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Panel [clear filter]
Saturday, October 17
 

10:00am EDT

Guest of Honor: Rebecca Roanhorse
A special talk with author Rebecca Roanhorse about her new epic fantasy book BLACK SUN
Moderators
avatar for Brent Lambert

Brent Lambert

Senior Programming Coordinator
Brent Lambert is a queer Black author based out of San Diego with roots in the South, particularly Louisiana. He manages Social Media and Reviews for FIYAH Literary Magazine. He is an upcoming editor for the flash fiction anthology Breathe FIYAH, a collaboration between Tor and FIYAH... Read More →

Guests
avatar for Rebecca Roanhorse

Rebecca Roanhorse

Writer
Rebecca Roanhorse is a New York Times Bestseller and Nebula, Hugo, and Locus Award-winning speculative fiction writer. Her novels include Trail of Lightning, Storm of Locusts (both part of the Sixth World series), Star Wars: Resistance Reborn, and the middle grade novel on the Rick... Read More →

Saturday October 17, 2020 10:00am - 11:00am EDT
The Great Hall
  Panel, Community
  • RELEASE CONSENT PENDING
  • DISCORD CHANNEL #the-great-hall-1

11:00am EDT

New Magic: Roots in Diaspora
Traditional publishing's "diversity" requirements often force writers of color to source their magic cultural systems from "motherlands" or foreign roots of origin to be considered "authentic". This panel explores the beauty magic systems authentic to peoples of diaspora origins.
Moderators
avatar for Breanne Mc Ivor

Breanne Mc Ivor

Breanne Mc Ivor was born and raised in west Trinidad. She studied English at the Universities of Cambridge and Edinburgh before returning home. She has been shortlisted for the Commonwealth Short Story Prize, the Glimmer Train Fiction Open, the Fish One-Page Prize and the Derek Walcott... Read More →

Guests
avatar for Christopher Caldwell

Christopher Caldwell

Author
Christopher Caldwell is a queer, Black American living in Glasgow, Scotland. He is a Clarion West alumnus, and a recipient of the Octavia E. Butler Memorial Scholarship. His work has appeared in Fiyah, Strange Horizons, and Uncanny Magazine, and reprinted in The Best of British Fantasy... Read More →
avatar for Justin C. Key

Justin C. Key

Author
Justin C. Key is an African-American speculative fiction writer and psychiatrist. His short stories have appeared in The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, Strange Horizons, and Crossed Genres. His novelette, The Perfection of Theresa Watkins, is now available from Tor.com and... Read More →
avatar for Swati Teerdhala

Swati Teerdhala

Swati Teerdhala is the author of The Tiger at Midnight series, which has appeared on both Barnes and Noble and Book Riot’s Most Anticipated Novels lists. After graduating from the University of Virginia with a BS in finance and BA in history, she tumbled into the marketing side... Read More →

Saturday October 17, 2020 11:00am - 12:00pm EDT
The Great Hall
  Panel, Craft
  • RELEASE CONSENT CONFIRMED
  • DISCORD CHANNEL #the-great-hall-3

11:00am EDT

The End of the Age of Empires
A panel discussing empires in SFF. Is an empire ever morally right? Why do we gravitate so commonly in this genre to tales of empire royalty? What is in these stories that attracts us can we break out of them still tell exciting adventure stories? Can you even have an adventure SFF without an "US vs THEM" dynamic? If empires fall...what comes next?
Moderators
avatar for C.L. Clark

C.L. Clark

Cherae graduated from Indiana University’s creative writing MFA. She’s been a personal trainer, an English teacher, and an editor, and is some combination thereof as she travels the world. When she’s not writing or working, she’s learning languages, doing P90something, or... Read More →

Guests
avatar for Matt Wallace

Matt Wallace

Matt Wallace is a Hugo Award winner and the author of Rencor: Life in Grudge City, the Sin du Jour series, Savage Legion, and Bump. He’s also penned over one hundred short stories in addition to writing for film, television, and video games. In his youth he traveled the world as... Read More →
avatar for Arkady Martine

Arkady Martine

Arkady Martine is speculative fiction writer and, as Dr. AnnaLinden Weller, a historian of the Byzantine Empire and a city planner. She is currently a policy advisor for the New Mexico Energy, Minerals, and Natural Resources Department, where she works on climate change mitigation... Read More →
avatar for K.S. Villoso

K.S. Villoso

K.S. Villoso writes speculative fiction with a focus on deeply personal themes and character-driven narratives. Much of her work is inspired by her childhood in the slums of Taguig, Philippines. She is now living amidst the forest and mountains with her husband, children, and dogs... Read More →
avatar for Aishwarya Subramanian

Aishwarya Subramanian

Reviews Editor, Strange Horizons
Dr Aishwarya Subramanian is an academic who researches fantasy, spatiality, and children's literature. She's also a reviews editor at Strange Horizons.

Saturday October 17, 2020 11:00am - 12:00pm EDT
The Great Hall
  Panel, Craft
  • RELEASE CONSENT CONFIRMED
  • DISCORD CHANNEL #the-great-hall-2

12:00pm EDT

Middle Grade SFF: Blazing Forward
The SFF field often has a tendency to ignore age categories outside of Adult when discussing new exciting works in the field. But Middle Grade SFF deserves a seat at the table. What examples of great SFF are there currently in Middle Grade fiction how do they push the genre forward? What advantages does Middle Grade SFF have over their Adult counterparts what can Adult SFF learn from Middle Grade books?
Moderators
avatar for Carlos Hernandez

Carlos Hernandez

Carlos Hernandez (he/him) is the Pura Belpré-award winning and Ignyte nominated author of Sal and Gabi Break the Universe and its sequel, Sal and Gabi Fix the Universe. Carlos is an SFF author of numerous works of fiction, poetry, and drama, as well as a CUNY English professor and... Read More →

Guests
avatar for L.M. Davis

L.M. Davis

L. M. Davis is a YA/MG author who writes about shapeshifters, aliens, immortals, and witches. She is a scholar of African American and Native American literatures and cultures, with particular interest in the speculative production of these communities. She has spent more than a decade... Read More →
avatar for Kwame Mbalia

Kwame Mbalia

Attendee
Kwame is a husband, father, writer, a New York Times bestselling author, and a former pharmaceutical metrologist in that order. His debut middle-grade novel, TRISTAN STRONG PUNCHES A HOLE IN THE SKY, and the sequel TRISTAN STRONG DESTROYS THE WORLD (October 6, 2020) are published... Read More →
avatar for Eden Royce

Eden Royce

Eden Royce’s short fiction can be found in various print and online publications including: FIYAH, The Year’s Best Dark Fantasy & Horror, Apex Magazine, Strange Horizons, and PodCastle. She’s a recipient of the Speculative Literature Foundation’s Diverse Worlds grant and a... Read More →
avatar for Rebecca Roanhorse

Rebecca Roanhorse

Writer
Rebecca Roanhorse is a New York Times Bestseller and Nebula, Hugo, and Locus Award-winning speculative fiction writer. Her novels include Trail of Lightning, Storm of Locusts (both part of the Sixth World series), Star Wars: Resistance Reborn, and the middle grade novel on the Rick... Read More →

Saturday October 17, 2020 12:00pm - 1:00pm EDT
The Great Hall
  Panel, Craft
  • RELEASE CONSENT PENDING
  • DISCORD CHANNEL #the-great-hall-1

12:00pm EDT

The Role of the Critic
It is almost obvious that as media strives to include more voices--writers of color, disabled writers, queer writers in the broadest sense -- that the entire pipeline must be as diverse to support them, from creator to critic. This panel would explore this idea, that a writer/creative exists in an ecosystem of support that includes vibrant, diverse critique from people within with-out of their community. The internet seems to make this easy, anyone can express their opinion, so how do professional (or semi-professional) organizations produce useful critique? How does it differ based on media? What’s the place of a review website or blog in the publishing environment? Is it getting better? Worse? Growing? Changing? Where has it been where is it going?
Moderators
avatar for Leslie E. Light

