Gen Con Falls Out With Its Writers’ Symposium
The Gen Con Writers’ Symposium is an event within Gen Con focusing on writers and the craft of writing. It is run by a volunteer committee with some sponsorship from Gen Con.
Gen Con no longer wishes to work with some or all of the current symposium committee due to issues behind the scenes which appear to include overall communication problems and contention over the headline guests for 2024.
The two main public accounts come from Emily D. E. Bell, a member of the committee and spouse of committee chair Chris Bell, and Eric Scott de Bie, who identifies himself as a long-time member of the symposium.
The symposium committee selected science fiction, fantasy, and horror author and poet Linda D. Addison and cultural critic Mikki Kendall for this year’s special guests. Their liason at Gen Con, however, had concerns. Per Bell’s account:
Marian McBride reached out and said her boss (Derek Guder) had “concerns” about Mikki, that she did not have draw or broad appeal. I heard the dogwhistles, but still explained why she was a good fit. The entire committee agreed disinviting her at this late point after she’d already accepted and for this reason would be inappropriate and harmful on multiple levels. We were told not to announce the guests, and were asked to an “emergency meeting” whose title was something like “Concerns regarding Special Guest Mikki Kendall”.
…
Derek said he didn’t know who Mikki or Linda were, he would not look them up, and he and didn’t care. (And he refused to let me tell him, then didn’t read our report he asked for.)
Addison and Kendall are both Black, leading to Bell’s suggestions that racism was behind the concerns. de Bie tries his best to find an explanation that is not racism, granting that “both of them have worked extensively in the industry” but asserting that they were a poor fit for Gen Con, despite an acknowledged history of the symposium inviting writers who have done no work in gaming.
Another point of contention is the number of guests. de Bie, and Gen Con as quoted in Bell’s account, both say that Gen Con expected four special guests and only got two. Bell suggests that two was the number agreed on before the invitations were issued:
[Derek] is also using this “four not two” Guests thing like it’s a gotcha, but he wouldn’t allow anyone on the committee to explain verbally why we did that, why it was coordinated with Marian in August and January, or why it did not violate their intent in any way, or why changing it at that point would be directly harmful –
Another one was resources not being used as expected:
Derek repeatedly said that the two additional hotel rooms we were allocated in 2023 were no longer going to Guests. I told him this was not true, they were going to Guests, and explained (again over Marian’s demands that I not speak) why the decision was made to give them to committee Guests to ensure representation and inclusion in the ways communicated to us by the BIPOC communities rather than featuring four Guests as “Special”
It isn’t clear what Bell means by “committee Guests”.
de Bie adds to his account that Bell has been personally abusive to him and anyone else who does not support her absolutely. A further comment by game designer and editor Jaym Gates on Facebook attests both that Gen Con has a terrible record with marginalized groups and that Bell has been abusive to would-be allies.
Despite all this, there is agreement all around that the 2024 symposium itself went very well.
In Brief
FanX Salt Lake (Salt Lake City, Utah, September 26-28) has added Patrick Warburton, Manu Bennet, Paras Patel, Yasmine Al-Bustami, and Bart Johnson.
Spooky Empire (Orlando, Florida, October 11-13) has added Clive Barker, Doug Bradley, Ashley Laurence, Andrew Robinson, Barbie Wilde, Simon Bamford, Nicholas Vince, Craig Sheffer, Lili Taylor, Jen & Sylvia Soska, and Bruce Kulick.
Cincinnati Comic Expo (Cincinnati, Ohio, October 18-20) has added David Michael Beck, Jeff Edwards, Peter Smith, Scott McMahon, and Z. M. Thomas.
Kawacon (San Antonio, Texas, January 17-19) has added A. J. Beckles.
