our plans include ...Read More
Read more
DisCon III, the 79th World Science Fiction Convention, to be held August 25-29, 2021 in Washington DC, announced a controversial Hugo Award credit policy on January 11, 2021, then rescinded it the next day. Convention Co-chair Colette H. Fozard subsequently resigned.
The crux of the issue was the decision to limit the number of names of creators for a given work to four on the final ballot, in visuals during ...Read More
Read more
DisCon III, the 79th World Science Fiction Convention, has announced that the owner of the Marriott Wardman Park Hotel, one of the venues under contract with the convention, “has filed for bankruptcy, announced the hotel’s permanent closing, and their intent to sell the property.” DisCon is still in negotiations with the Omni Shoreham Hotel. The convention committee said,
When we conducted our survey about when and what kind of Worldcon ...Read More
Read more
The Octavia E. Butler Society has announced that, in honor of International Women’s Day, they are waiving all fees for their 2021 conference “The Confluence: Octavia E. Butler at the Intersection of Cultural Critique and Climate Collapse”. The conference will be held online March 6-7, 2021, hosted by St. Catherine University in St. Paul MN.
For more information, including the program schedule and registration link, see the Octavia E. Butler ...Read More
Read more
The inaugural FIYAHCON took place online October 17-18, 2020, held via Zoom and Dacast, and hosted by FIYAH magazine. Guests of honor were Yasser Bahjatt, Cassie Hart, and Rebecca Roanhorse. According to convention director L.D. Lewis, the event was conceived mid-year, in the midst of protests, the COVID-19 pandemic, and the trend of conventions switching to virtual events; it was “formally launched” July 7, 2020, and the Ignyte awards were ...Read More
Read more
The 2020 Sirens Conference, “Sirens at Home”, an “intersectional, interdisciplinary conference on gender, fantasy lit, and other speculative spaces,” was held October 22-25, 2020, online in lieu of the usual Denver CO event. Amy Tenbrink and Hallie Tibbetts are the Sirens co-founders. Tenbrink was con chair and Tibbetts served as programming director. Tenbrink said, “In a year in which we all feel such isolation, we need each other more than ...Read More
Read more
Originally scheduled to take place at Little America Hotel in Salt Lake City UT, the 46th World Fantasy Convention transitioned into an online event on June 1, 2020. Nonetheless, the event maintained their target run dates of October 28 – November 1, 2020. Guests of honor were David A. Cherry, Stephen Gallagher, and Anne Groell; special guests were C.J. Cherryh, Stephen Graham Jones, and Cindy Pon; and toastmasters were Tracy ...Read More
Read more
According to event organizer ReedPOP, BookExpo America and BookCon are being “retired” and will not be held in 2021. Both live events were canceled in 2020 and instead offered free virtual programming. ReedPOP event director Jenny Martin said,
The pandemic arrived at a time in the life cycle of BookExpo and BookCon where we were already examining the restructure of our events to best meet our community’s needs. This has ...Read More
Read more
Estcon 2020 was special in a number of ways. The timing of COVID-19 in Estonia was close to perfect, as the pandemic retreated from the first wave and politely held off on a second wave long enough for allow for the gathering. The farm site meant that it was easy to put extra measures in place, for example encouraging attendees to bring their own tents, which meant that beds could ...Read More
Read more
Maurice Broaddus, Joe R. Lansdale, Seanan McGuire, Silvia Moreno-Garcia, Lisa Morton, and Steve Rasnic Tem have been announced as the StokerCon 2021 Guests of Honor. The event is scheduled May 20-23, 2021 at the Curtis Hotel in Denver CO, and will include the Bram Stoker Awards banquet.
For more information, see the official website.
While you are here, please take a moment to support Locus with a one-time or recurring ...Read More
Read more
The theme for ICon is usually announced around April, and that’s when the work on the festival kicks into high gear. For a while we held on to the hope that ICon could be held in the usual manner, in person. Around July, it became clear this wouldn’t happen, and the team running it faced a difficult choice. Aptly, “choices” was the theme of the festival this year. What they ...Read More
Read more
The French science fiction festival Nantes Utopiales has announced that it is canceling this year’s events, which were scheduled for October 29 – November 2, 2020 at the Nantes Convention Center in Nantes, France. The decision comes after French President Emmanuel Macron’s announcement of a nationwide coronavirus lockdown, in effect from October 30 until at least December 1, 2020.
For more information, see the Utopiales website.
While you are here, ...Read More
Read more
The Outer Dark Symposium on the Greater Weird was held online August 14-16, 2020 for 232 registered attendees, organized by Anya Martin, co-producer of The Outer Dark podcast hosted by This Is Horror.
Scheduled programming featured 12 reading sessions with Mike Allen, Gregory Norman Bossert, Gabriela Damián Miravete, and others. Panels included “From Yellow Wallpaper to Spectral Hues: Color in Weird Fiction” with Daniel Braum, Craig Laurance Gidney, Brian ...Read More
Read more
The World Fantasy Convention 2020 committee has revised its program descriptions after facing public criticism and attendee withdrawals from members of the industry. According to a press release,
WFC Chair Ginny Smith engaged the help of three well-respected members of the fantasy community, two people of color and a well-regarded writer and sensitivity advisor, to review the offensive and insensitive programming language. They have completed their review and the revised ...Read More
Read more 
This is a perilous time for independent media. As a small independent nonprofit with no endowment, we rely on the support and generosity of readers to support our work.
YOU CAN HELP! Please consider making a tax-deductible donation today?
Every contribution helps pay our writers, editors, and artists, sustain the magazine and website, and allows us to continue to share our content without a paywall. Even a small contribution goes a long way toward keeping Locus going and you in the know about the SFF world. Thank you for your help!