Leslie E. Light

Editor/Writer, Black Nerd Problems
Leslie E.H. Light is a writer, editor, mother, and pound cake enthusiast. She stands up for Black Speculative Fiction at BlackNerdProblems.com, where she’s a writer and editor. Her short fiction has been published in Finding Home: Community in Apocalyptic Worlds and she’s self-published... Read More →

Guests
avatar for Alex Brown

Alex Brown

critic, author, librarian
Alex Brown is an asexual and aromantic biracial Black woman working as a teen services librarian, local historian, writer, and author. She has a BA with honors in Anthropology and Sociology, a Master’s of Library and Information Science, and a Master’s in US History, specializing... Read More →
avatar for Njeri @ ONYXPages

Njeri @ ONYXPages

avatar for Sean Dowie

Sean Dowie

Book Reviewer/Submissions Manager
Sean Dowie is a mixed-race book reviewer who intermittently writes fiction. He's part of FIYAH's reviewing team, and is a contributor for the Hugo-nominated fanzine Nerds of a Feather. Just recently, he deviated a little from his reviewing-focused lifestyle by joining Augur Magazine's... Read More →
avatar for Chloe (Thistle & Verse)

Chloe (Thistle & Verse)

Chloe is a booktuber based in Pennsylvania. She has been on the platform for about a year and primarily reviews sff by Black authors. Folklore adaptations and bio sci fi hold a special place in her heart.

Saturday October 17, 2020 12:00pm - 1:00pm EDT
The Great Hall
  Panel, Community
  • RELEASE CONSENT CONFIRMED
  • DISCORD CHANNEL #the-great-hall-4

1:00pm EDT

Publishing in Spec 101
Just starting on your SFF publishing journey? Here's everything you need to know about how this thing works.
Moderators
avatar for K. Tempest Bradford

K. Tempest Bradford

K. Tempest Bradford is a science fiction and fantasy writer, writing instructor, media critic, reviewer, and podcaster. Her short fiction has appeared in multiple anthologies and magazines including Strange Horizons, PodCastle, Sunspot Jungle, In the Shadow of the Towers, and many more. She’s the... Read More →

Guests
avatar for Christopher Caldwell

Christopher Caldwell

Author
Christopher Caldwell is a queer, Black American living in Glasgow, Scotland. He is a Clarion West alumnus, and a recipient of the Octavia E. Butler Memorial Scholarship. His work has appeared in Fiyah, Strange Horizons, and Uncanny Magazine, and reprinted in The Best of British Fantasy... Read More →
avatar for J.R.H. Lawless

J.R.H. Lawless

J.R.H. Lawless is a bestselling SF author from Atlantic Canada who blends comedy with political themes — drawing heavily, in both cases, on their experience as a lawyer and as Secretary General of a Parliamentary group at the French National Assembly. A member of SFWA and Codex... Read More →
avatar for Na'amen Gobert Tilahun

Na'amen Gobert Tilahun

Attendee
Na’amen Gobert Tilahun is a freelance writer who made the bicoastal move from West to East. He loves every subgenre of SF/F especially when two or more of them are mashed together. He holds a B.A. in Creative Writing from San Francisco State University and an M.F.A. in Fiction and... Read More →
avatar for Matt Belford

Matt Belford

Matt is a literary agent with The Tobias Agency. He joined in early 2020 after previously working at the David Black Agency and the Aaron M. Priest Agency. Once he received his Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing from Emerson College, he decided to apply his talents in representing... Read More →

Saturday October 17, 2020 1:00pm - 2:00pm EDT
The Great Hall
  Panel, Craft
  • RELEASE CONSENT CONFIRMED
  • DISCORD CHANNEL #the-great-hall-3

1:00pm EDT

The Confederation of Aunties
Aunties with plates of food in one hand the other ready to smack some sense into you. They make up the backbone of many cultures, so why don't we see more of them in spec fic? What would a novel with an Auntie MC look like? When does one become an Auntie?
Moderators
ZA

Z Aung


Guests
avatar for Jenn Lyons

Jenn Lyons

Attendee
Jenn Lyons lives in Atlanta, Georgia with her husband, three cats and a nearly infinite number of opinions on anything from Sumerian mythology to the correct way to make a martini. Formally a video game producer, she now writes full time. A long-time devotee of storytelling, Lyons... Read More →
avatar for Diana M. Pho

Diana M. Pho

Editor
Diana M. Pho is a queer Vietnamese-American independent scholar, playwright, and Hugo Award-nominated fiction editor. She has over a decade of experience in traditional, Big Five publishing, including Tor Books, Tor.com Publishing, and the Science Fiction Book Club. Additionally... Read More →
avatar for Nibedita Sen

Nibedita Sen

Attendee
Nibedita Sen is a Hugo, Nebula, Ignyte, and Astounding Award-nominated queer Bengali writer, editor and gamer from Calcutta. She acquired several English degrees in India before deciding she wanted an MFA too, and that she was going to move halfway across the world for it. A graduate... Read More →
avatar for Veronica Henry

Veronica Henry

Veronica Henry was born in Brooklyn, N.Y., and has been a bit of a rolling stone ever since. Her debut novel, Bacchanal, will be released May 2021 from 47North. She is a graduate of the Viable Paradise Workshop and member of SFWA.Veronica is proud to be of Sierra Leonean ancestry... Read More →

Saturday October 17, 2020 1:00pm - 2:00pm EDT
The Great Hall
  Panel, Craft
  • RELEASE CONSENT CONFIRMED
  • DISCORD CHANNEL #the-great-hall-2

2:00pm EDT

Beautiful Weeds: Thriving When We Weren't Meant to Survive
Real talk about the challenges of growing around institutional limits expectations, finding joy in difficulty, the freedom that lies on the other side. A survival guide roadmap: Here's where we fell down. Here's who helped us up. Here are the doors that were closed to us. Here's how to fly over them.
Moderators
avatar for E. Lily Yu

E. Lily Yu

E. Lily Yu is the author of On Fragile Waves, forthcoming in December 2020. She received the Artist Trust / LaSalle Storyteller Award in 2017 and the Astounding Award for Best New Writer in 2012. Her stories appear in venues from McSweeney's to Tor.com and in eleven best-of-the-year... Read More →

Guests
avatar for Lisa M. Bradley

Lisa M. Bradley

BIO: A queer Latina originally from South Texas, Lisa M. Bradley now lives in Iowa. Her poetry and fiction have appeared in numerous venues, including Strange Horizons, Beneath Ceaseless Skies, Anathema, and Fireside Fiction. Her first collection is The Haunted Girl (Aqueduct Press... Read More →
avatar for K.S. Villoso

K.S. Villoso

K.S. Villoso writes speculative fiction with a focus on deeply personal themes and character-driven narratives. Much of her work is inspired by her childhood in the slums of Taguig, Philippines. She is now living amidst the forest and mountains with her husband, children, and dogs... Read More →
avatar for Corinne Duyvis

Corinne Duyvis

Corinne Duyvis is the critically acclaimed author of the YA sci-fi/fantasy novels Otherbound, which Kirkus called “a stunning debut;” On the Edge of Gone, which Publishers Weekly called “a riveting apocalyptic thriller with substantial depth;” and The Art of Saving the Wo... Read More →
avatar for Amal El-Mohtar

Amal El-Mohtar

Attendee
Amal El-Mohtar is an award-winning writer of fiction, poetry, and criticism. Her stories and poems have appeared in magazines including Tor.com, Fireside Fiction, Lightspeed, Uncanny, Strange Horizons, Apex, Stone Telling, and Mythic Delirium; anthologies including The Djinn Falls... Read More →

