The WisCon Feminist Science Fiction Convention is coming up this week and I am all up in it. I’m on a ton of amazing panels, I’m organizing a bunch of things, and I aim ready to have a good time.
However, I do want to direct people to this blog post from a year ago about microaggressions and WisCon I feel like it’s important to bring up again ahead of the con.
I also want to send a signal flare up to the POC and Native folk coming to the con: Are you aware we have activites at WisCon just for us? If you aren’t, ping me. I’ll give you all the deets1.
Okay so…. this year I’m one of the Program department deputies and so I put myself on too many panels. As always… Here’s my schedule:
AMA with GOHs (aka Ask Me Anything Live with the Guests of Honor) | moderator
Sat 10:00 – 11:15AM | Capitol A
Have a question for Guests of Honor Sofia Samatar, Justine Larbalestier, or Nalo Hopkinson about writing craft, writing life, or their fiction? Come to this Ask Me Anything session with your questions!
#KeepYAKind and Other Nice Tools of the Oppressor | moderator
Sat 1:00 – 2:15PM | Assembly
There is always a point in the midst of heated Internet discussions where someone lifts their voice to make a call for Kindness, Niceness, Civility, or any other adjacent concept. These calls often go up when the issue at hand concerns an individual with privilege being called out by folks with significantly less privilege or cultural power. And Kind, Nice, and Civil become synonyms for Keep Your Mouth Shut. When this happens again, what tools can we use to dismantle this toxic dynamic and get back to the core matter? Are there secret code words we can deploy to neutralize the terms?
Panelists: Becky Allen, Betsy Haibel, Justine Larbalestier, Mark Oshiro2
Podcasts for Beginners | moderator
Sat 4:00 – 5:15PM | Conference 1
So you want to start a podcast. You have a computer, a mic, and Skype. What else do you need? What does good editing software cost? Where’s the best place to host? How do you get your podcast listed in all the right places? A panel of seasoned podcasters is ready to answer your questions, give great advice, and probably pop their Ps.
Panelists: Tanya D., Keffy R. M. Kehrli, JP Fairfield
Analog and Digital Writing Tools3 | moderator
Sun 8:30 – 9:45AM | Conference 1
Writers, bring your favorite writing tools—laptop, tablet, quill, or steam-fueled ideatron—and share the pros and cons of your favored method of writing with others! We’ll talk software, hardware, analogware, old-fashioned methods as well as new. If you’re willing to share your beloved your writing gear, others may be eager to give them a try.
Panelists: Dylan Moonfire, Kristine Smith
Afrofuturist Narratives Outside Of Literature | moderator
Sun 10:00 – 11:15AM | Capitol A
Janelle Monae’s albums tell the story of the android Cindi Mayweather, fugitive and freedom fighter. Sun-Ra explored the past and future of Africans and people of the diaspora through music, poetry, and film. Nick Cave’s Soundsuits evoke the strangeness of aliens while drawing on multiple cultural traditions around sound, dance, and design. Let’s explore the different mediums in which afrofuturist artists are expressing and engaging with the future, blackness, and art.
Panelists: Bill Campbell, Nalo Hopkinson4
SIX SEASON SERIES BASED ON THE THREE-PART TRILOGY BASED ON THE SINGLE BOOK OF THE NOT ANOTHER F*CKING RACE PANEL | Vanna White
Sun 4:00 – 5:15PM | Wisconsin
The eighth installment of this popular and amazing panel! Writers of color working in F/SF face unique challenges, it’s true. But, at the end of the day, being a “person of color” is only one aspect of what makes up our identities as writers. While it’s very flattering to be asked to be on panels, most of these panels never crack the ceiling of Race 101. With that in mind, wouldn’t it be nice for multiple writers and fans of color to sit on a panel that isn’t about race at all? Here’s our chance to do just that. So, what are we gonna talk about, instead? Practically anything! Presented in game show format, SIX SEASON SERIES BASED ON THE THREE-PART TRILOGY BASED ON THE SINGLE BOOK OF THE NOT ANOTHER F*CKING RACE PANEL brings together writers and fans of color to get their geek on about any number of pop culture topics—none of them race related.
Panelists: Jackie Gross (ladyjax), Sumana (brainwane) Harihareswara, Nalo Hopkinson, Emily Jiang, Michi Trota
I didn’t start out moderating all of these panels, then somehow I was moderating them all….
Come to my panels, go to the many other amazing panels on the schedule, go to the readings, come to the speeches. I’m telling you, it’s going to be fabulous this year.
Footnotes
- Not giving all the deets here because racist trolls sometimes comes by and have feelings about the stuff we do. [⇧]
- Can we talk for a second about how stoked I am to be on a panel with these people? Because I so am. [⇧]
- Or, as I like to call it: The Write Gear live [⇧]
- Yaaaaaaaaaaaallllll these panelists [⇧]