Worldcon and Smofcon News From Smofcon
Smofcon 41 (no relation to this newsletter) was held in SeaTac, Washington this past weekend. It featured the traditional “Fannish Q&A” session for Worldcon and Smofcon bids.
A playlist of all the Worldcon presentations is available on the Worldcon Events YouTube channel; Smofcon presentations are part of this playlist on the new SMOFCon Events channel.
Pass-along funds
Glasgow 2024 reported that it had passed along £20,000 each to the 2025 and 2026 Worldcons, with the same amount held for the winning bidder for 2027.
Ben Yalow, co-chair of the Chengdu Worldcon from 2023, clarified that Glasgow had refused pass-along funds from Chengdu, so the money originally intended for Glasgow had instead been split between the 2025 and 2026 Worldcons.
Seated Worldcons
Seattle Worldcon 2025 (August 13-17) clarified that its recently announced plan for virtual WSFS business meetings is intended to replace the in-person meeting entirely, except for the announcement of site selection results. There will also be a practice meeting for people who want to get familiar with the software platform. The specific platform will be announced later.
Jesi Lipp, who will be running the business meeting, stated that they have run similar virtual meetings for other organizations.
Seattle also announced that it will not be running a traditional con suite due to the cost of running one at its venue.
LAcon V (Anaheim, California, August 27-31, 2026) will have an open meeting in Anaheim on March 22-23 next year for anyone interested in helping out with the con. Those interested in attending the meeting should RSVP to info@lacon.org.
LAcon’s new mascot is Fuzzy the Channel Island fox.
Worldcon bids
Tel Aviv in 2027 sent a statement saying in part, “Regrettably, due to the situation in Israel, we would have to push our bid to a later year, we have not yet made an announcement as we are still in internal discussions as to what year we would be able to bid for.”
Montréal in 2027 has plans for multilingual programing and real-time translation at select events, including not just English and French but also ASL, LSQ, and native languages as appropriate.
Montréal will be picking a prospective convention chair soon. Due to the recruiting opportunities afforded by Smofcon, the size of its bid committee had increased by 25% since the start of the con.
Kigali in 2028 and Brisbane in 2028 did not have representatives at Smofcon. Dublin in 2029 did, but did not announce anything new.
Edmonton in 2030 is still working on its dates. It hopes to be right after the Edmonton International Fringe Theatre Festival, which happens in mid-August.
Texas in 2031 is still a thing but has not decided on the specific city or dates yet.
A new bid for the Netherlands in 2032 was announced. The city is currently being chosen but is likely to be Maastricht.
Smofcon bids
Smofcon 42 was awarded to the only bid for 2025, for Nacka, Sweden (near Stockholm) December 5-7. There will be no online component.
There is one bid for 2026, for somewhere in the greater Washington, DC area. Numerous hotels are being evaluated. The bid may change to virtual-only depending on the US political and travel situation.
There are two potential bids for 2027. One is to hold Smofcon on a cruise from Los Angeles to a city to be determined in Mexico. The other is for “somewhere in Europe, preferably with sun”.
In Brief
Maurice Broaddus will lead the 2025 Gen Con Writers’ Symposium, in the wake of a falling out between the previous management and Gen Con. Broaddus was previously listed as “Community Outreach” for the 2024 symposium.
Ikkicon (Round Rock, Texas, January 10-12) has added Lauren Landa, Bill Butts, Corey Pettit, and Jason Charles Miller.
Fan Expo Portland (Portland, Oregon, January 24-26) has added Temuera Morrison, Mark Sheppard, Jim Beaver, Mark Pellegrino, Alexander Calvert, Ruth Connell, DJ Qualls, Samantha Smith, Tom Cavanagh, and Danielle Panabaker.
Indiana Comic Convention (Indianapolis, Indiana, March 14-16) has added Stephanie Young, Priscilla Presley, Paige O’Hara, Vincent D’Onofrio, Katee Sackhoff, Brandon Rogers, Erica Schroeder, and William Shatner.
Event Calendar
Weekend of December 13-15
Sac Gamers Expo (video games), Sacramento, California, USA
Anime Weekend Atlanta, Atlanta, Georgia, USA
Permian Basin Comic Con Holiday Edition X, Midland, Texas, USA
Ocean City Comic Con, Ocean City, Maryland, USA
Weekend of December 20-22
Winter Furry Fusion, Shanghai, China
CEOtaku (anime fighting games), Orlando, Florida, USA
Con+Alt+Delete (anime), Rosemont, Illinois, USA
KisuuCon (anime), Portland, Oregon, USA
Holiday Matsuri (anime), Orlando, Florida, USA
Nashville Anime Day, Murfreesboro, Tennessee, USA
Comic Fiesta, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
Weekend of December 27-29
Furvester 6: Into the Cyberspace (anthropomorphic), Reutlingen, Germany
New Year’s Furry Ball, Newark, Delaware, USA
OKiCon (anime), Norman, Oklahoma, USA
Comic Market 105 (fan-made comics), Tokyo, Japan
Weekend of January 3-5
ShadowCon XXVIII (relaxacon), Memphis, Tennessee, USA
Anthro Northwest 7 (anthropomorphic), Seattle, Washington, USA
Painted Desert Fur Con: Camping in the Canyon (anthropomorphic), Phoenix, Arizona, USA
TundraCon 2025 (gaming), Oshkosh, Wisconsin, USA
Everwinter (miniatures gaming), Waltham, Massachusetts, USA
SacAnime, Sacramento, California, USA
Anime-ZAP!, East Peoria, Illinois, USA
Animate! Raleigh (anime), Raleigh, North Carolina, USA
Weekend of January 10-12
GAFilk 2025 (music), Atlanta, Georgia, USA
Japan Meeting of Furries, Toyohashi, Japan
Spartacon XXXIV (gaming), DeWitt, Michigan, USA
Midwinter Gaming Convention, Pewaukee, Wisconsin, USA
OrcaCon 2025 (gaming), SeaTac, Washington, USA
Animé Los Angeles 20, Long Beach, California, USA
Ichibancon 15 (anime), Concord, North Carolina, USA
Ikkicon (anime), Round Rock, Texas, USA
Orlando Anime Day, Orlando, Florida, USA
Fan Expo New Orleans (media), New Orleans, Louisiana, USA
MondoCon 2025 (media), Budapest, Hungary
Coda
Gifts for People You Hate, 2024 (Will Tell Stories for Food, hat tip: File 770)
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