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Brisbane, Australia has announced a bid to host the 2028 Worldcon. The bid would hold the convention on July 27-31, 2028 at the Brisbane Convention & Exhibition Centre. Original co-chairs were Random Jones and Vix Richardson. On February 17, 2026 Jones announced his plans to step down [d]ue to ongoing health issues. Jo Van will be Richardson’s new co-chair.

Nuremberg, Germany has also announced a bid to host the 2028…Read More

Nominations are now open for the 2026 Hugo Awards, the Lodestar Award for Best Young Adult Book, and the Astounding Award for Best New Writer. These awards will be presented at LACon V, the 84th World Science Fiction Convention, to be held August 27-31, 2026 in Anaheim CA. The convention says,

Emails are going out to eligible nominators (those who became a member of LAcon V by January 31, 2026,…Read More

The 2026 Trans-Atlantic Fan Fund (TAFF), which will send a North American fan to MetropolCon, the 2026 Eurocon in Berlin Germany, has selected its nominees. Voting has begun, and all votes must reach the administrators by 11:59 p.m. British/Irish time on April 7, 2026.

The candidates for this year are Lisa Hertel and Katrina Kat Templeton. Voting is open to any individual with their donation of £3 or $4 to…Read More

The LAcon V organizers have announced that Tracey Baptiste will be a special guest for the 84th World Science Fiction Convention. Baptiste is an award-winning author of twenty-six books for young readers, including the Jumbies series and a popular Minecraft tie-in novel; an author of nonfiction and historical books such asAfrican Icons: Ten People Who Shaped History; and a teacher in a low-residency MFA program at the University of…Read More

Conventions in Israel are usually held during the holidays, which are school vacations. This both allows young people in their teens to come to the conventions and lets parents bring along even younger children. The timing of the holidays this year meant that ICon had only two days instead of the usual three. This made the work of the programming committee even harder than usual in deciding what to…Read More

The inaugural The Muse Writers Conference was held Saturday, September 20 in person at the Sheraton Norfolk Waterside Hotel in Norfolk, Virginia. The one-day event had a capped attendance of one hundred attendees and sold out quickly. Guest speakers included authors Cassandra Rose Clarke, Wendy Higgins, and Joe Jackson; agents Jessica Errera, Shelly Romero, and Arley Sorg; and more.

Programming featured a single track of panels focused on various…Read More

Can*Con 2025 was held October 17-19 in person at the Brookstreet Hotel in Ottawa, Canada. Guests of honour were Kate Heartfield, Stephen Kotowych, and Premee Mohamed. A separate virtual Can*Con was held on April 12 with roughly one hundred attendees.

There were 500 in-person registered attendees. Programming featured 140 panelists and 96 items on writing, literature, and more, such as ”The Continuation of Epic Fantasy with S.M. Carrière, Suyi Davies…Read More

The second annual Future Creation Workshop in Chongqing, held October 13-22, featured many improvements over the first workshop. What remained the same was the gathering of aspiring writers from around China to pursue dreams of publishing their work in their home country and the West. This year’s distinguished faculty included Chinese writers Wu Yan, Jiang Bo, Bao Shu, Ling Chen, Cheng Jingbo, and Deng Siyuan as well as international…Read More

The 51st World Fantasy Convention, held in combination with British Fantasycon, was held October 30 – November 2, 2025 at the DoubleTree by Hilton Brighton Metropole in blustery Brighton UK. Guests of honor were author Suniti Namjoshi, artist Vincent Chong, and publishers Vivian Cheung & Nick Landau, with toastmaster Joanne Harris and horror laureate Ramsey Campbell. Life Achievement Awards winners were Juliet Marillier and Michael Whelan. There were two…Read More

The 2026 Trans-Atlantic Fan Fund (TAFF), which will fund travel for a North American fan to the 2026 Eurocon in Germany, is open for nominations until February 1, 2026, 23:59 Pacific North West time.

TAFF was created in 1953 for the purpose of providing funds to bring well-known and popular [science fiction] fans familiar to those on both sides of the ocean across the Atlantic. Since that time TAFF has…Read More

The LAcon V organizers have announced that Terese Mason Pierre will be a special guest for the 84th World Science Fiction Convention. Pierre is an acclaimed Canadian writer who has worked to platform members of equity-deserving communities, chief programming officer and an editor for Augur Society, and editor of anthologyAs the Earth Dreams: Black Canadian Speculative Stories (House of Anansi). Pierre said,

I am so excited to participate as…Read More

The LAcon V organization team has announced via email that the 2026 Hugo Awards will feature Best Poem as its additional category.