Event Calendar
Weekend of September 20-22
Copernicon, Toruń, Poland
P-Con, Fort Worth, Texas, USA
Southern Maine Steampunk Fair, Kennebunk, Maine, USA
Eurofurence 28: Cyberpunk (anthropomorphic), Hamburg, Germany
West Aussie Fur Frenzy: Urban Beats (anthropomorphic), Freemantle, Australia
SIBCON XXVIII (gaming), Butler, Pennsylvania, USA
MegaMooseCon (gaming), Richburg, South Carolina, USA
Spellenfestival Genk (gaming), Genk, Belgium
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Game Devs of Color Expo, online
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Furry Takeover: Dino Might (anthropomorphic), Fontana Dam, North Carolina, USA
Rügen Furcon 2024 (anthropomorphic), Binz, Germany
Planszówki w Spodku (gaming), Katowice, Poland
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TableToppers ‘24 (gaming), Bowling Green, Kentucky, USA
Hurricon 2024: Engaging in Asymmetric Warfare (miniatures gaming), Kissimmee, Florida, USA
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Pixel Expo: Act III (video games), Perth, Australia
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Rappig Crossing (Tales video games), Indianapolis, Indiana, USA
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Lodi Comic Con, Lodi, California, USA
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Mare Fair (My Little Pony), Orlando, Florida, USA
The Uncanny Experience (X-Men), Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA
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Conflux 18: Missions & Quests, Canberra, Australia
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AuthorCon IV (books), St. Louis, Missouri, USA
FilkCONtinental (music), Wernigerode, Germany
Jewelry City Steampunk Festival, Attleboro, Massachusetts, USA
H-Con the Twentieth: Fractailed Dimensions (anthropomorphic), Erbach, Germany
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Arnecon 2 (gaming), Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA
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Game On Greensboro, Greensboro, North Carolina, USA
Con on the Cob 2024: Eat Your Vegetables (gaming), Richfield, Ohio, USA
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KamCon ‘24 (gaming), Kamloops, British Columbia, Canada
Spieltage Essen (boardgames), Essen, Germany
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Romics (comics), Rome, Italy
áyA Con 2024 (indigenous comics and art), Denver, Colorado, USA
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Zurich Pop Con, Zurich, Switzerland
Kadabra Con (media), Corpus Christi, Texas, USA
57th Sitges International Fantastic Film Festival, Sitges, Spain
Giganticon (superhero media), Killeen, Texas, USA
Magic Con (fantasy media), Bonn, Germany
Jemcon 2024: Free and Easy in Phoenix (Jem and the Holograms), Phoenix, Arizona, USA
UK PonyCon 2024 (My Little Pony), Nottingham, UK
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DeepSouthCon 62: ConToberFest, Helen, Georgia, USA
Fantasycon 2024, Birmingham, UK
Alamo City Furry Invasion: Dr. Virginia's Island Paradise, San Antonio, Texas, USA
Confuror 2024: Monstruos vs Luchadores (anthropomorphic), Guadalajara, Mexico
Atlanta Game Fest 44, Peachtree Corners, Georgia, USA
Viking-Con 43 (gaming), Tårnby, Denmark
Furnace Games Convention XIX (RPGs), Sheffield, UK
PAX Australia (gaming), Melbourne, Australia
Congress of Gamers Fall Session, Rockville, Maryland, USA
Icon Gaming, Idaho Falls, Idaho, USA
Capital City Gaming Con (gaming), West Des Moines, Iowa, USA
CinCityCon 2024 (gaming), Hamilton, Ohio, USA
ConFABulous (LGBTQ+ gaming), Bloomington, Minnesota, USA
Just added: Houston Arcade Expo, Houston, Texas, USA
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Banzaicon 12: Spooktacular (anime), Larvik, Norway
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NW Idolfest (anime idols), Seattle, Washington, USA
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Creation Charlotte (media), Concord, North Carolina, USA
Nickel City Comic Con, Buffalo, New York, USA
Comiccon de Québec, Ville de Québec, Québec, Canada
BADcon (media), Pleasant Valley, Missouri, USA
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Spooky Empire (horror media), Orlando, Florida, USA
57th Sitges International Fantastic Film Festival, Sitges, Spain
Brooklyn SciFi Film Festival, New York City, New York, USA
Weekend of October 18-20
ICON 49: New Horizons, Cedar Rapids, Iowa, USA
OryCon 44: Villains, Portland, Oregon, USA
BuchmesseCon, Dreieich, Germany
Multiverse, Peachtree City, Georgia, USA
World Fantasy Convention 2024, Niagara Falls, New York, USA
OctoGônes 14 (gaming), Villeurbanne, France
TringCon (gaming), Marsworth, UK
Erie Days of Games, Erie, Pennsylvania, USA
Festival Draconis (gaming), Montréal, Québec, Canada
ACWest (gaming), Telford, UK
Austi-Con 2024 (gaming), Austin, Minnesota, USA
Armour Con 2024 (gaming), Marlborough, UK
Gamehole Con 11 (RPGs), Madison, Wisconsin, USA
Video Game Summit, Schaumburg, Illinois, USA
Made in Asia (anime), Brussels, Belgium
MoTownCon (anime), Concord, North Carolina, USA
Anime Fusion: This Is Halloween, Plymouth, Minnesota, USA
Another Anime Convention, Westford, Massachusetts, USA
Anime Nebraskon 2024: Legends of NebKon Past, Council Bluffs, Iowa, USA
Wauke-Con (comics), Waukegan, Illinois, USA
ValleyCon 49 (media), Fargo, North Dakota, USA
Dallas Fan Festival (media), Irving, Texas, USA
New York Comic Con, New York City, New York, USA
Cincinnati Comic Expo, Cincinnati, Ohio, USA
PonyCon Holland 4: Level Up! (My Little Pony), Zeist, Netherlands
Coda
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