Another weekend, another convention. I’ll be off to Stockholm shortly. Here’s my programme schedule.

Friday November 1st, 20:00 – Strong Female Characters
How have gender roles changed over time in SF and fantasy? Female characters take on ever-greater roles in fantastic fiction. Have strong female characters displaced male ones? Is it because women play an ever-larger role in society generally? Do female characters play a more significant role in science fiction and fantasy because more women are writing and creating fantastic worlds? How do changing gender dynamics affect how one reads, or how viewers appreciate what they watch?
With TL Huchu, Elin Holmerin, Jukka Halme and Åsa Lundström (m)

Saturday November 2nd, 16:00 – 50 years of The Dispossessed
2024 marks the 50 year anniversary of Ursula K. Le Guin’s classic science fiction novel The Dispossessed. One of the few books to win the Hugo, Locus and Nebula Awards, it is widely considered a defining work of SFF literature. What made the book so beloved and what keeps people reading it to this day? Does it read as a political manifesto, a character study, a speculative thought experiment – or all of the above? What themes resonated with contemporary audiences, and what can we take from the novel when rereading it 50 years on?
With Joachim Björk, Saga Bolund, Jerry Määttä and Markku Soikkeli

Sunday November 3rd, 13:00 – “Herding cats” – how to moderate a panel
The success of a panel naturally depends on the subject and the participants, but the moderators impact could be crucial as well. But how do you prepare to moderate a panel? How do you handle a discussion that has steered away from the subject or if one panelist is about to take over the conversation? When should you let the audience in and how do you interrupt an audience question that just goes on forever? This and much more will be discussed in this panel of experienced moderators.
With Johan Anglemark, Jukka Halme, Timothy Johansson (m) and Britt-Louise Viklund

Sunday November 3rd, 15:00 – The State of Publishing: A Conversation
Juliet McKenna and Cheryl Morgan discuss the state of publishing today. This wide-ranging exploration will be between an author and her publisher, between a defender of authors against unjust legislation and a champion of translation and intercultural dialogue. It is likely to cover anything from copyright protections to e-books, publishing corporations to self-publishing, editing to translation.