I don’t know about you, but I’m still buzzing from this weekend’s Cymera Festival. Thanks ever so much to everyone who joined me, Adrian Tchaikovsky and Cassandra Khaw for ‘Writing Multitudes’ on Saturday. And if you missed it and didn’t get a weekend pass, ticket holders can now grab an Access Pass that will get you in to the Archive, where you can hear Adrian and Cass chat about sensory engagement, queerness, and fascist-eating dinosaurs.
The 70th annual Eastercon, Ytterbium, has finally released its programme to the public! The Programme Committee for Ytterbium has been working their socks off to bring this year’s line-up to you, and we can’t wait to see you all over 19th – 22nd April at the Park Inn Hotel, Heathrow.
While I’m on Guest of Honour Helper duties this weekend, I will be taking a break for three panels. Click here for my full schedule on Grenadine, or check out the details below.
(15/04/19 – Now updated with the latest panel line-ups.)
Maps, Place, and Landscape in Fantasy
Saturday 2:00pm-3:00pm
Judith Mortimore [Mod], Ruth EJ Booth, John Clute, Frances Hardinge, Teresa Nielsen Hayden
I’m overjoyed to share a panel with not just Frances Hardinge and Teresa Nielsen Hayden, but John Clute, whose work in the Encyclopedia of Fantasy was instrumental in my Fantasy Masters thesis about Heroic Landscapes.
Beyond Studio Ghibli
Sunday 10:15am-11:15am
Ruth EJ Booth [Mod], Mad Elf, Jessica Meats, Sarah Ash, Zoe Burgess-Foreman
Like Studio Ghibli? Want to try other Anime but don’t know where to start? Bring your pens, paper, and preferences, as we’ll be easing you into Sunday with the best movies, great studios to watch out for, and more.
You can also click here find my full programme for the weekend.
I nearly forgot – there’s also this:
BSFA Awards Ceremony
Saturday 6:00pm-6:45pm
Ytterbium will also host the annual BSFA Awards, where my 2018 columns for Shoreline of Infinity are up for the Best Non-Fiction Award, to my utter delight! If you’re a voting member of the BSFA, you should have received the voting pack already, but if you’re attending Ytterbium, check the awards booklet in your registration pack to read some of my columns from 2018. If you enjoy them, please consider voting before midday on Eastercon Saturday. The results will be announced at the BSFA’s Official Awards Ceremony at 6pm on Saturday 20th April.
Talking of which, Ytterbium attendees will also have the chance to read my new column in the latest Shoreline of Infinity, if they drop by the stall in the Dealers Area! This issue features the first part of my new Noise and Sparks column on my visit to the Arctic Circle this winter, and how this experience has changed my perspective on writing goals. There are also stories from Cat Hellisen, Ken MacLeod, Eris Young, and the poetry of the inestimable Harry Josephine Giles. Click here for more on Issue 14.
Finally, if you’re in Scotland, don’t forget that Oliver Langmead and I are back at Edinburgh Science Festival this Saturday 13th April with our writing workshop ‘Discover New Worlds through Writing’. Whether you’re a beginner, returning to writing again, or you’d like to develop your SF worldbuilding skills, join us in exploring the solar system and beyond! The workshop kicks off at 2pm on Saturday 13th April at the Pleasance. Click here for tickets.
And if you’re planning on heading to CYMERA Festival in June, watch this space for more on that soon!
Now that Worldcon is over, on to the next thing: the Edinburgh International Book Festival is on now, and Shoreline of Infinity have produced a special issue in partnership with the event.
The line-up includes *deep breath* Iain M Banks, Shelly Bryant, Monica Burns, Thomas Clark, Benjamin Dodds, Gary Gibson, Pippa Goldschmidt, Lewis Grassic Gibbon (James Leslie Mitchell), Caroline Grebbell, Nalo Hopkinson, Russell Jones, Katie Gray, Ken MacLeod, Iain Maloney, Ada Palmer, Dee Raspin, Adam Roberts, Marge Simon, Charles Stross, Jo Walton, Andrew J Wilson, Jane Yolen, and Grahaeme Barrasford Young. You’ll also find my BSFA Award-winning story, ‘The Honey Trap’, in there, and I’m thrilled to be in such wonderful company.
You can find it at the Book Festival Bookshop over 12th to 22nd August – or you can pick it up online here.
Shoreline of Infinity are also hosting a special event this Wednesday (16th August) as part of Unbound at the Edinburgh International Book Festival. The line-up includes Ken MacLeod, Jane Yolen, Nalo Hopkinson, Jo Walton, Bram E. Gieben, Pippa Goldschmitt, and Markee de Saw & Bert Finkle, so it’s going to be a wonderful night. It’s free, so if you’re about why not join them at The Spiegeltent from 9pm?
More news — I’ll be reading in Edinburgh on 5th September as part of Shoreline of Infinity‘s free Event Horizon night.
Event Horizon has a steadily growing reputation for nights of cracking variety under the SF banner — Ken MacLeod, Jane Yolen, Andrew J. Wilson, and Pippa Goldschmidt have all appeared in the past — so it’s well worth popping along.
Event Horizon XI will be no different. There’s multi-talented headliner Bram E. Giegen (aka Texture) — who I’m really looking forward to seeing for the first time — the excellent Harry Giles, and powerful performance poet Elaine Gallagher. Meanwhile, The Spiders will be spinning us some cracking tunes — and there’s a special bonus movie to close — all abely hosted by MC Russell Jones. It’s rare you’ll get so much from a free night out. So if you’re in the Edinburgh area, come join us at the Blind Poet Bar (West Nicolson Street) on 5th September for 7:30pm. We’ll make it worth your while.
Before I go, Elaine Gallagher has also set up a Patreon page to fund her upcoming MLitt in Creative Writing. It’s worth noting Elaine is not only a gifted poet, but one of the co-editors of the upcoming GSFWC 30th anniversary anthology Thirty Years of Rain (see last week’s post), and contributes short story ‘5am Saint’ to the contents. Please take a moment to check out her work at this link here – and if you like what you read, why not consider funding her?