Following Richard Fife’s publication today that “Faith Hunter Assaulted Me” at JordanCon 2022 in April, fantasy author Faith Hunter issued an apology on Facebook, and announced that she has removed herself from JordanCon permanently and cancelled all her con appearances for the year.
JordanCon 2022 was held April 22-24 in Atlanta. Hunter, whose fantasy works include the Rogue Mage series, the Jane Yellowrock series, and the Soulwood series, apparently decided to pull out of cons after the developments of JordanCon weekend, however, the reasons had not been made known.
Richard Fife’s blog post “Faith Hunter Assaulted Me” relates what happened. (The text is also posted on Facebook, where there are many comments.)
…I have known Faith for many years, moderated her on panels and advocated for her to be a guest at JordanCon when I was still the director of the Writing Track. I had several long discussions with her about the divide in the world that had resulted in my public resignation from DragonCon as the Assistant Director of the Fantasy Literature Track. I had encouraged her to come to Multiverse, the new convention of which I am the Vice-Chair and that is dedicated to providing a safe place for marginalized and vulnerable fans.
On Saturday evening of JordanCon 2022, I saw Faith at a table with several of our mutual friends, and I opted to go up and join the conversation. As I sat down next to her, I could tell she was inebriated. It wasn’t just the multiple empty martini glasses in front of her, but that her general demeanor was one of lowered inhibition. Even then, in retrospect, there was something off about her behavior from the person I’ve known. At the time, I think I was rationalizing that this was her first public appearance since 2020.
She immediately grabbed my hand and leaned in, starting a conversation with me. The conversation touched on the growing divisions in convention fandoms, and at one point, I had mentioned I wouldn’t be welcome nor even belonged in certain spaces.
She then reached out and touched my hat, hair, beard, and coat and said, “Yes you do. And I didn’t touch anywhere that was wrong, so nobody can’t say anything.”
Those words made me feel uneasy in the moment. I didn’t address it, though, and looking back, I’m not even sure what I could have or would have done. As I sat at the table, Faith had several other off-putting moments with people whose story it is not mine to publicly share. After she left, I then learned of even more she had done, and the next few hours were spent processing and comforting those she had hurt.
I also came to look at her interaction with me in a very new light, of one where she felt entitled to touch me regardless of my consent and had decided she needed to make that clear, especially since I was not the only person that evening where she had ignored explicit pleas for her to not touch them….
The next day Fife reported the incident to the convention chair.
Sunday morning, with the permission of the other victims I knew of at the time, I reported directly as a witness and victim to the Convention Chair, Jennifer Liang. Her empathy and disgust at what happened was comforting, and during my report, she received communication from Jenna Sellers, the Operations Officer at JordanCon, that another witness, who was also a long-time member of JordanCon staff, had likewise reported the incident.
I was informed on May 16th that in addition to other reports from witnesses, Faith had self-reported and voluntarily would never return to JordanCon. Additionally, she had pulled out as the Guest of Honor from ConGregate and as a guest at DragonCon. The Convention further informed me that she was permanently banned from JordanCon.
(The con’s procedures for handling reports could not be immediately determined. There are references to a JordanCon Code of Conduct on the website, however, its text is not available from the drop-down menu.)
After Fife’s post appeared, Faith Hunter published this apology on Facebook:
First, I want to say that I’m very sorry to the people I offended and hurt at JordanCon 2022. I have a black hole in my memory for that night, but what little I recalled was indeed unacceptable. When one of the people at my table finally got through to me, I left the table and went to find my doctor, who was also attending the con. Dr. Leann Rettell sat with me for over two hours. She stated at the time that she believed I had a reaction with my meds after a drink, and I am still under her care. Regardless of contributing factors, *this was my fault*.
The next day, Sunday, I self-reported what little I recalled of that night. I personally wrote apology letters to the few people I remembered seeing. I removed myself from the con permanently, and cancelled all my con appearances for the year. I issued (on May 23) a broadband apology to anyone I insulted or abused.
Again, I truly offer my humblest apologies. There is no place for my actions at any con.
I have no more to say publicly.
File 770 searched Hunter’s blog, newsletter, and Twitter and Facebook activity for May 23, and checked all items posted after the JordanCon weekend, but was unable to locate the earlier apology.
She did announce May 15 on Facebook “For personal reasons, I have withdrawn from ConGregate this year. It’s a great con. Y’all go and support them!”
Faith Hunter’s Facebook apology has received over 400 positive responses.
The response to Richard Fife’s post includes a statement of support from Charlotte Moore-Lambert on why he warrants being believed. Moore-Lambert formerly ran Dragon Con’s Fantasy Literature Track with Fife as her second. When her criticism of an author in social media led to her being fired by Dragon Con in 2018, Fife resigned and wrote a public statement protesting how Dragon Con had handled the matter. (See Pixel Scroll 6/9/18 item #3.)