LAcon V chair Joyce Lloyd said,

Speculative poetry has a long and storied tradition. Arguably the first works of speculative fiction were epic poems like theEpic of Gilgamesh and theIliad. We’re pleased to invite the membership of this Worldcon to nominate and vote on their favorite…Read More

The StokerCon Governing Committee has announced the details of StokerCon 2026, or StokerCon 10. The convention will be held June 4-7, 2026 at The Westin Pittsburgh in Pittsburgh PA. Tickets can be purchased on Eventbrite. In-person admission is $300 and virtual is $75.

The six Guests of Honor will be Linda D. Addison, Rachel Harrison, Billy Martin, John Shirley, James Tynion, and Ann VanderMeer.

The Governing Committee, including James Chambers,…Read More

The 2025 Galaxy Science Fiction Convention, recently branded as Galaxycon, took place in Chengdu from October 18-21, 2025, drawing China’s SF community and an international presence for three days of events centered around the 40th annual Galaxy Awards. Galaxycon was held on the newly developed Chengdu Science and Technology Innovation Ecological Island in the Tianfu New Area, Chengdu’s designated high-technology belt. The site was created by Zaha Hadid Architects who…Read More

Seattle Worldcon 2025, the 83rd World Science Fiction Convention, received 1,962 valid ballots, down from 3,436 at Glasgow 2024. 1,338 nominating votes were cast electronically (another two sent by surface mail arrived too late to count); that’s down from 1,720 in 2024.

The procedure for counting nominations remains theE Pluribus Hugo, or EPH, system. The rather complicated system gives a single point to each voter’s ballot, dividing that point…Read More

The Science Fiction & Fantasy Writers Association (SFWA) has announced the inaugural online Quasar Conference, taking place November 15 and 16, 2025: A weekend of panels, workshops, seminars, office hours, and special presentations dedicated to professional and professionalizing writers in speculative fiction. Admission to Quasar was included in the cost of the 2025 Nebula Conference membership. For those who did not attend the conference, the early-bird sign-up rate for…Read More

Dragon Con was held at multiple hotels and AmericasMart in downtown Atlanta GA from August 28 – September 1, 2025.

The Dragon Awards ceremony was held Sunday at 4:00 p.m. (see page six for the winners.) Primarily a fan-focused event with massive attendance, Dragon Con offered several tracks of interest to SFF industry professionals. Panels included ”A Master Class: The Importance of Research in Historical Fiction” with Elizabeth Bear,…Read More

2025 marked the first time that the World Science Fiction Society Business Meeting was held online. The four meetings held throughout July using the virtual meeting platform, along with the in-person Site Selection Business Meeting held during the main Worldcon dates, considered 48 total items of business (including nine items passed on from last year’s Worldcon in Glasgow), nearing the record 50 items of business from the previous year. Average…Read More

ConCurrent was a one-day event created by Mia Tsai in response to Worldcon Seattle’s use of ChatGPT in panelist vetting: We firmly believe there is no place for genAI when it has been used to steal from artists and has a devastating impact upon the environment.

The event was free to attend and financed via crowdfunding. It took place within walking distance of Worldcon’s venue, at the Union Arts…Read More

The Green Mountain Book Festival has announced its return in October 2025, featuring John Scalzi and several speculative fiction authors from Vermont.

The 2025 festival will be held on Saturday, October 18 in Burlington VT. The program will include book signings, a writing workshop, panels about humor and worldbuilding in science fiction, and a mainstage interview with John Scalzi.

Featured authors include Craig Alanson, William Alexander, M.T. Anderson,…Read More

Seattle Worldcon 2025, the 83rd World Science Fiction Convention, was held August 13-17, 2025 at the brand-new Summit expansion to the Seattle Convention Center in a warm and muggy Seattle WA. Guests of honor were musician Alexander James Adams, artist Donato Giancola, engineer and costumer Bridget Landry, poet laureate Brandon O’Brien, and author Martha Wells. Registration provided figures of 7,177 in-person warm bodies from 59 different countries, at least…Read More

Worldcon 2025 issued a formal apology from the Seattle WorldCon chair, Kathy Bond, on behalf of the organization, for the Hugo Awards ceremony, in response to a larger conversation happening in social media regarding the ceremony. Items being called out included finalists’ names and works mispronounced by the hosts, Nisi Shawl and K. Tempest Bradford; author ofSo Let Them Burn,Kamilah Cole, initially skipped being named in her category…Read More

LAcon V, the 2026 World Science Fiction Convention (Worldcon) issued an apology today following online criticism regarding word choices and framing around the theme for next year’s convention.

