Outer Alliance Spotlight #17: Queer Friendly Conventions January 15, 2010
Posted by juliarios in : events , trackbackWelcome to Outer Alliance Spotlight #17. Usually the Spotlight features an ally who writes, reviews, publishes, or is in some other way involved with LGBTQI speculative fiction, but this week we’re going to do something a little bit different. It’s the beginning of the year, so we’re going to take a look at some of the queer friendly conventions going on in 2010.
January
*First, a convention that’s happening right now: Arisia. This Boston, Massachusetts area con is queer, pagan, poly, and kink friendly, and has a few Outer Alliance members on the guest list. If you show up, you might run into Rose Fox, Jennifer Pelland, and Cecilia Tan. Arisia’s Fan Guests of Honor this year are a queer couple, Kevin Roche and Andy Trembley, and there is even a Queer SF&F panel on Saturday at 2:00 pm.
*Coming up next weekend (22-24 January) in San Jose, California, you can catch OA member Kyell Gold at Further ConFusion, a Furry convention.
February
*In Boston, Boskone 47 is happening on 12-14 February.
*If you can’t make it to Further ConFusion, you’ll have another chance to see Kyell Gold in Dallas, Texas over the weekend of 19-21 February. He’ll be appearing at Furry Fiesta as the Writing Guest of Honor.
*On 26-28 February, Gallifrey One is happening in Los Angeles, California. This convention is devoted to Dr. Who fandom. (Thanks to LJC for the tip!)
March
*OA member Catherine Lundoff will appear at MarsCon 2010 in Minneapolis, Minnesota on the weekend of 5-7 March.
*Last week’s Spotlight subject, Angelia Sparrow will be a guest at MidSouthCon during the weekend of 12-14 March.
May
*OutLantaCon is an LGBTQ SF convention in Atlanta, Georgia happening on 1-3 May. Nicola Griffith and Cecilia Tan will both be guests there. (Thanks to Catherine Lundoff for the tip!)
*WisCon is a feminist SF convention that takes place in Madison, Wisconsin. This year it will happen on the weekend of 27-31 May.
*That same weekend in Baltimore, Maryland, Tanya Huff (whose books have been recommended by multiple OA members in Spotlights past) will be the Guest of Honor at Balticon.
*Imaginales is a book and original illustration fair in Epinal, France, which will also take place on 27-30 May. The chair, Stéphanie Nicot, is one of France’s leading trans rights campaigners. (Thanks to Cheryl Morgan for this tip!)
June
*Angelia Sparrow will be appearing at Hypericon in Nashville Tennessee on the weekend of 4-6 June.
*That same weekend in Dallas, Texas, Catherine Lundoff will be a guest at A-Kon.
July
*CONvergence is happening on 1-4 July in Minneapolis, Minnesota, and Catherine Lundoff will be there, too!
*ReaderCon is yet another Boston Area convention, but this one eschews media other than books. Jennifer Pelland usually turns up at this one, and Cecilia Tan has in the past as well.
*Finncon is happening 16-18 July in Finnland, and will feature Ellen Kushner and Pat Cadigan. (Thanks again to Cheryl Morgan for the tip!)
August
*Diversicon hasn’t put up its 2010 dates yet, but this Minneapolis, Minnesota convention exists to celebrate diversity in SF fandom.
*Au Contraire is the New Zealand National Science Fiction Convention for 2010. It’s happening the weekend before this year’s WorldCon, so that people can go to both in one trip. 27-29 August in Wellington, New Zealand. (Thanks to Anna for the tip!)
September
*Memphit Fur Meet 2010 will be happening on the weekend of 3-5 September in Memphis, Tennessee. This is another small, Furry convention, and Angelia Sparrow may attend it if she isn’t traveling to Atlanta, Georgia.
*Dragon*Con (3-5 September in Atlanta, Georgia) is one of the larger convention in the US, and full of elaborate costumes.
*That same weekend, but on another continent, the 68th WorldCon, AussieCon 4 is happening in Melbourne, Australia.
October
*Gaylaxicon, a con devoted entirely to queer speculative fiction, will take place in October in Montreal, Canada.
November
*OA member Elizabeth Bear will be the Guest of Honor at Darkover XXXIII in Timonium, Maryland on the weekend of 26-28 November.
This is just the tip of the convention iceberg, so please tell us about your favorite queer friendly conventions in the comments, and about which ones you plan to attend (I’m personally planning to attend Boskone and ReaderCon). I’ll be sure to update this page with more convention links if you tell me about them. With any luck, maybe we can all meet some of our fellow allies in person this calendar year!
Comments»
Gallifrey One (gallifreyone.com), a Doctor Who media con held annually in Los Angeles every February is VERY queer-friendly, and a good portion of the staff attendees are GLBT as well.
A little more international flavor.
This year’s Finncon features Ellen Kushner, and also Pat Cadigan who’s a very supportive ally.
Also there’s Imaginales, one of the largest conventions in France, which is chaired by the amazing Stéphanie Nicot. When not editing best-selling anthologies and running the convention, Stéphanie is one of France’s leading trans rights campaigners.
Thank you for the tips! I’ll update the list presently.
More international – in Wellington, NZ Au Contraire is mostly run by a bunch of queer girls and we plan to have some queer specific programming. It’s held the week before Worldcon to enable international people to go to both in the same trip.
Thanks, Anna! That sounds great! I’ll add it to the main entry.
[...] not in San Jose, but are interested in meeting other allies at cons, be sure to check the Queer Friendly Cons page, which has been updated a few times in the week since I first posted it. Please keep those [...]