Last week I mentioned I was taking on some new projects this year. Well, here’s one of them. I’m part of the Programme Committee for the 2019 Eastercon: Ytterbium, acting as Guest of Honour liaison. This year will boast a truly stonking line-up of genre events: not least because we’ll be joined by John Scalzi, Frances Hardinge, Sydney Padua and the legendary DC, and the event is chaired by genre luminary Farah Mendlesohn, so expect an entertaining and insightful event, especially if you’re into cross-media SF, Fantasy, Fandom, or Alternative History.
Of course, it’s not an Eastercon without you, and right now, we’re really interested in hearing your ideas for programme items. As regular con-goers ourselves, we also have a wishlist for what we’d like to see and do this year. So, if you’re thinking of making some suggestions for 2019, here are a few of the sorts of things we’d particularly like to hear about.
1) Items that aren’t panels: It’s great hearing your favourite creators chew the fat about genre, but we’d also love to hear about other items too. We’re talking workshops, talks, meet-ups, tasting sessions, games, quizzes, and so on. Not sure if your idea is right for us? Drop us an email at programme@ytterbium.org.uk and we’ll have a chat.
2) Anniversaries/Notable Dates: Is 2019 the anniversary of a key film, book, or LARP society in SFF? Are there any key events in Science that are coming up? Is there a re-release or reissue coming out that raises questions about the influence and impact of your favourite game, video- or otherwise? Get your ideas in to us.
3) Beyond Diversity 101: Regular convention goers will be familiar with the Women in Genre, Diversity in Genre, and LGBTQ+ in Genre panels. Do you have any ideas for items that tackle related issues, but go beyond these basic panels, e.g. Reproduction in Genre, Non-toxic Masculinities in Gaming, and so forth? Get in touch.
4) GoH items: This year, we have John Scalzi, Frances Hardinge, Sydney Padua and DC joining us. Do you have any ideas for items that tap into our Guests of Honour’s particular areas of expertise? Would you like to hear Frances Hardinge talk about the Oxford influence on genre? How about John Scalzi talking about the appeal of writing the stories of background characters? Or Sydney Padua on the appeal of alternative history? How about DC talking about what really makes Glasgow such a centre for genre fandom? Let us know your thoughts.
If you have any programme ideas, or would like to volunteer this year, click here for our Programme Participation Form. Alternatively, if you’d like to run ideas past the Programme Team first, email programme@ytterbium.org.uk. We look forward to hearing from you!