Saturday October 17, 2020 2:00pm - 3:00pm EDT
The Great Hall
  Panel, Community
  • RELEASE CONSENT PENDING
  • DISCORD CHANNEL #the-great-hall-1

2:00pm EDT

Self-pub to Trad-pub to Self-pub
Pursuing a hybrid publishing model? Here's what you need to know about what to expect from switching processes.
Moderators
avatar for HD Hunter

HD Hunter

Cocoa-Founder, Voodoonauts
Hugh “H.D.” Hunter is a YA author and activist from Atlanta, GA. He is the self-published author of two books and the winner of the 2018 Next Generation Indie Book Awards for Fiction and Multicultural Fiction. Hugh is also an alum of the inaugural YA Fiction Workshop at Tin House... Read More →

Guests
avatar for Nicole Givens Kurtz

Nicole Givens Kurtz

Author, Mocha Memoirs Press
avatar for L.M. Davis

L.M. Davis

L. M. Davis is a YA/MG author who writes about shapeshifters, aliens, immortals, and witches. She is a scholar of African American and Native American literatures and cultures, with particular interest in the speculative production of these communities. She has spent more than a decade... Read More →
avatar for Ashia Monet

Ashia Monet

Ashia Monet is a speculative fiction author based in Philadelphia. Her work centers LGBTQ+ people of color and ranges from teenage magicians on epic road trips to 19th century gothic horror characters hunting Dracula. Her young adult debut novel THE BLACK VEINS is available now. You... Read More →
avatar for Eliana González Ugarte

Eliana González Ugarte

Attendee, Constelación Magazine
Short story and screenplay writer. Born in Asunción, Paraguay. Has won around a dozen short story awards in her home country, as well as one for a short screenplay. Is currently working on a LitRPG series and on starting a bilingual, speculative fiction magazine called Constelación... Read More →

Saturday October 17, 2020 2:00pm - 3:00pm EDT
The Great Hall
  Panel, Business
  • RELEASE CONSENT PENDING
  • DISCORD CHANNEL #the-great-hall-4

4:00pm EDT

Guest of Honor: Cassie Hart
A special talk with author Cassie Hart about her upcoming works journey in the SFF industry.
Moderators
avatar for Brent Lambert

Brent Lambert

Senior Programming Coordinator
Brent Lambert is a queer Black author based out of San Diego with roots in the South, particularly Louisiana. He manages Social Media and Reviews for FIYAH Literary Magazine. He is an upcoming editor for the flash fiction anthology Breathe FIYAH, a collaboration between Tor and FIYAH... Read More →

Guests
avatar for Cassie Hart

Cassie Hart

Cassie Hart (aka J.C. Hart and Nova Blake) is a Māori (Kāi Tahu, Makaawhio) speculative fiction writer who enjoys delving into human nature in all its beauty and disarray.Over the past five years she has published over ten novel and novellas, and has had her work printed in various... Read More →

Saturday October 17, 2020 4:00pm - 5:00pm EDT
The Great Hall
  Panel, Community
  • RELEASE CONSENT CONFIRMED
  • DISCORD CHANNEL #the-great-hall-2

6:00pm EDT

Sci-fi: Fix My World
The applications of evolving or soon-to-be developed technologies have the potential to create lasting change for our generation many more to come. Science fiction has a unique ability to inspire the masses in supporting, fighting for, or simply believing reform is possible.

The panel discussion will focus on established works that tackle reform of the prison industrial complex, climate change, corporate politics other untapped topics.
Moderators
avatar for Patty Nicole Johnson

Patty Nicole Johnson

Patty Nicole Johnson is a Black and Puerto Rican content marketer and science fiction writer. In her Chicago bungalow, she weaponizes time travel, holograms, multiverses and more to envision a more equitable society. Her work can be found at New American Legends and On the Seawall... Read More →

Guests
avatar for Arula Ratnakar

Arula Ratnakar

Arula Ratnakar is a 21-year-old scientist, science fiction writer, and artist. She is currently studying biology and neuroscience with an architecture minor at Carnegie Mellon University. Arula is very interested in the intersection between systems and computational neuroscience and... Read More →
avatar for Sameem Siddiqui

Sameem Siddiqui

Sameem Siddiqui is a writer of speculative fiction about migration, South Asian ancestry, Muslim heritage, gender and family structure in near future societies. His work has been published in Clarkesworld and ApparitionLit. Some of Sameem’s favorite authors include Kurt Vonnegut... Read More →
avatar for S.B. Divya

S.B. Divya

Author, Editor
S.B. Divya is a lover of science, math, fiction, and the Oxford comma. She enjoys subverting expectations and breaking stereotypes whenever she can. Divya is the Hugo and Nebula nominated author of Runtime and co-editor of Escape Pod, with Mur Lafferty. Her short stories have been... Read More →
avatar for Allan Dyen-Shapiro

Allan Dyen-Shapiro

Attendee
Allan Dyen-Shapiro is a Ph.D. biochemist who currently works as an educator. He has sold seven short stories at pro rates, the most recent two to appear being "Crazy Horse's Prodigal Granddaughter" (Grantville Gazette, January 2020) and "Like Him with Friends Possess'd" (Flash Fiction... Read More →

Saturday October 17, 2020 6:00pm - 7:00pm EDT
The Great Hall
  Panel, Craft
  • RELEASE CONSENT CONFIRMED
  • DISCORD CHANNEL #the-great-hall-4

6:00pm EDT

Writing to Market: BIPOC Writers Navigating Commercial Viability
Acquisition departments in publishing have the job of considering how profitable a work can be. BIPOC face more hurdles than other authors in trying to make their books stand out as profitable. What does that look like from an author agent standpoint? Is it something authors should worry about. This panel explores those concerns.
Moderators
avatar for Arley Sorg

Arley Sorg

co-Editor-in-Chief, Fantasy Magazine
Arley Sorg is co-Editor-in-Chief at Fantasy Magazine. He's also an associate editor at Locus Magazine, where he’s been on staff since 2014. He joined the Lightspeed family in 2014 to work on the Queers Destroy Science Fiction! special issue, starting as a slush reader. He eventually... Read More →

Guests
avatar for Tochi Onyebuchi

Tochi Onyebuchi

Tochi Onyebuchi is the author of the young adult novel Beasts Made of Night, which won the Ilube Nommo Award for Best Speculative Fiction Novel by an African, its sequel, Crown of Thunder, and War Girls, a Locus and Nommo Award Finalist. He holds degrees from Yale, the Tisch School... Read More →
avatar for Terese Mason Pierre

Terese Mason Pierre

Terese Mason Pierre is a writer and editor whose work has appeared in Strange Horizons, FIYAH Magazine, Uncanny, and elsewhere online and in print. She is the senior poetry editor of Augur Magazine, a speculative and surrealism literature journal, and she is the author of chapbooks... Read More →
avatar for Patrice Caldwell

Patrice Caldwell

Patrice Caldwell is a graduate of Wellesley College and the founder & fundraising chair of People of Color in Publishing–a grassroots organization dedicated to supporting, empowering, and uplifting racially and ethnically marginalized members of the book publishing industry. Born... Read More →
avatar for Ayana Gray

Ayana Gray

Ayana Gray is the author of BEASTS OF PREY (Putnam Books for Young Readers, Spring 2022) and a lover of all things monsters and magic. Originally an Atlanta native, she now lives in sunny Florida where she writes fantastical stories, follows Formula One racing, and worries over her... Read More →

Saturday October 17, 2020 6:00pm - 7:00pm EDT
The Great Hall
  Panel, Business
  • RELEASE CONSENT CONFIRMED
  • DISCORD CHANNEL #the-great-hall-3

