OK, finally seems to be solidified, though some of the events on this keep skeeting about like greased pigs. Thus far we have:
Writers’ Workshop, Fri 9:00AM – 12:00PM.
I’ll be running a group of four aspiring novelists. Yay!Forces Beyond Our Control: power, identity, and magic in fantasy, Fri 4:00 – 5:15PM.
This is a reading I’ll be doing with fellow writers Alaya Dawn Johnson, Margaret Ronald, and Doselle Young. What will I read? Uh… still deciding on that.NOT ANOTHER F*CKING RACE PANEL, Fri 9:00 – 10:15PM.
I’m the moderator for this one; the panelists will be K. Tempest Bradford, Moondancer Drake, Nnedi Nkemdili Okorafor, and Naamen Gobert Tilahun. Should be fun — it’s a panel full of writers of color, talking about anything but race for a change.Was It Good for You? Sat 10:30 – 11:45PM.
Again moderating for K. Tempest Bradford, Sumana Harihareswara, Rachel Kronick, and Betsy Lundsten. Here’s an abbreviated description:
A common response to requests for increased representation of women/PoC in science fiction seems to be—we are just looking for good stories. Writers are concerned that, even absent overt discrimination, the themes they want to write about and the stories they want to tell will be dismissed as irrelevant to the white male audience. This doesn’t really have anything to do with quality.Getting it Wrong Gracefully, Mon 10:00 – 11:15AM.
Moderating again, yay. Panelists are Alan Bostick, Moondancer Drake, Vylar Kaftan, and Mary Robinette Kowal. In brief:
The purpose of this discussion is to not only talk about the logistics of writing about folks unlike yourself, but to talk about how a writer handles the inevitable moment when what you’ve written offends someone.
If you’re wondering, Wiscon usually has a desperate shortage of moderators, so when people are willing, they definitely get used. And while I know many of these panels will require moderator heavy lifting — controversial panels can get ugly, if one isn’t careful — I think it’s worth a little sacrifice of comfort on my part to try and keep the discussion on-track. Wiscon is my favorite SF con because it’s willing to have these kinds of panels, and it staffs them with ordinary people — anyone who feels like it can volunteer to be on a panel at Wiscon, and there’s a strong likelihood they’ll get picked. I’ve learned more about being a writer from panels like this than from any panel of knowitall blowhards.
Actually, I’m most nervous about the reading. Haven’t done one of those since the last Wiscon, maybe 2 years ago? And now that I’ve got less than a month to go, I really need to decide what I’m going to read. ::ulp:: I’m torn between two forthcoming things: the first chapter of 100K, and the first half of my short story “Sinners, Saints, Dragons, and Haints, in the City Beneath the Still Waters”, which will be coming out in Postscripts in 2010. It’s got to fit into about 15 minutes, so can’t be much, whatever it is. Argh, I’m so indecisive.
So anyway, hope to see some of you there. =)