THURSDAY, September 19th 2019:
Those of us that can, meet up at the Restaurant Bar at the convention hotel: Hotel Fy & Bi, Valby Langgade 62, 2500 Valby around 19:00 and have an informal Meet & Greet with our Guest of Honor Nisi Shawl (US), with some of our Special Guests, as well as a bunch of other program participants and attendees. Please note: You pay your own food & drink.
FRIDAY, September 20th 2019:
The doors open at 13:00 for setting up Dealer´s Room and Audio/Visual Equipment, table, chairs, etc in the rooms. If you can, please come and help us! Program and Bar opens at 16:00 and runs to 23:00.
Note that there are changes to the below preliminary schedule. Check the Program Book just sent to all registered members for the most updated program!
| Opening Ceremony: Knud Larn gathers the principal Guests for a short presentation of them and of Fantasticon 2019. And then the convention is officially open! |
| The Opening Afrofuturism Discussion: Our GoH writer and critic Nisi Shawl (US), University Professor Erik Steinskog (NO), and African Fantasy Expert Christian Hoffmann (DE) open this weekend´s discussions about afrofuturism: A theme growing in influence every year, new writers emerging, and older ones being re-defined. What is Afrofuturism really? Why is it becoming so relevant? Who are big names, what are the creations to read, hear, or see? |
| GoH Reading: Our GoH Nisi Shawl has written a lot of stories. To get to know her work better from the beginning of the con, she will read some stuff for us – and discuss it with the audience! |
| Presentation: Lise Andreasen har gennemlæst en stribe bøger med afroamerikanske noveller og en række bøger OM afrofuturisme for at kunne udvælge de noveller som skulle i SFCs antologi med afroamerikansk science fiction (Udgives på Fantasticon 2019). Her vil hun dele det hun har læst og de tanker hun har haft undervejs med publikum. |
| Talk: Calle Werner from Sweden will tell us about the relationship between mathematics and fiction. Come by and get a new angle to look at science fiction from! |
| Debate: We try something new: No presentation, but an on open discussion about The Matrix. Twenty years ago the programmer Neo Anderson was contacted by a woman named Trinity and was subsequently chased by mysterious agents. We talk about the movie and its sequels. Why did it become such a hit? What’s good and bad about the sequals? Not long ago a fourth Matrix-movie was announced. We may also discuss that a bit, depending on how much is known about it at the time. |
| Celebration: This year we celebrate the 200th anniversary of Polidori´s short tale “The Vampyre” – instantly creating an entire subgenre of the fantastic, vampire tales. Nicholas Barbano, expert in all matters horrific in the media, will give his personal comments and examples on Polidori and what happened thereafter… |
Saturday, September 21st 2019:
Doors open at 10:00 and closes at 19:00, except for those of us with a Dinner Ticket – we will continue partying until 23:00, where also the bar closes!
| Special Guest Lecture: We open with “The Aestetics of Afrofuturism”, a talk by Professor in Afrofuturism friom the University of Copenhagen, Erik Steinskog (NO) |
| The Panel on Black Panther: At a time when racism flourished in America, Stan Lee and Jack Kirby choose to make the main character of Fantastic Four number 52 and 53 a black superhero from Africa. Since then T’Challa have appeared in numerous comics, and recently he got his own movie. We look at the various incarnations of the character, and discuss to what degree it can be called afrofuturism. |
| GoH Interview: The Writer Nisi Shawl, our Guest of Honor, is being interviewed by Johan Anglemark. They (try to) talk mostly about the fiction. |
| GoH Signing Session: Well, you know the drill: Fans line up with piles of books to get signed and the poor GoH gets maybe 1 minute of chit chat with each. This year we do this differently: Nisi Shall will sign your books, yes, but she will also ask you to tell her about your reading experience, and she will share some writer insights. With you and the crowd aound you. We reserved an hour, so there should be ample time for everyone. Yes, we will have some copies of Nisi Shawl´s books for sale in trhe Dealer´s Room. |