7:00pm EDT

Living Cultures: How to Avoid Mythological Pitfalls
There is a difference between mythology and living, vibrant cultures. How do you successfully integrate the latter into your writing while being non-appropriative respectful of the fact the cultures you're tapping into exist today? How do we challenge the idea of living cultures being seen as "dead" because of ignorance?
Moderators
avatar for Cassie Hart

Cassie Hart

Cassie Hart (aka J.C. Hart and Nova Blake) is a Māori (Kāi Tahu, Makaawhio) speculative fiction writer who enjoys delving into human nature in all its beauty and disarray.Over the past five years she has published over ten novel and novellas, and has had her work printed in various... Read More →

Guests
avatar for Rivqa Rafael

Rivqa Rafael

Rivqa Rafael lives in Sydney, where she writes speculative fiction about queer women, Jewish women, cyborg futures, and hope in dystopias. Her short stories have been published in Strange Horizons, GlitterShip, Escape Pod, and elsewhere. She co-edited feminist robot anthology Mother... Read More →
avatar for Suzan Palumbo

Suzan Palumbo

Attendee
Suzan Palumbo lives in Canada. Originally from Trinidad and Tobago, she is an ESL teacher and a New Wave enthusiast.  Her stories are often inspired by clashes of culture and the gap between expectations and reality.  When she isn’t writing she is walking in the forest or listening... Read More →
avatar for Suyi Davies Okungbowa

Suyi Davies Okungbowa

Author
Suyi Davies Okungbowa is the author of Son of the Storm (Orbit, May 2021), first in The Nameless Republic epic fantasy trilogy, and the godpunk novel, David Mogo, Godhunter (Abaddon, 2019). His shorter works have appeared internationally in periodicals like Tor.com, Lightspeed... Read More →
avatar for Sascha Stronach

Sascha Stronach

Sascha Stronach is a novelist and editor based in Pōneke, New Zealand. He is of  Greek, Ngāi Tahu Māori and Scottish ancestry.  His first novel, The Dawnhounds, won the 2020 Sir Julius Vogel Award for Best Novel and won him the SJV for Best New Talent.The Dawnhounds is "a subversive queer sci-fi neo-noir", "somewhere between Ambergris and Ankh-Morpork", and "the one about gay warlocks fighting against the cops with mushroom magic."In Sascha's spare time he writes about computers, runs a small press, and occasionally finds the time to roll dic... Read More →

Saturday October 17, 2020 7:00pm - 8:00pm EDT
The Great Hall
  Panel, Craft
  • RELEASE CONSENT CONFIRMED
  • DISCORD CHANNEL #the-great-hall-1

7:00pm EDT

The Art of Self-Promotion
Whether independent or traditionally publishing, there's an art to effective self-promotion. This panel covers the do's, don't's, how's of talking about your own work.
Moderators
avatar for Martin Cahill

Martin Cahill

Marketing and Publicity Manager, Erewhon Books
Martin Cahill is a science fiction and fantasy writer living in Astoria, Queens, and works as the Marketing and Publicity Manager for Erewhon Books. He’s a graduate of the Clarion Writers’ Workshop of 2014 and a member of the NYC-based writing group, Altered Fluid.You can find... Read More →

Guests
avatar for Russell A Smith

Russell A Smith

Attendee
An Black British author, podcaster and freshly-minted historian, Russell continues to enjoy the wildest of rides. Also a keen gamer, he has spent vast segments of the UK lockdown on Zoom conferences with dice whenever taking a break from fresh writing happening.  A part of the the... Read More →
avatar for Suzanne Walker

Suzanne Walker

Suzanne Walker is a Chicago-based writer and editor. She is co-creator of the Hugo-nominated graphic novel Mooncakes (Oni Press/Lion Forge) with artist Wendy Xu. Her short fiction has been published in Clarkesworld, and she has published nonfiction articles with Uncanny Magazine... Read More →
avatar for Natasha D. Lane

Natasha D. Lane

Natasha D. Lane is a friend of most things caffeinated, a lover of books, and a writing warrior to her core.As a believer that “the pen is mightier than the sword,” she graduated from Juniata College in 2015 with hopes to become a journalist. Instead, life took her on a different... Read More →
avatar for Shiv Ramdas

Shiv Ramdas

Shiv Ramdas is an Indian writer of Tamil and Sikh heritage. His short speculative fiction has been nominated for the Hugo and Nebula awards and has appeared in publications such as Strange Horizons, Fireside Fiction, Podcastle and others. He has spent several years hosting radio shows... Read More →

Saturday October 17, 2020 7:00pm - 8:00pm EDT
The Great Hall
  Panel, Business
  • RELEASE CONSENT PENDING
  • RESERVATION REQUIRED No
  • DISCORD CHANNEL #the-great-hall-2

8:00pm EDT

Brave New World: Manifesting Utopian Elements of SFF in the Real World
Sometimes when we write, we create better worlds than our own. From garden cities and unique governing structures, to flourishing barter economies and the fulfillment of Land Back movements, this panel discusses systems and characteristics featured in speculative fiction and ways we might go about making them a reality.
Moderators
avatar for Kevin Wabaunsee

Kevin Wabaunsee

Kevin Wabaunsee is a speculative fiction writer and editor. He is a Prairie Band Potawatomi, a Chicagoan, and a former newspaper reporter. Kevin is a graduate of the Viable Paradise workshop, an associate editor at Escape Pod, and managing editor for the Science Fiction and Fantasy... Read More →

Guests
avatar for Toni Wi

Toni Wi

Toni Wi is a Māori (Ngāti Maniapoto) writer and editor from Aotearoa, New Zealand. She writes flash fiction and is working on a novel about indigenous futurism.Her work has appeared in Takahē, Mayhem, Flash Frontier, and the Year's Best Aotearoa New Zealand Science Fiction & Fantasy... Read More →
avatar for Charlie Jane Anders

Charlie Jane Anders

Attendee
Charlie Jane Anders is the author of the forthcoming Victories Greater Than Death, the first book in a young adult trilogy. Plus an upcoming short story collection, Even Greater Mistakes. And a collection of essays about how to make up stories during tough times, called Never Say You Can't Survive. With Annalee Newitz, she co-hosts the Hugo Award-winning podc... Read More →
avatar for M. Haynes

M. Haynes

M. Haynes grew up loving fantasy worlds, but quickly realized that they failed to include people like him. He began developing a YA fantasy series of his own at a young age to correct that. He used the stories he was exposed to, from Animorphs to JRPGs, to craft worlds that would... Read More →
avatar for Georgina Kamsika

Georgina Kamsika

Attendee
Georgina Kamsika is a speculative fiction writer born in Yorkshire, England, to Anglo-Indian immigrant parents and has spent most of her life explaining her English first name, Polish surname and South Asian features.  She graduated from the Clarion West workshop in 2012, studying... Read More →

Saturday October 17, 2020 8:00pm - 9:00pm EDT
The Great Hall
  Panel, Craft
  • RELEASE CONSENT CONFIRMED
  • DISCORD CHANNEL #the-great-hall-3

8:00pm EDT

Comics: Why do they stand out?
Comics serve as a uniquely powerful form of storytelling. Why does their power endure? What made you fall in love with comics? how can we expand the medium to be even more inclusive?
Moderators
avatar for Leslie E. Light

Leslie E. Light

Editor/Writer, Black Nerd Problems
Leslie E.H. Light is a writer, editor, mother, and pound cake enthusiast. She stands up for Black Speculative Fiction at BlackNerdProblems.com, where she’s a writer and editor. Her short fiction has been published in Finding Home: Community in Apocalyptic Worlds and she’s self-published... Read More →

Guests
avatar for Troy Wiggins

Troy Wiggins

Troy L. Wiggins is a writer and editor from Memphis, Tennessee. His short fiction has appeared in Griots: Sisters of the Spear, Long Hidden: Speculative Fiction From the Margins of History, Beneath Ceaseless Skies Magazine, Uncanny Magazine and the Memphis Noir anthology, among... Read More →
avatar for Suzanne Walker

