Readercon 15 Report
I just returned from Readercon. I had a wonderful time. It was great to see old friends again. Howard Waldrop was there as one of the guests of honor–he’s looking great and was in fine form.
Rudy Rucker was another guest of honor. I’ve never heard him speak before. He was clear, easy to listen to and consistently made clear points on the panels I attended.
The panels were, in general, good. In particular, I attended “The Death and Rebirth of SF,” notable for British author Graham Sleight and “The Golden Age of SF is Now,” reviewed separately.
It is of concern to me that I tend to be one of the younger attendees of many of the conventions I go to. At 43, there’s something wrong with this. Readercon was founded in the mid-1980’s by late 20 and early 30 somethings who were so passionate, so motivated by their love for SF and fantasy they started a whole new _kind_ of convention that moved beyond latex Spock ears, beaded fantasy gowns and live action role playing in the halls to address the literature and nothing but the literature. Where are those motivated 20 and 30 somethings now? I’d love to get a look at the registration forms, but I would bet that less than 10% of the attendence was south of 45, and most of those were the children of folks who have been attending the con for the last 15 years. I would have found it pretty intimidating if I were young. There’s no one your age. The panels tended to be about topics that aren’t particularly relevant (”Does Your Child Make You Smarter?”), filled with people who are twice your age (or more).
Thus my pleasure in hearing Mr. Sleight, who in addition to being bold and intelligent, was also a strong representative of the under 30 crowd.
It’s not that I want to shove any of these wonderful folk out the door. Every time I see Hal Clement–the very definition of gentleman–I’m aware that it might be for the last time. When I listen to Barry Maltzberg it’s easy ot remember that he was a young Turk in the 1960’s, turning the field on its ear. But Readercon is perhaps the leading non-academic convention on reading and writing SF, fantasy and horror and they still don’t have a clue about bringing in a younger audience or promoting younger writers. That doesn’t mean they aren’t concerned: several of the staff members I talked to were concerned about the participation (or lack there of) by folks under forty as writers, fans or convention organizers. They just haven’t figured out what to do about it.
Just as a suggestion, I would recommend singling out and inviting writers under 30. I would also suggest a panel on interesting writers under 30 because its hard to identify them now the field has become so sprawling.
In the old days, there were a lot of panels on writing at Readercon. Those aren’t featured as strongly. The ones that I went to were well attended–they filled their little rooms–and tended to have a disproportionate number of “younger” attendees. At a con where approximately 10% of the attendees were under 35, half of the room werre under 35 at the panels on writing.
More support for young writers should translate into more young writers. I’m less convinced that more young writers will translate into more young readers.