Dysprosium Announces New Workshops Including Writing, Poetry and Chocolate

Dysprosium, the 2015 British National Science Fiction Convention, continues to develop new program offerings. The latest additions to its schedule are:

  • Martin Owton and the T-party will run a writing workshop at Dysprosium which involves detailed critique and comment on a pre-submitted piece of writing in the SF/Fantasy field.
  • There will be a workshop on writing Young Adult fiction in the SF/Fantasy genres. The workshop will focus on one of the aspects of constructing a good Young Adult novel.
  • The new poetry workshop will focus on the creative process itself: unlike the writing workshop, which looks at existing work, the poetry workshop will give participants the chance to create new work during the session.
  • The Chocolate Workshop brings Easter straight into the convention with an expert chocolate tasting event where participants will be trained on how to taste and judge chocolate. Tasting will start with a high-quality milk, working through to a 100% bar from Hotel Chocolat, and the chocolate focus of the workshop will be British-made Chocolate such as Willie’s Cacao, Hotel Chocolat, Duffy’s, and others.
  • “In Space no-one can hear you Rhyme.” In this interactive session (audience participation welcome) lead by BSFA Focus magazine poetry editor Charles Christian, we’ll be looking at how to get started writing poetry – and have fun in the process.
  • “Build an Awesome Robot out of Junk.” Using cardboard boxes, egg boxes, toilet rolls, metal food trays, cereal boxes etc, plus some coloured card, tape, and glue. Build your own ready-to-wear robot.
  • “10 Years of Doctor Who – Her Doctor?” The introduction of Missy opens the possibility for a female Doctor – with Tanith Lee, Herr Döktor and David Wake.
  • “Trailblazers in Science History.” A talk on the women trailblazers in archaeology, geology and palaeontology
  • “Faeries.” The not so nice creatures at the bottom of the Garden, from the Dresden Files and October Daye to Lost Girl – with Guests of Honour Jim Butcher and Seanan McGuire

Dysprosium takes place April 3–6 at the Park Inn Heathrow.

The full press release follows the jump.

Dysprosium Announces New Workshops Including Writing, Poetry and Chocolate

Dysprosium, ( http://www.dysprosium.org.uk ), the 66th British National Science Fiction Convention, to be held over the 2015 Easter weekend (April 3 – 6) at the Park Inn Heathrow, is pleased to announce that they have secured a number of workshops including a writing workshop, a poetry workshop and a chocolate workshop.

For new and budding writers, the writing workshop and a range of programme items specifically for writers will be a welcome addition. While the main writing workshop will require participants to submit their work for buddy critique, there will be other open sessions which will help writers in any number of different ways.

Martin Owton and the T-party are running a writing workshop at Dysprosium which will involve detailed critique and comment on a pre-submitted piece of writing in the SF/Fantasy field. There will also be a workshop on writing Young Adult fiction in the SF/Fantasy genres. The workshop will look at how to structure a novel, and in particular will focus on one of the aspects of constructing a good Young Adult novel.

The new poetry workshop will focus on the creative process itself: unlike the writing workshop, which looks at existing work, the poetry workshop will give participants the chance to create new work during the session.

The Chocolate Workshop brings Easter straight into the convention with an expert chocolate tasting event where participants will be trained on how to taste and judge chocolate. Tasting will start with a high-quality milk,  working through to a 100% bar from Hotel Chocolat, and the chocolate focus of the workshop will be British-made Chocolate such as Willie’s Cacao, Hotel Chocolat, Duffy’s, and others.

Dysprosium has many more events including:

  • “In Space no-one can hear you Rhyme” – In this interactive session (audience participation welcome) lead by BSFA Focus magazine poetry editor Charles Christian, we’ll be looking at how to get started writing poetry – and have fun in the process
  • “Build an Awesome Robot out of Junk” –  Using cardboard boxes, egg boxes, toilet rolls, metal food trays, cereal boxes etc, plus some coloured card, tape, and glue. Build your own ready-to-wear robot.
  • “10 Years of Doctor Who – Her Doctor?” – The introduction of Missy opens the possibility for a female Doctor – with Tanith Lee, Herr Döktor and David Wake.
  • “Trailblazers in Science History” – a talk on the women trailblazers in archaeology, geology and palaeontology
  • “Faeries” – The not so nice creatures at the bottom of the Garden, from the Dresden Files and October Daye to Lost Girl – with Guests of Honour Jim Butcher and Seanan McGuire

Dysprosium has a number of streams from Science to Science Fiction, and from Fantasy to Steampunk. Most talks are by members who volunteer to give them. Dysprosium will assist any one new to speaking with tips, tricks, pointers and helpful moderators.

For information on how to join the more than 1,000 fans of science fiction and fantasy who will be attending Dysprosium, visit http://www.dysprosium.org.uk/join.

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For Editors:

ABOUT EASTERCON

Eastercon has been running every year since 1948. Eastercons are fan-run/not-for-profit events, with the money raised from memberships, advertising etc. being spent on running the convention. Surplus funds are passed along to future conventions. Convention committees are non-incorporated and independent, and bids to run a convention are voted for by members of previous conventions. Any financial risks are guaranteed by the volunteer committees who are not compensated for their efforts and are, in fact, full paying members of the convention.

The voting process means that Eastercons move around the country. Recent Eastercons were in Bradford (2013) and Glasgow (2014). The 2015 committee chose a London venue to build on the success of the 2014 SF Worldcon held at the ExCel centre last August (Loncon 3 was one of the largest completely volunteer-run events in the world). Bids to run the next Eastercon will be voted on at Dysprosium.

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.

Unlike some other conventions, Eastercon sells full memberships, not tickets. Many professional authors, artists and editors attend Eastercons as paying members. The convention bar and social areas enable fans to informally meet and greet the artists/authors/editors they admire.