Suzanne Walker

Suzanne Walker is a Chicago-based writer and editor. She is co-creator of the Hugo-nominated graphic novel Mooncakes (Oni Press/Lion Forge) with artist Wendy Xu. Her short fiction has been published in Clarkesworld, and she has published nonfiction articles with Uncanny Magazine... Read More →
avatar for Alex Brown

Alex Brown

critic, author, librarian
Alex Brown is an asexual and aromantic biracial Black woman working as a teen services librarian, local historian, writer, and author. She has a BA with honors in Anthropology and Sociology, a Master’s of Library and Information Science, and a Master’s in US History, specializing... Read More →
avatar for Mildred Louis

Mildred Louis

Mildred Louis is a jack of all trades artist and comic creator born and raised in Boston whose now living in SoCal. She started the magical girl inspired webcomic series Agents of the Realm in 2014, and has also launched her sci-fi epic webcomic Catalyst Overdrive in 2019 and her... Read More →

Saturday October 17, 2020 8:00pm - 9:00pm EDT
The Great Hall
  Panel, Craft
  • RELEASE CONSENT PENDING
  • DISCORD CHANNEL #the-great-hall-4
 
Sunday, October 18
 

10:00am EDT

SFF Fandom: Community and Finding Acceptance
In the age of social media, fandom continues to be more complicated and sometimes divisive. But there is also a lot of joy and community be found in it. In what ways do SFF fandoms create room for acceptance and community? How do you see fandom growing in the future?
Moderators
avatar for Foz Meadows

Foz Meadows

Foz Meadows is a queer Australian SFF author and critic based in California. She has won a Ditmar Award for Best Fan Writer (2017), the Norma K. Hemming Award for her novella Coral Bones (2018), and a Hugo Award for Best Fan Writer (2019), and has also made the Hugo Fan Writer shortlist... Read More →

Guests
avatar for Keidra Chaney

Keidra Chaney

Editor, The Learned Fangirl
Keidra Chaney is a pop culture critic, essayist, and the co-founder and publisher of “The Learned Fangirl” which is focused on pop culture critical writing and academic scholarship about fan communities. She has written about pop culture, fan culture and social technology issues... Read More →
avatar for Isabel Schechter

Isabel Schechter

Isabel’s childhood love of books led her to discover the “Choose Your Own Adventure” books, a popular gateway drug to science fiction and fantasy. Even though she was an avid reader, Isabel did not encounter organized science fiction fandom until adulthood. In the 25 years since... Read More →
avatar for L.L. McKinney

L.L. McKinney

Writer
Leatrice “Elle” McKinney, writing as L.L. McKinney, is an advocate for equality and inclusion in publishing, and the creator of the hashtags #WhatWoCWritersHear and #PublishingPaidMe. Elle’s also a gamer, Blerd, and adamant Hei Hei stan, living in Kansas City. Her works include... Read More →
avatar for N.E. Davenport

N.E. Davenport

Nia "N.E." Davenport is the Science Fiction/Fantasy author of the forthcoming The Praetorian Trials and its sequel (Harper Voyager). She attended the University of Southern California and studied Biological Sciences and Theatre. She has an M.A. in Secondary Education, and she teaches... Read More →

Sunday October 18, 2020 10:00am - 11:00am EDT
The Great Hall
  Panel, Community
  • RELEASE CONSENT PENDING
  • DISCORD CHANNEL #the-great-hall-1

10:00am EDT

Usurping Lovecraft
Lovecraft is an unequivocal racist. But his legacy influences challenges BIPOC writers till this day. With the smash hit Lovecraft Country making a pop culture splash, how will BIPOC writers continue to challenge inspect Lovecraft's legacy? How will they elevate it?
Moderators
avatar for K. Tempest Bradford

K. Tempest Bradford

K. Tempest Bradford is a science fiction and fantasy writer, writing instructor, media critic, reviewer, and podcaster. Her short fiction has appeared in multiple anthologies and magazines including Strange Horizons, PodCastle, Sunspot Jungle, In the Shadow of the Towers, and many more. She’s the... Read More →

Guests
avatar for P. Djeli Clark

P. Djeli Clark

P. Djéli Clark is the author of the fantasy novellas The Black God’s Drums and The Haunting of Tram Car 015. His writing has appeared in numerous Best of the Year anthologies and his short story “The Secret Lives of the Nine Negro Negro Teeth of Washington” earned him both... Read More →
avatar for Daniel Jose Older

Daniel Jose Older

Daniel José Older is the New York Times bestselling author of the Middle Grade historical fantasy series Dactyl Hill Squad, the Bone Street Rumba urban fantasy series, Star Wars: Last Shot, The Book of Lost Saints, and the award winning Young Adult series the Shadowshaper Cypher... Read More →
avatar for Eden Royce

Eden Royce

Eden Royce’s short fiction can be found in various print and online publications including: FIYAH, The Year’s Best Dark Fantasy & Horror, Apex Magazine, Strange Horizons, and PodCastle. She’s a recipient of the Speculative Literature Foundation’s Diverse Worlds grant and a... Read More →
avatar for Alicia McCalla

Alicia McCalla

Author
Alicia McCalla writes science fiction, fantasy and horror stories for readers who want diverse protagonists and unique worlds. Visit her at www.aliciamccalla.com to find free short stories, checkout her diverse stories podcast, cool merchandise and sign-up for her subscribers lis... Read More →

Sunday October 18, 2020 10:00am - 11:00am EDT
The Great Hall
  Panel, Craft
  • RELEASE CONSENT CONFIRMED
  • DISCORD CHANNEL #the-great-hall-2

11:00am EDT

Untapped Potential in Worldbuilding/Inspiration for East Asian Spec Fic
The history current social/demographic layout of East Asia is vastly unknown to average laypeople. East Asia, as it exists in the Western imagination, is largely influenced from anime, Kung Fu movies, commercialized tourist media. As a result, stories with East Asian characters, use East Asian elements or set in East Asian worlds are often pigeon-holed into trite descriptors: martial arts, wearing kimono, set in imperial palaces, involving Asian dragons, speaking Cantonese/Mandarin but nothing else, etc.
Moderators
avatar for Andrew K Hoe

Andrew K Hoe

Assistant Editor, Cast of Wonders
Andrew K Hoe is an assistant editor for Cast of Wonders, where he also works on acquisitions, revision, line-editing, narration, and hosting.

Guests
avatar for Andrea Stewart

Andrea Stewart

Andrea Stewart is the daughter of immigrants, and was raised in a number of places across the United States. Her parents always emphasized science and education, so she spent her childhood immersed in Star Trek and odd-smelling library books. When her (admittedly ambitious) dreams... Read More →
avatar for R.F. Kuang

R.F. Kuang

Rebecca F. Kuang is the Astounding Award-winning and Nebula, Locus, and World Fantasy Award nominated author of The Poppy War and The Dragon Republic (Harper Voyager). Her debut novel The Poppy War won the Crawford Award and the Compton Crook Award for Best First Novel. She has an... Read More →
avatar for SL Huang

SL Huang

SL Huang is a Hugo-nominated and Amazon-bestselling author who justifies her MIT degree by using it to write eccentric mathematical superhero fiction. She is the author of the Cas Russell series from Tor Books, starting with Zero Sum Game, and the upcoming fantasy Burning Roses. Her... Read More →

Sunday October 18, 2020 11:00am - 12:00pm EDT
The Great Hall
  Panel, Craft
  • RELEASE CONSENT CONFIRMED
  • DISCORD CHANNEL #the-great-hall-4

