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Contents 1 News 2 What is an Eastercon? 3 Future Eastercons 3.1 2010 3.2 2011 3.3 2012 4 Past Eastercons 4.1 Recent 4.2 Before 2008 5 Traditions 6 Advice on attending an Eastercon 7 Advice on running an Eastercon

News

What's new on the site.

For the moment, the easiest thing to do is click on Recent Changes in the navigation menu to the left of the screen.

We try to keep news of bids and any major changes (new guests, change of hotel) on this front page.

What is an Eastercon?

Eastercon is the annual British National Science Fiction Convention. It has been held over the Easter weekend every year since 1955. Before 1955 it was usually held over the Whitsun weekend.

Eastercon attracts 800-1,200 fans of Science Fiction, Fantasy and similar genres. Programme events usually include a fancy dress competition, an Art Show, a large Dealers Room selling books and other items, panels, quizzes, workshops, competitions and talks. Items range from hard science through writing workshops to the fun and silly. People are encouraged to take part.

Because it is considered to be a place for fans to meet and take part, rather than sit and listen to presentations, it's a convention and not a conference. Similarly when you pay your money to take part, you buy a membership in Eastercon and not a ticket.

The current cost of attending an Eastercon is approximately £50-£60 British pounds for the membership (discounts are usually available for the unwaged and for those younger than a certain age) plus you will have to pay for your own food and accommodation. Most people stay in the convention hotel and special lower room rates are negotiated.

If this sounds fun, then start by looking at Membership. If you are tempted to run an Eastercon, then start with Departments

Future Eastercons

2010

April 2-5, 2010 – Radisson Edwardian Hotel, Heathrow, London, UK Guests of Honour: Alastair Reynolds, Liz Williams, Mike Carey. Fan Guests of Honour: Fran & John Dowd

2011

At LX2009 there were no bids put forward for 2011. But at Novacon in Nottingham Illustrious announced a bid for the Hilton Metropole at the NEC in Birmingham.

  Illustrious 2011 - Hilton Metropole, NEC Birmingham

They say: "Illustrious will be held over the 2011 Easter weekend, Friday 22nd April to Monday 25th April. Themes

The aim is to cover the usual broad range of topics fans expect from an Eastercon, but we will have two themed streams: SF through the decades and Military SF. Contact Us

The bid committee can be contacted at comm@illustrious.org.uk or you can join the discussion about the bid through any of the following media:

   * Livejournal: the Eastercon2011 community
   * Facebook: the Illustrious 2011 event
   * Their webpage: Illustrious

Committee

Illustrious is brought to you by Chris O'Shea, Nik Whitehead, John Dowd, Fran Dowd, John Harrold, David Mansfield, and Hayley Fazzani."

The 2011 Eastercon will be selected at Odyssey2010 at the Bid Session. It is possible that there will be a 2011 bid session on the Saturday and a 2012 bid session on the Sunday, or just one long session on the Sunday.

2012

The 2012 Eastercon will be selected at Odyssey 2010 at the Bid Session (probably at 11am on Easter Sunday 2010).

We know of two teams bidding for 2012, both with very similar bid names! In both cases the bids have contacted the London Olympic Committee organisers to seek assurance that they can use the relevant names without worry about legal action.

  OlympiCon  -  Brighton

They say:

"OlympiCon a bid to host the 63rd British National Science Fiction Convention in 2012. If our bid is successful the convention will be held in Brighton and our theme will be exploring mythology in science fiction.

We will be holding a Toga Party on the Saturday night at Odyssey 2010 to promote our bid."

  * LiveJournal
  * email: olympicon@hotmail.co.uk

Note: Website will be launched when convention name is confirmed (waiting for letter from London Olympic Committee confirming that there is no problem with using the name OlympiCon for an event in Brighton).

And

  Olympus2012  -  London

They say:

"We are a London based bid for the 2012 Eastercon. I (John Medany) am fronting the bid with our committee team currently made up of Rita Medany, Steve Rogerson, Melanie Davis and Fiona Marshall with a few more to be added to the mix over the next few weeks. We have had heavy involvement in the last three Eastercons as well as Redemption and other conventions in the past.

We are book ending Odyssey and Orbital and want to continue their mission of opening up and expanding the borders of fandom, encouraging more of an intermingling of streams, of fans of books, comics, anime, movies, TV and audio and trying to bring a mix of new and old into this most satisfying and interactive side of being a fan."

  * LiveJournal
  * Twitter
  * www.olympus2012.org - Coming Soon
  * Facebook

  If you are interested in bidding, please let us and Odyssey2010 know as soon as possible.

Past Eastercons

Recent

• 2009 - LX2009

• 2008 - Orbital 2008

Before 2008

Full list of previous Eastercons

Reproducing old Eastercon publications

Traditions

Eastercons have many traditions

Advice on attending an Eastercon

Do it! Membership

Advice on running an Eastercon

See the advice section for tips on bidding, adding fun and many other areas of Eastercon convention running