Upcoming Science Fiction Conventions

Just wanted to apprise my readers that if you live in the Southern-Ontario region or eastern United States there are a number of conventions set to take place in the coming weeks so be sure to mark your calendars. If I’ve missed any don’t hesitate to email me or write a comment on this post.

Polaris 23 takes place in Toronto on July 10-12. The convention has a focus on media guests from science fiction and fantasy movies and television series such as Star Trek, Babylon 5, Stargate, Doctor Who, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Jericho, Lost and Battlestar Galactica.

Readercon 20 take place in Boston, Massachusetts on July 9-12, 2009 at the Burlington Marriott and costs $50 to register if you do so by June 30. In the course of its twenty years, it has become the standard bearer and role model for conventions that focus on the literature. A typical Readercon features well over 100 writers, editors, and critics (attracting prominent figures from Canada, the U.K., and occasionally even Australia) and more than 400 of their readers. This year’s Guests of Honor include Elizabeth Hand and Greer Gilman.

Fan Expo 2009 is set to take place in Toronto from August 28-30^th. This year’s annual convention held in Toronto  is going to be bigger than ever with such special guests as Leonard Nimoy, Linda Hamilton, Bruce Campbell, Lou Ferrigo, and many more.

Otakuthon 2009 is Quebec’s only anime festival promoting Japanese animation, Japanese graphic novels , related gaming and Japanese pop-culture. It is held annually for 2 days in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. It is a non-profit, fan-run anime convention that was initiated by Concordia University’s anime club, named “Otaku Anime of Concordia University”. Otakuthon strives to be a bilingual (French and English) event, having programming, the masquerade, and the program book in both official languages. The first edition of Otakuthon was held in 2006 in mid June, but later moved to early August / late July from 2007 onward.