11:00am EDT

What Makes A Great Book Cover
You may not be able to judge a book by its cover but your wallet certainly can. What makes a great book cover? What does it need to do to draw a reader's attention? And how do book covers sometimes work in favor of and against BIPOC creatives?
Moderators
avatar for Suzan Palumbo

Suzan Palumbo

Attendee
Suzan Palumbo lives in Canada. Originally from Trinidad and Tobago, she is an ESL teacher and a New Wave enthusiast.  Her stories are often inspired by clashes of culture and the gap between expectations and reality.  When she isn’t writing she is walking in the forest or listening... Read More →

Guests
avatar for John Picacio

John Picacio

Attendee
JOHN PICACIO is one of the most acclaimed American artists in science fiction and fantasy over the last decade, creating best-selling art for George R. R. Martin's A SONG OF ICE AND FIRE series, as well as the STAR TREK and X-MEN franchises. Winner of the 2020 Hugo Award for Best... Read More →
avatar for Likhain

Likhain

Likhain is a queer Filipina artist and writer. She migrated from the Philippines to Australia in 2013 and now lives in Euro-Yroke, on the colonised lands of the Yalukut Weelam clan of the Boon Wurrung people. Her artwork has won the Hugo, British Science Fiction Association, and Ditmar... Read More →
avatar for C.L. Clark

C.L. Clark

Cherae graduated from Indiana University’s creative writing MFA. She’s been a personal trainer, an English teacher, and an editor, and is some combination thereof as she travels the world. When she’s not writing or working, she’s learning languages, doing P90something, or... Read More →
avatar for Ashia Monet

Ashia Monet

Ashia Monet is a speculative fiction author based in Philadelphia. Her work centers LGBTQ+ people of color and ranges from teenage magicians on epic road trips to 19th century gothic horror characters hunting Dracula. Her young adult debut novel THE BLACK VEINS is available now. You... Read More →

Sunday October 18, 2020 11:00am - 12:00pm EDT
The Great Hall
  Panel, Business
  • RELEASE CONSENT PENDING
  • DISCORD CHANNEL #the-great-hall-3

12:00pm EDT

AAVE, Pidgin, and the Global Patois
Panelists discuss regional dialects and their proper execution in fiction. How do you display it authentically and still meet the needs of publishing? Should the needs of publishing even be a concern?
Moderators
avatar for Shingai Njeri

Shingai Njeri

Attendee
Shingai Njeri Kagunda (She/her) is an Afrofuturist freedom dreamer, Swahili sea lover, and Femme Storyteller hailing from Nairobi, Kenya. She is currently pursuing a Literary Arts MFA at Brown University. Shingai's work has appeared or will appear in Omenana, The Elephant, FANTASY... Read More →

Guests
avatar for Shiv Ramdas

Shiv Ramdas

Shiv Ramdas is an Indian writer of Tamil and Sikh heritage. His short speculative fiction has been nominated for the Hugo and Nebula awards and has appeared in publications such as Strange Horizons, Fireside Fiction, Podcastle and others. He has spent several years hosting radio shows... Read More →
avatar for Eden Royce

Eden Royce

Eden Royce’s short fiction can be found in various print and online publications including: FIYAH, The Year’s Best Dark Fantasy & Horror, Apex Magazine, Strange Horizons, and PodCastle. She’s a recipient of the Speculative Literature Foundation’s Diverse Worlds grant and a... Read More →
avatar for Christopher Caldwell

Christopher Caldwell

Author
Christopher Caldwell is a queer, Black American living in Glasgow, Scotland. He is a Clarion West alumnus, and a recipient of the Octavia E. Butler Memorial Scholarship. His work has appeared in Fiyah, Strange Horizons, and Uncanny Magazine, and reprinted in The Best of British Fantasy... Read More →

Sunday October 18, 2020 12:00pm - 1:00pm EDT
The Great Hall
  Panel, Craft
  • RELEASE CONSENT PENDING
  • DISCORD CHANNEL #the-great-hall-2

12:00pm EDT

Mothers and Daughters: The Good, the Bad and the Strange
Mother and daughter relationships are simultaneously universal and unique. Let’s explore the tropes and innovations of how this relationship is portrayed across the genre (i.e. books, TV, film). Explore the works of Octavia Butler, Shirley Jackson, Jennifer Phang, and many others.
Moderators
avatar for Michele Tracy Berger

Michele Tracy Berger

Attendee

Guests
avatar for L.L. McKinney

L.L. McKinney

Writer
Leatrice “Elle” McKinney, writing as L.L. McKinney, is an advocate for equality and inclusion in publishing, and the creator of the hashtags #WhatWoCWritersHear and #PublishingPaidMe. Elle’s also a gamer, Blerd, and adamant Hei Hei stan, living in Kansas City. Her works include... Read More →
avatar for Alexis Henderson

Alexis Henderson

Alexis Henderson is a speculative fiction writer with a penchant for dark fantasy, witchcraft, and cosmic horror. She grew up in one of America’s most haunted cities, Savannah, Georgia, which instilled in her a life-long love of ghost stories. When she doesn’t have her nose buried... Read More →
avatar for Maria Haskins

Maria Haskins

Maria Haskins is a Swedish-Canadian writer and reviewer of speculative fiction. Her work has appeared in Beneath Ceaseless Skies, Fireside, Shimmer, Cast of Wonders, various anthologies, and other places. She grew up in Sweden and debuted as a writer there, but currently lives just... Read More →

Sunday October 18, 2020 12:00pm - 1:00pm EDT
The Great Hall
  Panel, Craft
  • RELEASE CONSENT PENDING
  • DISCORD CHANNEL #the-great-hall-1

1:00pm EDT

Exploring the World and Worldbuilding
Traveling is by no means necessary to be a powerful fantasy writer, but seeing the world certainly can't hurt to inspire creativity. How can travel be an item in the writer's toolbox? How should a writer approach travel as a source of inspiration without being appropriative? What are the best parts about connecting exploring the world to writing
Moderators
avatar for Regine L. Sawyer

Regine L. Sawyer

Owner/Writer, Women in Comics Collective International/ Blerd Galaxy
Regine L. Sawyer is the Coordinator and Founder of Women in Comics Collective International as well as the owner, writer, and creator at Lockett Down Productions, a small press publishing house. She is also a 3 time Glyph Award judge, a 2019 Glyph Lifetime Achievement Award Recipient... Read More →

Guests
avatar for Chinelo Onwualu

Chinelo Onwualu

Chinelo Onwualu is a Nigerian writer and editor living in Toronto. She's the non-fiction editor of Anathema, a speculative magazine for queer people of colour, and co-founder of Omenana, a magazine of African Speculative Fiction. She's also former chief spokesperson for the African... Read More →
avatar for Ryan Van Loan

Ryan Van Loan

Ryan Van Loan is an up and coming Science Fiction and Fantasy author. Ryan served six years as a Sergeant in the United States Army Infantry (PA National Guard) where he served on the front lines of Afghanistan. Ryan has traveled around the world with his wife, wandering Caribbean... Read More →
avatar for P. Djeli Clark

P. Djeli Clark

P. Djéli Clark is the author of the fantasy novellas The Black God’s Drums and The Haunting of Tram Car 015. His writing has appeared in numerous Best of the Year anthologies and his short story “The Secret Lives of the Nine Negro Negro Teeth of Washington” earned him both... Read More →
avatar for Nicole Glover

Nicole Glover

Attendee
Nicole Glover is a lover of obscure trivia, fun facts, and miscellaneous knowledge. Her psychology degree prepared her both for a writing career and work as a UX Researcher. She is forever disappointed that NASA doesn't think psychology is a hard science. Her debut novel, The Con... Read More →

Sunday October 18, 2020 1:00pm - 2:00pm EDT
The Great Hall
  Panel, Craft
  • RELEASE CONSENT CONFIRMED
  • DISCORD CHANNEL #the-great-hall-4

