#feministsff — Public Fediverse posts

WisCon 2027

I’m delighted to announce that next Memorial Day Weekend (May 27 – 31, 2027) I’ll be a Guest of Honour, along with Annalee Newitz, at WisCon, the feminist inclusive SFF convention held every year in Madison, Wisconsin. It’s the 50th Anniversary of a convention first begun in 1977 (though, due to interruptions for reasons including but not limited to Covid) it won’t actually be the 50th WisCon. (If you’re interested in the history of Wiscon, you can read all about it here.)

I’ve been to Wiscon three times before. The first time in 1995 as Special Guest (effectively co-GoH with Barbara Hambly and Sharyn McCrumb), the second time in 1996 because Ursula was the GoH, and the third time in 2006 for the huge celebration that was WisCon 30, in which everyone who was anyone in feminist SFF showed up. And here’s the photo (by Mary Langenfeld) of previous Guests of Honour and its key to prove it!

Image description: left, a photo of 32 people (mostly women, mostly white) sitting in tiers on a staircase; right, a key listing the names of the 32 people: Melissa Scott, Steven Vincent Johnson, Ursula K. Le Guin, Suzette Haden Elgin, Mary Doria Russell, Amanda Bankler, Samuel R. Delany, Eleanor A. Arnason, Carol Emshwiller, Delia Sherman, Karen Joy Fowler, Elisabeth Vonarburg, Susanna Sturgis, Trina Robbins, Nalo Hopkinson, Ellen Kushner, Lisa Tuttle, Stu Shiftman, Emma Bull, Suzy McKee Charnas, Lois McMaster Bujold, Katherine MacLean, Kate Wilhelm, Pam Sargent, Vonda N. Mcintyre, Jane Yolen, Pat Cadigan, Jeanne Gomoll, Nina Kiriki Hoffman, Terri Windling, Pat Murphy, Nicola Griffith.

I don’t think we’ll ever see such a gathering of Feminist SFF luminaries—Ursula! Vonda! Suzy! Chip! Carol! Kate! Katherine! all the stuff of legend—again. I wouldn’t have missed it for the world.

But over the years I stopped going. First, because it’s a difficult trip from Seattle: there are no direct flights, which for a wheelchair user multiplies the peril. Second, for quite a while I wasn’t writing long-form SFF. Third, because, well, let’s just say the convention took an odd turn, politically, which put some segments of the community at odds with others and made many less than comfortable.1 I’m happy to report, however, that (at least according to hearsay) over the last two or three years the convention seems to have sorted itself out and come back together, stronger than ever.

So I truly am delighted about this, and hope to see some of you there in May. Early-bird tickets are available now.

1. Not that being uncomfortable in itself is necessarily a bad thing—sometimes we need to be pushed from our comfort zone. ↩︎

Hey you. Want to volunteer for a Feminist Inclusive Convention?

https://wiscon.net/volunteer/concom/

#WisConCommunity #WisCon #WisCon2026 #FeministSFF #Volunteer

Tell us about the first SFF story that made you feel seen—or one that changed how you see the world. Books. Films. Games. Comics. All are welcome.

We’ll feature some of your answers in future posts!

#WisConCommunity #WisConReads #FeministSFF #WisCon
#WisConLine2026

Finally a stretch of cool weather! I spent the rainy morning intentionally sleeping in. Which, I should note, is different from “can’t get out of bed.”

I need a new book to read. In fact I need a new ebook and a new audiobook. Recs?

#Ebooks: for bedtime and relaxing, I like #FeministSFF, #QueerRomance/erotica (especially if it has more plot than just the romance), and I might be about to embark on a classic detective fiction binge after listening to a heap of the “Shedunnit” podcast. Recently enjoyed: Freya Marske’s “Last Binding” series, @maryrobinette’s “Lady Astronaut” series.

#Audiobooks: for listening while I work at the studio or in the garden or kitchen, I like #NaturalHistory, #HistoryOfScience, #AntiRacism, memoirs that hit on any of those, or other stuff in my bio hashtags. Recently enjoyed: Ben Dark’s “The Grove: A Natural History in 19 1/2 Front Gardens” (written during lockdown walks) and Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz’s “An Indigenous People’s History of the United States.”

#bookstodon

I’m re-reading Octavia Butler’s “Parable of the Talents” for the first time in decades and it’s a rough ride. I have a very poor memory for the actual plots of media, and tend to retain only atmospheric impressions and random details, so I didn’t know what I was in for… only that I didn’t want to read it in 2020 (when I re-read Parable of the Sower) or any time soon after that. Since I re-read Connie Willis’s “The Doomsday Book” before Christmas this year (for the first time since 2019) I thought I was ready. I might have been wrong.
#SFF #FeministSFF #BlackWriters #Dystopian #reading