A Twitter storm struck Worldcon 76 programming after schedules were emailed to participants, leading to July’s most-read post. Questions were raised about respect for people’s chosen pronouns (a byproduct of committee-created bios), participation by creators from LGBTQAI+ and POC backgrounds, and by new writers generally after complaints from some Hugo nominees who weren’t chosen for the program. Worldcon 76 chair Kevin Roche apologized, had the schedule taken offline, and accepted help from a team led by Mary Robinette Kowal recruited to fix the problems.
Highlights among last month’s most popular non-Scroll posts included Dr. Robin Reid’s detailed account of a visit to the Bodleian’s current Tolkien exhibit, and Heather Rose Jones’ advice to those trying to get on convention programming.
- Worldcon 76 Program Troubles
- Pixel Scroll 7/22/18 Insert Self-Referential Pixel Scroll Title Here
- Pixel Scroll 7/21/18 Number Five: Where Am I? Other Number Five: In The File.
- Pixel Scroll 7/19/18 And Then There Were 770
- Pixel Scroll 7/8/18 My Friend, Can Your Heart Stand The Shocking Facts Of Pixel Scrollers From Outer Space?
- Pixel Scroll 7/2/18 Bring Me The Pixel Of Scroll Charming!
- Pixel Scroll 7/27/18 Why Do Pixels Scroll? …Because They’re Made Of Wood?
- Pixel Scroll 7/23/18 A Double Negative Pixel
- Pixel Scroll 7/26/18 What Is The Law? Not To Reuse Titles, That Is The Law
- Pixel Scroll 7/20/18 The Pixie With the Moxie Is The Scroll That Is Droll
Scroll-Free Top 10
- Worldcon 76 Program Troubles
- 2017 Shirley Jackson Awards
- Kowal To Assist Changing Worldcon 76 Program
- Visiting Middle-earth
- Barkley — So Glad You (Didn’t) Ask: A Column of Unsolicited Opinions #32
- 2018 World Fantasy Award Nominations
- How To Get On Programming
- Update on Del Arroz Suit Against Worldcon 76
- Forgotten Sci-Fi Films
- Where To Find The 2018 Hugo Finalists For Free Online
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I apologize for being cranky in my last comment. The racial/gender politics divide that I noticed seems unique to the YA category. “Black Tides of Heaven” was really, really good and did some things that Ken Liu wished that he could do in the Grace of Kings series. I will be happy to read the author’s next thing. I put “All Systems Red” over it frankly because the Nebulas did and because Martha Wells showed and didn’t tell some of the themes of the first story. Also I went to a scholar-in-residence thing last weekend where the scholar used the word “prioritize” identity. Given the transgender context that’s a much better word than “prefer” and it’s what I meant.
(The KM Szpara story. Not the worst on the list, which would be “Secret Life of Bots” which was just too cute, and I appreciate that he made it understandable to a hopeless cis person like me, but I had to forcefully remind myself that this was not porn. I thought about No Awarding this whole category and then I remembered that Aliette de Bodard has never won a Hugo.)
The Journey was one of the Hugo Finalists who nearly lost a panel, and we also volunteered to staff/moderate queer-themed programming, so we were right in the middle of it all when it happened.
I will say that WorldCon’s folks have been unfailingly polite, very responsive. I felt their solicitation for improved queer-themed programming was sincere, and we responded to it in kind (with three panel suggestions).
My two cents (worth about one-and-a-half…)
P.S. See you in San Jose!
4jkb4ia: I apologize for being cranky in my last comment. The racial/gender politics divide that I noticed seems unique to the YA category.
I didn’t read your comment
I am horrifyingly realizing in the middle of YA that what EPH may have done is just allow everybody to have a slot for their preferred identity instead of representing other kinds of diversity the way its creators hoped for it. That really tempts us the voters to just parcel out the votes so one of each demographic group gets something instead of thinking about what kind of common standard makes sense.
as cranky. I just found it non-comprehensible, which is why I asked you to elaborate on it.
I have no idea what you mean by “what EPH may have done is just allow everybody to have a slot for their preferred identity instead of representing other kinds of diversity the way its creators hoped for it.”
I have no idea what you mean by “the racial/gender politics divide” in the YA category: I see six very popular YA books in that category, which reflect a wide range of subjects and styles, just as I see six very popular books which reflect a wide range of subjects and styles in the Novel category. And that is exactly the kind of diversity for which the supporters of the creation of a YA category were hoping.
So I’m asking you to elaborate on this, so that I can understand what it is that you’re trying to say here.