1:00pm EDT

Querying with Color
Panelists talk about traditional publishing's query and submission process through the lens of cultural marginalization
Moderators
avatar for B. Sharise Moore

B. Sharise Moore

Poet, Author, Educator, Curriculum Designer
B. Sharise Moore is a New Jersey native and graduate of Rutgers University. Moore’s poems and short stories have appeared in several anthologies and journals such as Chosen Realities: Summer 2020 and Fiyah Literary Magazine.At present, she is a sixth grade English Language Arts... Read More →

Guests
avatar for Naseem Jamnia

Naseem Jamnia

Naseem Jamnia is a Persian-Chicagoan, former scientist, and current MFA student at the University of Nevada, Reno. Their work has appeared or is forthcoming at The Rumpus, The Washington Post, Bitch Media, The Writer's Chronicle, and Aurelia Leo Originals. They were a 2019 Lambda... Read More →
avatar for Namina Forna

Namina Forna

author
Namina Forna has a MFA in film and TV production from USC School of Cinematic Arts and a BA from Spelman College. She now works as a screenwriter in LA and loves telling stories with fierce female leads. The Gilded Ones is her debut novel. Follow her on Twitter @NaminaForna, on Instagram @Namina.Forna, and get updates from her website, NaminaForna.com... Read More →
avatar for N.E. Davenport

N.E. Davenport

Nia "N.E." Davenport is the Science Fiction/Fantasy author of the forthcoming The Praetorian Trials and its sequel (Harper Voyager). She attended the University of Southern California and studied Biological Sciences and Theatre. She has an M.A. in Secondary Education, and she teaches... Read More →

Sunday October 18, 2020 1:00pm - 2:00pm EDT
The Great Hall
  Panel, Business
  • RELEASE CONSENT CONFIRMED
  • DISCORD CHANNEL #the-great-hall-3

2:00pm EDT

Reading as Networking: Building Community by Engaging Work
Writing can be a solitary act, but all writers need community for both creative and business purposes. Reading is perhaps the easiest way to connect with authors. This panel explores how talking about stories can be the vehicle for a writer to build a genuine creative network.
Moderators
avatar for Noria

Noria

Noria is a queer, bisexual Nigerian bookworm and booktuber, living in Lagos, with a love for fantasy and an appreciation for sci-fi. She is always looking for her next favourite novel, and is always ready to have a conversation about books.

Guests
avatar for Mark Oshiro

Mark Oshiro

Mark Oshiro is the award-winning author of ANGER IS A GIFT (2019 Schneider Family Book Award) and EACH OF US A DESERT, both with Tor Teen. Their middle grade debut, THE INSIDERS, is out in 2021. When not writing, they run the online Mark Does Stuff universe and are trying to pet every... Read More →
avatar for Adri

Adri

Book Reviewer
Adri is a queer, trans, and non-binary Mexican-American book reviewer. They’ve been creating BookTube content for almost seven years on perpetualpages and remain interested in creating content that celebrates and centers marginalized voices, intersectional viewpoints, and inclusive... Read More →
avatar for Kwame Mbalia

Kwame Mbalia

Attendee
Kwame is a husband, father, writer, a New York Times bestselling author, and a former pharmaceutical metrologist in that order. His debut middle-grade novel, TRISTAN STRONG PUNCHES A HOLE IN THE SKY, and the sequel TRISTAN STRONG DESTROYS THE WORLD (October 6, 2020) are published... Read More →
avatar for Charles Payseur

Charles Payseur

Charles Payseur is an avid reader, writer, and reviewer of all things speculative. His fiction and poetry have appeared in The Best American Science Fiction and Fantasy, Strange Horizons, Lightspeed Magazine, and many more. He runs Quick Sip Reviews, has been a Hugo finalist fan writer... Read More →

Sunday October 18, 2020 2:00pm - 3:00pm EDT
The Great Hall
  Panel, Community
  • RELEASE CONSENT PENDING
  • DISCORD CHANNEL #the-great-hall-1

2:00pm EDT

Short SFF: Finding the Goldilocks Zone
Writing a short story is a delicate art, but even more so in SFF where you often have to do so much with so little. How can writers utilize this form of storytelling to maximum effect? What craft tools should a writer consider when trying to create a great SFF short?
Moderators
avatar for Eliana González Ugarte

Eliana González Ugarte

Attendee, Constelación Magazine
Short story and screenplay writer. Born in Asunción, Paraguay. Has won around a dozen short story awards in her home country, as well as one for a short screenplay. Is currently working on a LitRPG series and on starting a bilingual, speculative fiction magazine called Constelación... Read More →

Guests
avatar for Sam Miller

Sam Miller

Sam J. Miller is the last in a long line of butchers, and the Nebula-Award-winning author of The Art of Starving (an NPR best of the year) and Blackfish City (a “Must Read” in Entertainment Weekly and O: The Oprah Winfrey Magazine). He lives in New York City, and at samjmille... Read More →
avatar for LH Moore

LH Moore

LH Moore's speculative fiction and poetry have been published in all three Dark Dreams anthologies of Black horror writers; Bram Stoker Award Finalist anthology Sycorax's Daughters; Black Magic Women; the collaborative Chiral Mad 4 and upcoming Chiral Mad 5 and SLAY anthologies; Fireside... Read More →
avatar for Vida Cruz

Vida Cruz

Vida Cruz's fiction can be found or is forthcoming on Strange Horizons, Podcastle, Expanded Horizons, Lontar: The Journal of Southeast Asian Speculative Fiction, and various anthologies. She has been longlisted for the British Science Fiction Association Award. A Clarion graduate... Read More →
avatar for Tiffany Davis

Tiffany Davis

Panelist
Tiffany Davis is the author of four self-published novels--including the popular Bastille Chronicles (available on Amazon and Barnes and Noble)--under her imprint, Paradigm/SHIFT Books. She started her publishing career writing book reviews for AALBC.com and QBR: The Black Book Review. A graduate of Georgetown University, Tiffany is a technical writer and editor by trade and a pr... Read More →

Sunday October 18, 2020 2:00pm - 3:00pm EDT
The Great Hall
  Panel, Craft
  • RELEASE CONSENT DECLINED
  • DISCORD CHANNEL #the-great-hall-2

4:00pm EDT

Guest of Honor: Yasser Bahjatt
A special talk with SFF author organizer Yasser Bahjatt about his work journey in the SFF field.
Moderators
avatar for Brent Lambert

Brent Lambert

Senior Programming Coordinator
Brent Lambert is a queer Black author based out of San Diego with roots in the South, particularly Louisiana. He manages Social Media and Reviews for FIYAH Literary Magazine. He is an upcoming editor for the flash fiction anthology Breathe FIYAH, a collaboration between Tor and FIYAH... Read More →

Guests
avatar for Yasser Bahjatt

Yasser Bahjatt

Yasser is a technologist, futurist, serial entrepreneur, author, computer engineer and consultant.He is the co-founder of Yatakahayloon (they are imagining), a company focused on cultivating SciFi across Arabia and raising it to the level where it can be globally competitive.His novel... Read More →

Sunday October 18, 2020 4:00pm - 5:00pm EDT
The Great Hall
  Panel, Community
  • RELEASE CONSENT CONFIRMED
  • DISCORD CHANNEL #the-great-hall-3

5:00pm EDT

Finances in Publishing: Why It Matters
If you're hoping to make money from your writing or if you already are, then you might want to know how to manage it. This panel discusses how money should always flow to the writer and what that looks like whether it be advances or royalties. It'll discuss predatory practices you should beware of and what practical advice you need to consider when earning income as an author.
Moderators
avatar for J.R.H. Lawless

J.R.H. Lawless

J.R.H. Lawless is a bestselling SF author from Atlantic Canada who blends comedy with political themes — drawing heavily, in both cases, on their experience as a lawyer and as Secretary General of a Parliamentary group at the French National Assembly. A member of SFWA and Codex... Read More →

