NorWesCon Guest of Honor

Mary Robinette will be a Guest of Honor at NorWesCon in Seattle, Washington from Thursday, April 18 to Sun, April 21. Register here.

It’s a con! Well…okay, sure. But what does that mean? Norwescon is the Pacific Northwest’s premier science fiction and fantasy convention and one of the largest regional science fiction and fantasy conventions in the United States. While maintaining a primarily literary focus, Norwescon is large enough to provide a venue for many of the other aspects of science fiction and fantasy and the interests of its fans such as anime, costuming, art, gaming, and much, much more. Norwescon is held every Easter weekend. Norwescon 42 will be April 18–April 21, 2019. Our theme this year is “Don’t Forget Your Towel”. We hope you can join us!

Here’s where to find her while she’s there!

April 18, 2019

Guest of Honor Banquet
5:00pm – 6:30pm
Grand 2

Enjoy a buffet of great food and great company as you rub elbows with our guests of honor. Photo ops and preferred seating for the opening ceremonies abound. Ticket sales are limited, so get them while they are hot!

Opening Ceremonies
7:00pm – 8:00pm
Grand 2 & 3

Enjoy an official kickoff to your Norwescon 42 at the opening ceremonies! Enjoy interviews with our guests of honor, get a preview of events and essential information, and enjoy general shenanigans and merrymaking.

April 19, 2019

NASA’s Unsung Heroes
10:00am – 11:00am
Cascade 10

Katherine Johnson, Dorothy Vaughan, and Mary Jackson, the NASA mathematicians whose stories were dramatized in the 2016 film Hidden Figures, weren’t the only women and people of color who delivered distinguished service during NASA’s early decades. Come hear about the “Mercury 13,” Margaret Hamilton, Maj. Robert H. Lawrence Jr., and others who crossed the gender and color lines.

Interview and Q&A with Mary Robinette Kowal
11:00am – 12:00pm
Grand 2

Come meet our writer guest of honor, Mary Robinette Kowal, and learn about her work and process.

Science Fiction/Future Now
4:00pm – 5:00pm
Cascade 7 & 8

Science fiction has always been the inspiration of technological advances, but now ideas can be achieved almost as soon as they are thought up. So how do writers stay a step ahead? How do writers handle the truth of real science and the fiction that is needed for writing their stories? Is it a crisis for the writer’s imagination, or does it serve to inspire?

April 20

Autograph Session 1
10:00am – 11:00am
Grand 2

Our guests of honor and attending professionals are available to sign autographs. Please note: so that as many fans as possible can participate, we will be enforcing a three-items-at-a-time (or single-sketch) autograph limit.

Autograph Session 2
11:00am – 12:00pm
Grand 2

Our guests of honor and attending professionals are available to sign autographs. Please note: so that as many fans as possible can participate, we will be enforcing a three-items-at-a-time (or single-sketch) autograph limit.

Fifty Years After Apollo 11
2:00pm – 3:00pm
Evergreen 3 & 4

If you were alive in 1969, you were probably watching. If you weren’t, you might be wondering why everyone keeps talking about it. Come hear our panel explain why the Apollo program was such a big deal.

Sci-Fi and Fantasy in Audio Fiction Storytelling
5:00pm – 6:00pm
Cascade 11

Audio fiction podcasts are an increasingly popular medium that is capturing more and more people’s attention every day. A lot of the stories being told are based in science fiction and fantasy. What is audio fiction? Why does it lend itself so well to speculative fiction? What are some of the highlights of the medium? How can I make my own audio fiction podcast? All this and more will be covered in this talk.

Reading: Mary Robinette Kowal
6:00pm – 7:00pm
Evergreen 3 & 4

The Relentless Moon. The Relentless Moon takes place while the first Mars expedition is underway, as a parallel novel to The Fated Sky. It focuses on Nicole Wargin and Myrtle Lindholm in the lunar colony. You can expect everything from church services to bridge parties, which all become more complicated in low gravity. And then a saboteur strikes…

April 21, 2019

Closing Ceremonies
4:00pm – 5:00pm
Evergreen 3 & 4

Come send off Norwescon 42’s guests of honor with fanfare. We’ve made it through another year, and we want to celebrate the good times we’ve had.

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