My Diversicon 23 schedule

Diversicon 23 kicks off tonight with a reading at DreamHaven at 6:30 by GOH Ytasha Womack and Special Guest Rob Callahan. I'm going to put in a big plug for Ytasha's book Afrofuturism, which is a great introduction to Black and African American science fictional culture. I've heard her read before and she's quite interesting, with work that encompasses scholarly texts, graphic novels, films and fiction.

My schedule (I'll be there Saturday and Sunday; Friday night is MCBA's Biennial and Book Arts Crawl and we have a ton of friends with exhibits up).

Saturday:

3:00-3:55 PM Krushenko's (Room 101)
Panel: Aging in America and in SFF Not all SFF fans are young and lively. What is it like to grow old in America, and how has old age been treated in science fiction & fantasy? Martha A. Hood, mod. Phyllis Ann Karr, Catherine Lundoff

Sunday:

11:00-11:55 PM Mainstage (Northern Pacific) Panel: Afrofuturism and Science Fiction. Does Afrofuturism work within more or less traditional SF? Outside and parallel to it? How does it propose new directions for the genre? What's next for Afrofuturism?
Catherine Lundoff, mod.; Ytasha L. Womack


2:00-2:55 PM Krushenko's (Room 101)
Panel: Alternate Sherlocks. From TV to movies to spin-off books, the characters of Sir Arthurr Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes stories go ever onward, conquering new mediums and having new adventures. From vampire hunting to alternate histories to misadventures of Sigmund Freud to the mystery-solving skills of Irene Adler, Mycroft Holmes & Mrs. Hudson, most of us have read or watched some variation on the Holmes canon. How do these stories keep going and keep inspiring? What are some of our favorites? Where do we see the opportunity for new & different adaptations? Will they ever run out? Catherine Lundoff, mod.; Cynthia Booth, Matt Coe, Eric M. Heideman


3:00-3:55 PM Mainstage (Northern Pacific)
Panel: Diversity in Comics and Rayla 2212. Author Saladin Ahmed has been engaged in an ongoing project that's been rediscovering characters of color & women in precode comics that show a far more diverse comics world than ones many of us grew up with. More POC comics creators & characters are being discovered & celebrated, including Ytasha L. Womack's Rayla. Let's talk about this brave, not so new world, that explores what comics have been & can be in the future. Catherine Lundoff, mod.; Ytasha L. Womack

And lots of other discussion on diversity in YA, and a bunch of other fun things. Come on down to Bandanna Square (in St. Paul) and check it out!