Seattle Worldcon 2025

Join Mary Robinette Kowal for multiple events and panels at Seattle Worldcon 2025!

For those of you looking for a meetup, head over to the Writing Excuses meetup on Thursday or the Writing Excuses Suite Party that Mary Robinette is hosting as well.

- Room: 447-448
- What first sparked your interest in space and space exploration? What is the first spacecraft you saw silently sweeping through the night sky? The first landing on the Moon? Come hear what our panel of professionals have to say and add your own stories. Audience participation strongly encouraged!
- Dr. Corey Frazier (M), Dr. Laura Woodney, Julie Nováková, Mary Robinette Kowal, Sue Burke

Room: 420-422
We love bringing puppets into our movies and shows. What is the mystique? Why do we love them and how come they can say what we can’t?
David D. Levine (M), Andrew Penn Romine, Mary Robinette Kowal, Merav Hoffman, Sho Glick

6:00 PM – 7:00 PM: The Second Novel

Room: 443-444 + Virtual Track
After spending years on your first novel, lightning strikes and you get the three-book deal. How do you make sure you can get the second novel done, on time andon target, and avoid the “sophomore slump” when you have 12 months or less to produce it? Our panelists of series authors explain what they did, how and why it worked—or didn’t.
Mary Robinette Kowal (M), J. L. Doty, Kamilah Cole, Randy Henderson

Terrace Lounge (4F)
Also for Lady Astronaut Fans! Mary Robinette will have fun swag for everyone, both for the podcast and for the Lady Astronaut Universe

3:00 PM – 4:00 PM: Table Talk

Room: 427
Have an intimate discussion (up to six participants) with your favorite creators. Advance sign-up is required (click here for more info).

7:00 PM: Writing Excuses Suite Party

- Room: 447-448
- 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 learn about the Mercury 13, Margaret Hamilton, Major Robert H. Lawrence Jr., and others who crossed the gender and color lines.
- Mary Robinette Kowal (M), Dr. Corey Frazier, Gideon Marcus, Nicole Glover, Peter Glaskowsky

- Room: 320
- More than 50 years after the race to the moon, how might space exploration have gone differently? Which contemporary writers are giving us more hopeful, or more distressing, versions of what might have been? Where might we be today? (The Sidewise Award for Alternate History will be presented at this panel.)
- Olav Rokne (M), Dr. Laura Woodney, Elektra Hammond, Mary Robinette Kowal, Rosemary Claire Smith

Writing Excuses is a fast-paced, educational podcast for writers and by writers. Our goal is to help our listeners become better at their craft. Whether they write for fun or for profit, whether they’re new to the domain or old hands, Writing Excuses has something to offer. We love to write, and our listeners do, too. Join our panel for a live Q&A—no excuses!
Mary Robinette Kowal, Erin Roberts, Howard Tayler

12:00 PM – 1:30 PM: Mary Robinette Kowal Signing

3:00 PM – 3:30 PM: Mary Robinette Kowal Reading (The Martian Contingency)

Room: 443-444 (Note: this is an updated room number from the original announcement!)

Room: 420-422
Some of the best characters aren’t humans at all. They’re animals, aliens, AI, or any number of real or imagined nonhuman species. But how do you write a believable character that senses and experiences the world in an entirely different way? This panel will talk about some of the leading science exploring how animals, computers, plants, and even fungi sense and communicate about the world. Then let’s discuss how to use that science to write rich and compelling nonhuman characters.
Aaron Scott (M), Kathryn Sullivan, Mary Robinette Kowal, Martha Wells, Matt Dinniman