Moderators and participants will be added to the program as they confirm participation 🙂
Friday, October 5th
8:00 p.m. — Bar Meet
Meet, greet, rejoice! The designated bar Klaustur is located at Kirkjutorg 4, 101 Reykjavík, next door to the main venue.
8:00 p.m. — Reading Group (at the bar also)
The local horror reading group The Bookcase of Dr. Caligari invites all participants in IceCon 2018 to join them in a discussion of Paul Tremblay’s new novel The Cabin at the End of the World. We’ll meet at the festivals designated bar, Klaustur, at 8 pm on Friday night. We’ll enjoy a light chat about the book over a glass of beer and wine, and get acquainted before the festival starts.
Paul Tremblay is an American author of horror, dark fantasy and science fiction that achieved high praise, and a Bram Stoker award, for this novel A Head Full of Ghosts.
Saturday, October 6th
10:00 a.m. — With a Little Help From My Friends: Fancommunites and Fancons
Fandom in Iceland has become more established in recent years, but it is still fragmented and there are few places, venues and events, where fans can come together. Organizers of fancons and fans across the world discuss ways of creating a vibrant, inclusive and sustainable community.
Participants: Crystal Huff, Einar Leif Nielsen, Isabel Nunez Ortiz, Marianna Leikomaa
Moderator: Carolina Gomez Lagerlöf
11:00 a.m. — Elves, Trolls and Pissed off Ghosts: Icelandic Mythology
Fevered tourist brochures often describe Iceland as a “magical place” but sometimes it feels that there is nothing magical about Icelandic literature and film, which have their roots firmly in Scandinavian realism. However, young writers have begun exploring the worlds of SFF, and many of them look to old Iceland for inspiration, to the gods of Valhalla and the ghosts and beasts that roam the Icelandic moors. What inspires Iceland?
Participants: Gerður Halldóra Sigurðardóttir, Emil Hjörvar Petersen, Úlfhildur Dagsdóttir
Moderator: Ólöf Bjarnadóttir
12:00 p.m. – INTERLUDE
1:00 p.m. — Spinning New Threads From Old Yarn: Interview with Naomi Novik
Interview with the guest of honor, Naomi Novik. Acclaimed American fantasy author Naomi Novik discusses her works in which older concepts are often reinvented with a twist, be it Napoleon-era dragons, new spins on old fairy tales and even her passion for transformative works.
Moderator : Brynhildur Heiðar- og Ómarsdóttir
2:00-3:30 p.m. — Tales of Wonder: The State of Icelandic Speculative Fiction
The Icelandic term for speculative fiction is furðusögur, which means “tales of wonder”. Furðusögur is a relatively new genre in Iceland, but in recent years more and more authors have begun writing their own tales of wonder. Icelandic writers of furðusögur discuss their works, their inspiration and the state of speculative fiction in Iceland.
Participants: Atla Hrafney, Einar Leif Nielsen, Emil Hjörvar Petersen, Giti Chandra, Hildur Knútsdóttir, Kjartan Yngvi Björnsson, Kristján Atli Ragnarsson, Ragnhildur Hólmgeirsdóttir
Moderator: Júlíus Árnason Kaaber
4:00 p.m. — A Princess, a Frog and a Dragon Walk Into a Bar: Fantasy, Fairy Tales and Talking Animals
Fantasy is the realm of imagination, a place where anything can happen. Fantasy is the place where animals can talk and trees can walk. The panel will discuss representations of animals in fantasy and fairy tales.
Participants: Alexander Dan, Gerður Halldóra Sigurðardóttir, Naomi Novik
Moderator: Atli Dungal Sigurðsson
5:00 p.m. — Conversations in the Coven – Lawks! We Can’t Be Having With This!
A skinny woman with garlic in her hair, an older woman who trolls her daughters-in-law and bathes outdoors singing about wizard’s staffs, and a hook-nosed woman of uncertain age who needs to put up signs claiming “I Aten’t Dead”, meet on stage to stir the cauldron with cats, cities, Death, and other Terry-fying things. What could possibly go wrong??
Participants: Gerður Halldóra Sigurðardóttir, Ólöf Bjarnadóttir, Sigríður Hafsteinsdóttir, Valgerður Guðrún Bjarkadóttir, Vigdís Kristín Ebenezersdóttir
Moderator: Giti Chandra
6:00 p.m. — INTERLUDE
9:00 pm-wee hours of the morning — Bar Meet
The designated bar Klaustur is located at Kirkjutorg 4, 101 Reykjavík, next door to the main venue.
Sunday, October 7th
10:00 a.m. — Writers’ Workshop
Michael Swanwick will be conducting a writers’ workshop (in English). There is only room for 20 participants. Please sign up via e-mail to icecon.reykjavik[@]gmail.com.
Organizers: Michael Swanwick, Crystal Huff and Einar Leif Nielsen
12:00 p.m. — LUNCH
1:00 p.m. — Sæborgin Reykjavík: Interview with Úlfhildur Dagsdóttir
Interview with guest of honor Úlfhildur Dagsdóttir. Icelandic literary scholar Úlfhildur Dagsdóttir discusses the state of wonder in Iceland, cyborgs, comics and popular culture, Icelandic literature, fandom and the future of furðusögur.
Moderator: Fjalar Sigurðarson
2:00 p.m. — “Are We There Yet?” Representations of Diversity and Disability in SFF
For much of the twentieth century, speculative fiction was the realm of white men. In recent years, women, people of color, people with disabilities and other marginalized people have begun making inroads into the field of SFF. This change has not come without friction, as the recent hijacking efforts of the Sad Puppies group at the Hugos Awards show. The panel will discuss diversity and disability in SFF, questions of representation and ownership.
Participants: Atli Dungal Sigurðsson, Crystal Huff, Lars Backström
Moderator: Atla Hrafney
3:00 p.m. — The Future Is So Dim We Have to Wear Boots: Science Fiction and Climate Change
When you have to Trek into the Stars to find fiction dealing with climate change, things might appear pretty Grimm. No fairy tale, this. Is climate change the final frontier of fiction? Will sci-fi boldly go where no man one has gone before?
Participants: Dan Bloom, Hildur Knútsdóttir, Jennifer Ogle, Ian Sales
Moderator: Jóhann Þórsson
4:00 p.m. — “Thick and Fast, They Came at Last, and More, and More, and More!” Gender, Race and Identity in SFF and Comics
It seems the walrus was black and the carpenter a lesbian, and clearly the oysters are Asian immigrants. Things are changing in the multiverse of fantasy, sci-fi and superhero comics, and not everyone is happy enough. Some are not happy at all. Is the demand for better representation asking familiar-but-unreal fantasy to adhere more closely to a familiar-but-all-too-real reality? Here to ask the tough questions — How is heroism constructed in speculative fiction and comics? Who gets to be a superhero and why? — the panel will discuss issues of representation and heroism in SFF and comics through the the lens of gender, race and identity.
Participants: Atla Hrafney, Giti Chandra, Þórey Mjallhvít
Moderator: Kjartan Yngvi Björnsson
5:00 p.m. — New Myth, Faith and Fake News: Politics and Escapism in Speculative Fiction
We are living in strange times, with propaganda and disinformation masquerading as “real news” and factual news dismissed as “fake news”. How are new myths forming, from Blair Witch Project to Slenderman and beyond? How do social media and the current political situation impact recent works of speculative fiction? Are works of speculative fiction a way for readers to escape the real world or a way for writers to interrogate, analyze and change the world?
Participants: Claudia Rapp, Crystal Huff, Einar Leif Nielsen, Lars Backstrom
Moderator: Snæbjörn Brynjarsson