LAcon V apologizes for using words and icons that connote Westward Expansion and the displacement and colonization of Indigenous peoples. This does not reflect the vision or values of the convention. When this was brought to our attention, we immediately made changes…Read More

CanSMOF and the Worldcon in Montréal 2027 Bid Committee won the right to host the 2027 Worldcon. The 85th World Science Fiction Convention will be held September 2-6, 2026 in Montréal, Canada.

Guests of Honor announced so far include Chris Barkley, Jeff Jakes, Yves Meynard, and Jo Walton.

The Montréal bid received 605 out of 682 votes cast.

For more, see the Montréal 2027website.

[viaFile 770]

While you are…Read More

MILESTONES

TERRY A. MURRAYhas been diagnosed with ALS. Murray is the author ofScience Fiction Magazine Story Index, 1926 – 1995(1999), and with his brother donated ”The Edwin and Terry Murray Collection of Pulp Culture” to the Rare Book, Manuscript, and Special Collections Library at Duke University.

BOOKS SOLD

The lateCHRISTOPHER PRIEST‘s autobiographical essay collectionThe Recollections: Fragments from a Writing Lifesold to Briardene Books via…Read More

Aspen Words, a program of the Aspen Institute, is partnering with Book of the Month to hold its inaugural Aspen Literary Festival on September 26-28, 2025 in Aspen CO. The festival will include a special conversation that highlights science fiction and fantasy with authors Leigh Bardugo, Victor LaValle, and V.E. Schwab.

Aspen Words executive director Adrienne Brodeur said, Our goal is to highlight the ways that sci-fi and fantasy expand…Read More

CanSMOF and the Montréal 2027 Worldcon Bid Committee have announced that Darin Briskman and Bruce Farr will be the co-chairs for the 85th World Science Fiction Convention (Worldcon), if the Montréal bid wins. The Montréal bid is currently the only active bid, though write-ins are permitted.

Darin Briskman brings a strong technical and leadership background to the team, both from within fandom and through a successful corporate career . He…Read More

MILESTONES

C.J. LAVIGNEis now represented by Arley Sorg of kt literary.

AWARDS

AuthorsGARY CREWandGARTH NIXhave each been awarded the Medal of the Order of Australia in the King’s Birthday Honours List for services to literature.

HARUKI MURAKAMIwill receive the Center for Fiction’s 2025 Lifetime of Excellence in Fiction Award, to be presented by Patti Smith at an annual awards benefit on December 9,…Read More

Seattle Worldcon has opened site selection voting for the 85th World Science Fiction Convention, to be held in 2027. The only active bid is Montréal, Canada, though write-in bids are also allowed.

Voting is open only to WSFS members, attending members, and virtual attending members of Seattle Worldcon, and there is a voting fee of $50. Mail-in ballots must be received by August 12, 2025, and in-person voting at Seattle…Read More

MILESTONES

PHILIP J HAYhas joined the John Jarrold Literary Agency.

SHAINA A. CORDASis now represented by Kirsten Lang of Zeno Agency Ltd.

MARESSA VOSSis now represented by Susan Armstrong of C&W.

TAYLOR RILEY PARHAMis now represented by Stevie Finegan of Zeno Agency Ltd.

AWARDS

FRANK HERBERT(1920-1986) is the winner of the third Infinity Award, presented by the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers Association to posthumously…Read More

The Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers Association (SFWA) announced that ML Clark has joined their professional staff as communications and marketing coordinator. Clark has previously worked with SFWA Publications, as an editor for The SFWA Blog and Nebula Awards Showcase, and on other projects.

While you are here, please take a moment to supportLocus with a one-time or recurring donation. We rely on reader donations to keep the magazine…Read More

The 41st annual L. Ron Hubbard’s Writers and Illustrators of the Future Awards ceremony was held April 10, 2025, at the Taglyan Complex in sunny Los Angeles, Calfornia, during a weeklong intensive of workshops, lectures, and classes for the winners. This year’s Golden Brush Award went to Jordan Smjastrla for her illustration of Kill Switch”, and the Golden Pen Award went to Randyn C.J. Bartholomew for his story Ascii”…Read More

Issue 781 Table of Contents, February 2026

The sheer miracle of the production and survival of LOCUS in a field like ours never ceases to amaze me. It’s essential reading in this house, and the closest thing we have to an international newszine.…Read More