| Presentation: Udo Klotz & Special Guest Christian Hoffmann (DE) will talk about New German Genre Fiction. Danish Fandom took a famous trip to Munich back in 2013 for the National German Science Fiction Convention – and learned a lot about German genre fiction and fansom. What has happened “down there” in the past 6 years? |
| Celebration Panel on Batman: 80 years ago Bruce Wayne sat in the office of police chief James Gorden, smoking his pipe and wondering if any of Gordon’s cases could use the help of masked vigilante The Batman. We celebrate his birthday by talking about some of the major events in his life. And maybe we have time to discuss why Batman has been one of the most popular superheroe3s for all those years (and still is). |
| GoH Interview II: Guest of Honor Nisi Shawl and the concept of Writing the Other. For many years, Nisi Shawl has attempted to improve how we write about “the other”. Why is it important, how does one actually DO it – and do it well? An interview by Majbritt Høyrup. |
| Delany Celebration Panel: The Life & Work of Samuel R. Delany. A panel with GoH Nisi Shawl, Richard Ipsen, and Stig W. Jørgensen. Do not miss it! |
| The Saturday Dinner Party: As every year, Fantasticon holds a Festive Banquet with the GoH Speech, Good Food, and Entertainment. Do remember to buy the specific ticket for the dinner BEFORE the con begins, as we have to close access early in order for SERAPION to plan the food etc. |
Sunday, September 22nd 2019:
We open the doors (and the bar) at 10:00, and close at 17:00 – please stay and help a bit with the packing down, and then we can all go to the Dead Dog Party at Hotel Fy & Bi´s Restaurant Bar in Valby.
| Fantasticons Søndagspanel: Hver søndag på Fantasticon de sidste mange år har der været et panel hvor forskellige science fiction-bøger er blevet diskuteret af et nogenlunde fast panel. I år er det lidt anderledes, da der har været en del udskiftning blandt medlemmerne, og vi ikke diskuterer bestemte værker, men genren afrofuturisme. Hvad er det for noget? Hvad er der skrevet i genren. Hvad bør man læse? Hvorfor er det så populært lige nu? |
| Presentation: The work of Nnedi Okorafor is being presented by Anne Dencker Bædkel. |
| Special Guest Talk: It is 100 years ago that pulp writer Ray Cummings took the newest concepts from Ernest Rutherford about The Atom and made it into a story that captivated readers for decades: THE GIRL IN THE GOLDEN ATOM & THE PEOPLE OF THE ATOM. Our Special Guest Edmund Schluessel, a physicist from The University of Helsinki talks about fact and fiction in relation to The Atom. |
| Niels Klim Prisen 2019: Uddelingen af den årlige danske pris for bedste værker i vores genre er et klassisk element på Fantasticon. Vi indleder med en diskussion om nogle af årets nominerede værker med tre inviterede gæster bliver ledt af Niels Dalgaard. I den anden time vil Lise Andreasen præsentere alle de nominerede og uddele årets priser. |
| The Apollo Interview: Of all gigantic non-violent projects that a nation undertook and succeeded at, the most amazing of those must be the project that put Neil Armstrong and “Buzz” Aldrin on the Moon I 1969, just 50 years ago. Flemming Rasch interviews Ian Sales about the Apollo Project and his “Apollo Quartet” that takes the Apollo Project in four different directions from where the historic Apollo Project went. |
| The International Panel : What happens next? Scandinavian fans from IS, NO, FI, SE, DK, and DE point to upcoming cons and active fandoms in our part of the world. |
| Special Guest Talk: Our Special Guest Christian Hoffmann (DE) gives final perspectives and viewpoints on our topic by looking at the origins and development of African Fantastic Fiction under the heading of “From the realms of ghosts to cyberspace” Christian Hoffmann will talk about fantastic fiction by African authors in a period of over 100 years. He not only will discuss questions like “what are the differences between African and Western genre fiction?“ and “what is special about African literature?“, but will present many African writers of interest and their oeuvre. |
| Closing Ceremony: Did you have a great con? Feedback to the organizers. Saying goodbyes. Next Fantasticon? |
There will be more – including a well-stocked Dealer´s Room, where we will be selling a lot of books related to our topic of Afrofuturism. You know you do not want to miss this, so why not get your ticket now?
Brgds
The Fantasticon 2019 Team