Glasgow 2024, a.ok.a. the 82nd World Science Fiction Conference (Worldcon), concluded on Monday 12 August, ending 5 days of celebrating science fiction, fantasy and speculative writing, within the shadow of the Finnieston Crane, a logo of Glasgow’s industrial previous, on the Scottish Exhibition and Convention Centre (SEC), a futuristic emblem of its current. By an extended chalk, it was essentially the most vibrant, spectacular and profitable Worldcon I’ve attended, and an enormous cultural win for town and for Scotland.
For one factor, the dimensions of the occasion was daunting. Attendance figures are exhausting to quantify, given the variety of no-shows and the added complication of digital attendance classes, however this yr’s conference was positively one of many largest Worldcons ever held in Europe, and even one of many largest Worldcons, interval. Over 8,000 attendance badges have been offered for the conference. The final couple of European Worldcons – Helsinki and Dublin – have been each criticized for venue overcrowding and queues, though I attended each and didn’t discover my very own expertise struggling. Glasgow’s SEC had few such issues, with all kinds of areas that have been virtually at all times rightsized for the occasions – although sure, there have been queues. Half-hour intervals between panels and periods additionally allowed folks to take a break, seize a chew or a espresso, and discover their option to the subsequent location in good time. The area and flexibility of the venue was additionally welcome when coping with climate that swung wildly from baking to conventional Scottish smirr, with chilly gray drizzle in mid-August.
Suggestions from the myriad sellers on the commerce flooring, and the publishers who have been each presenting their wares and taking part within the panels and launches, was very constructive. “Congratulations to Esther MacCallum-Stewart, Meg MacDonald, and everybody concerned in staging the occasion. It was a triumph,” stated Ian Whates, speculative fiction creator, co-founder of the impartial writer NewCon Press, and a director of the British Science Fiction Affiliation (BSFA). NewCon had its personal launch occasion in the course of the conference, together with the primary assortment for 18 years from author Visitor of Honour Ken MacLeod, illustrated by artist Visitor of Honour Fangorn.
A lot remark settled on what a job the con did to place the Hugo Awards and different controversies behind it. Xiran Jay Zhao, recipient of this yr’s Astounding Award for Finest New Author, was one of many writers censored out of eligibility for the award on the Chengdu Worldcon, and had her eligibility prolonged to verify she nonetheless acquired an opportunity to obtain her due. Statements earlier than, throughout, and after the Awards ceremony affirmed how decided the organizers have been to handle points such because the tried voting fraud this yr, and deal with them immediately and transparently. Reform of the voting procedures is a query for future conventions: the organizers of this one definitely did all they may, overtly and pro-actively, with the present system.
There was loads of exercise to contain the native writing neighborhood and the Scottish public at massive. Spinoff occasions included an organ recital at Glasgow’s celebrated Kelvingrove Artwork Gallery and Museum, with a efficiency of the rating from the film Interstellar. There was additionally music from the Worldcon Philharmonic Orchestra, an precise philharmonic orchestra with native musicians, and a premiere of a science fiction opera, Morrow’s Isle, with a libretto by Ken MacLeod. The Hunterian Collections at Kelvin Corridor additionally held an exhibition of artefacts and artworks by Alasdair Grey – one other fashionable Scottish speculative fiction legend.
“After all, with any occasion of this magnitude there are sure to be hiccups (together with a number of attributable to the foundations imposed by the venue, the SECC), however at any time when such arose, the organisers responded swiftly and successfully, guaranteeing that issues continued to run easily,” Whates continued. “I hope that within the afterglow of the conference everybody who labored so exhausting to provide it may well look again with satisfaction and pleasure; they definitely need to.”
Worldcon Glasgow 2024 has most likely had some of the essential outcomes it may – a recent shot within the arm for Scottish speculative fiction writing, and much more recognition for that work when it seems. Sláinte!