Guests
avatar for Patrice Caldwell

Patrice Caldwell

Patrice Caldwell is a graduate of Wellesley College and the founder & fundraising chair of People of Color in Publishing–a grassroots organization dedicated to supporting, empowering, and uplifting racially and ethnically marginalized members of the book publishing industry. Born... Read More →
avatar for DongWon Song

DongWon Song

Agent, Howard Morhaim Literary Agency
DongWon Song is an agent at Howard Morhaim Literary Agency representing science fiction and fantasy for adults, young adult, and middle grade readers as well as select non-fiction. They were formerly an editor at Orbit and a product manager for the ebook startup, Zola Books and has... Read More →
avatar for Matt Belford

Matt Belford

Matt is a literary agent with The Tobias Agency. He joined in early 2020 after previously working at the David Black Agency and the Aaron M. Priest Agency. Once he received his Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing from Emerson College, he decided to apply his talents in representing... Read More →
avatar for Michael Underwood

Michael Underwood

Attendee
Michael R. Underwood is the author of over twelve books, including Annihilation Aria, Born to the Blade (an epic fantasy serial), the Ree Reyes Geekomancy series and Genrenauts, a series of novellas (a finalist for the r/Fantasy “Stabby” Award).Mike grew up devouring stories in... Read More →

Sunday October 18, 2020 5:00pm - 6:00pm EDT
The Great Hall
  Panel, Business
  • RELEASE CONSENT Confirmed
  • DISCORD CHANNEL #the-great-hall-1

5:00pm EDT

Speculative Fiction is Global
Speculative fiction perspective can often stagnate around US and UK conferences and publishers, but SF is truly global, with rapidly expanding genre reading markets across the world. Come and learn more about SF from places outside of the industry's usual gaze.
Moderators
GB

Gautam Bhatia


Guests
avatar for Yasser Bahjatt

Yasser Bahjatt

Yasser is a technologist, futurist, serial entrepreneur, author, computer engineer and consultant.He is the co-founder of Yatakahayloon (they are imagining), a company focused on cultivating SciFi across Arabia and raising it to the level where it can be globally competitive.His novel... Read More →
avatar for Katalina Watt

Katalina Watt

Attendee
Katalina Watt is a Filipinx-British author published in Haunted Voices, Ceremony, Unspeakable, Malefaction Magazine: Femme Fatale, Extra Teeth: Issue Two, and Cunning Folk's Re-Enchantment Issue. She is currently working on her Horror-Fantasy debut short story collection inspired... Read More →
avatar for Eugen Bacon

Eugen Bacon

Eugen Bacon is African Australian, a computer scientist mentally re-engineered into creative writing.  She's the author of Claiming T-Mo (Meerkat Press) and Writing Speculative Fiction (Macmillan). Her work has won, been shortlisted, longlisted or commended in national and international... Read More →
avatar for Uche Ogbuji

Uche Ogbuji

Attendee
Uche Ogbuji, more properly Úchèńnà Ogbújí, was born in Calabar, Nigeria. He lived in Egypt, England and elsewhere before settling in the US near Boulder. An engineer by training and entrepreneur by trade, he fell in love with poetry and spoken word at university in Nsukka and... Read More →

Sunday October 18, 2020 5:00pm - 6:00pm EDT
The Great Hall
  Panel, Community
  • RELEASE CONSENT PENDING
  • DISCORD CHANNEL #the-great-hall-4

6:00pm EDT

Editing Through a BIPOC Lens
Self-rejection is a problem that plagues BIPOC writers because they often run into editors that continously do not understand their work. How can BIPOC editors make the difference for BIPOC writers? What considerations do BIPOC editors have to make that white editors don't? How can the larger SFF community help to uplift these editors?
Moderators
avatar for Pablo Defendini

Pablo Defendini

Publisher & Art Director, Fireside
Pablo Defendini is the Publisher and Art Director of Fireside Magazine. He is also a designer and developer for hire, with a focus on editorial design for digital media. He helped launch Tor.com, before moving on to work for companies that sit in the overlap between publishing and... Read More →

Guests
avatar for Troy Wiggins

Troy Wiggins

Troy L. Wiggins is a writer and editor from Memphis, Tennessee. His short fiction has appeared in Griots: Sisters of the Spear, Long Hidden: Speculative Fiction From the Margins of History, Beneath Ceaseless Skies Magazine, Uncanny Magazine and the Memphis Noir anthology, among... Read More →
avatar for Diana M. Pho

Diana M. Pho

Editor
Diana M. Pho is a queer Vietnamese-American independent scholar, playwright, and Hugo Award-nominated fiction editor. She has over a decade of experience in traditional, Big Five publishing, including Tor Books, Tor.com Publishing, and the Science Fiction Book Club. Additionally... Read More →
KM

Khaalidah Muhammad-Ali

avatar for Chimedum Ohaegbu

Chimedum Ohaegbu

Chimedum Ohaegbu (CHIH-may-doom aw-HAY-boo, she/her) attends UBC in pursuit of hummingbirds and a dual degree in English literature and creative writing. She’s Uncanny Magazine’s managing editor and a Hugo Award winner, her fiction debut was longlisted for the Nommo Award for... Read More →

Sunday October 18, 2020 6:00pm - 7:00pm EDT
The Great Hall
  Panel, Craft
  • RELEASE CONSENT CONFIRMED
  • DISCORD CHANNEL #the-great-hall-2

6:00pm EDT

Yes, Representation is Actually Fun
Often discussions around diversity happen with a lot of gravitas applied. these are certainly serious discussions, but representative media is also a gateway to much more fun stories. In what current ways is that the case? How can writers try to see diversity as a skillful asset not just a quick checklist?
Moderators
avatar for Christina Orlando

Christina Orlando

Christina Orlando (they/them) is the Books Editor & Publicity Coordinator for Tor.com, where they get to be a book nerd all day. As a freelance writer covering poetry, gender, and sexuality, their work has appeared Electric Literature, Catapult, gal-dem, THEM, Adroit Journal, and... Read More →

Guests
avatar for Naseem Jamnia

Naseem Jamnia

Naseem Jamnia is a Persian-Chicagoan, former scientist, and current MFA student at the University of Nevada, Reno. Their work has appeared or is forthcoming at The Rumpus, The Washington Post, Bitch Media, The Writer's Chronicle, and Aurelia Leo Originals. They were a 2019 Lambda... Read More →
avatar for Illimani Ferreira

Illimani Ferreira

Attendee
IIllimani  Ferreira is a science fiction writer currently living in LSD (Lower, Slower Delaware), where he is trying to figure out if, as a person who grew up in Brazil’s central savannas, he is a beach person or not. Illimani sold his short fiction to the Unidentified Funny Objects... Read More →
avatar for Namina Forna

Namina Forna

author
Namina Forna has a MFA in film and TV production from USC School of Cinematic Arts and a BA from Spelman College. She now works as a screenwriter in LA and loves telling stories with fierce female leads. The Gilded Ones is her debut novel. Follow her on Twitter @NaminaForna, on Instagram @Namina.Forna, and get updates from her website, NaminaForna.com... Read More →
avatar for Sean Dowie

Sean Dowie

Book Reviewer/Submissions Manager
Sean Dowie is a mixed-race book reviewer who intermittently writes fiction. He's part of FIYAH's reviewing team, and is a contributor for the Hugo-nominated fanzine Nerds of a Feather. Just recently, he deviated a little from his reviewing-focused lifestyle by joining Augur Magazine's... Read More →

Sunday October 18, 2020 6:00pm - 7:00pm EDT
The Great Hall
  Panel, Craft
  • RELEASE CONSENT CONFIRMED
  • DISCORD CHANNEL #the-great-hall-3
 
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