Readercon – Katherine Crighton

So in keeping to true ridiculous form, I have both a conference I will be at and one I was just at. Let’s get the old one out of the way first–

SFWA‘s 2023 Nebula Conference Online was a hybrid event held in Anaheim, CA, and over Zoom, which is fortunate because I? Am not in Anaheim. The majority (or possibly all?) of the panels were recorded; you can still register and get access to them until they’re removed for next year’s conference. I only appeared on one panel, but I’m proud as hell about it:

Neurodiversity and Writing: There’s No One Correct Way to Write Format: Panel (Virtual)

13 May 2023, Saturday 6:00 PM PST

Neurodiverse authors have always been around. However, some of the most famous writing advice out there — such as put your butt in a chair and write, or write 1000 words a day — can actually be harmful to or counterproductive for neurodiverse writers. In this panel, a group of neurodiverse authors will share writing advice that works for them and may also work for other writers who are autistic, have ADHD, anxiety, dyslexia, bipolar disorder, or other diverse ways of experiencing the world.

Vida Cruz-Borja, Maria S. Picone, Clara Ward, Katherine Crighton, Jason Sanford (mod)

…and upcoming, I have:

Readercon is an old favorite and always deeply insightful and interesting– it’ll be taking place July 13 – 16 at the Boston Quincy Marriott in Quincy, MA, with Guests of Honor Jeff VanderMeer and Justina Ireland. I don’t have my schedule yet — KEEP AN EYE OUT for an update on that — but I absolutely recommend registering and attending if you can. Previous years’ schedules can be seen (and drooled over) here: https://readercon.org/readercon_past

(Post banner image credit: Sakari Niittymaa from Pixabay. Nebula Conference image credit: “Nebula Star Deity” by Lauren Raye Snow.)

Join me at Readercon (August 13-15, 2021), gone virtual and running for the low weekend price of $25 this year. It’s a conference on imaginative literature that focuses almost exclusively on the written work, and I’ve loved it for years.

I’m also on a couple of panels this year, and moderating one of them, so you’ve got plenty of opportunities to either see me via Zoom or watch the panels after the fact. The topic I get to talk about are amazing, and I’m delighted by the panelists I get to spend time with.

My schedule is below:

Reading Fantasy Through a Motif Index Lens Format: Panel

14 Aug 2021, Saturday 11:00 AM EST – Main Track 1

Folklorists use motif indexes to catalog and analyze folk tales from around the world. The existence of TV Tropes suggests the need for new motif indexes that fit new forms of literature, but we can also apply folklore motif indexes to 21st-century fantastical fiction. Which motifs have had staying power for hundreds of years, and what other expected or unexpected patterns do we find? What does treating fiction as folklore bring to the reading experience?

Katherine Crighton, Stephanie Feldman (mod), Jeffrey Ford, Karen Heuler, L. Penelope

Content Tags: Implementation, Accommodation, and Ancillary Art Format: Panel

15 Aug 2021, Saturday 4:00 PM EST – Main Track 2

The increased prevalence of content tags has lead to growing questions around implementation. Useful for accommodation, content tags are also deployed on dynamic platforms such as AO3 to warn, advertise, and joke, becoming extra-diagetic material that is enjoyable on its own terms while providing meaningful context for the work. Still, there is a divide between those who want them and those who find them objectionable. How do content tags enhance and complicate reader experience, and what are emerging best practices that bookstores or publishers could adopt?

Katherine Crighton (mod), Gillian Daniels, Foz Meadows, AJ Odasso, Megan Whalen Turner

(Image credit: Image by Voldrag on Pixabay )

Tag: Readercon

Upcoming (and, whoops, prior) appearances: SFWA Nebula Conference and Readercon

Upcoming appearance: Readercon!