Billed as the biggest feminist F+SF writers' convention,
WisCon is one of the most interesting --and perhaps one of the longest running (37 years!)-- conventions out there for the creative writer or artist. If you have ever felt that your work just doesn't fit the standard model of F+SF genre, you need to look into this event.
In another article on this blog, I have written about the importance of making work that speaks to one's authentic experience as an artist and to not just make work to fit an industry. This is a more difficult road, of course, and one that is ultimately more rewarding. Making work to fit what one thinks the industry wants, just to make money and without any regard to one's own inner voice dilutes the message and we end up with a resented, hollow career. Instead, we can and should make the work that best represents us and our "voice", and allow the industry make room for it. Those interested in hiring us for the unique thing that we offer will find us. That said, those of us making work "on the margins" sometimes find a guard posted at the door: the mainstream publishing industry and its marketed demographic actively polices its aesthetic, indirectly silencing that which doesn't quite fit into the box.
So, conundrum. Where can the non-standard creative go to find community and like-minded people who support them spiritually? Where can we go to find the publishing industry heads who make things happen and can offer economic opportunities that are in alignment with our ethics and aesthetic values? Where can we find other creatives with whom to collaborate on serious imaginative projects? Look no further, WisCon is the place.
Capped at 1000 members, WisCon is a small conference. And $40 is a cheap attendance fee, but the con is run entirely by volunteers, all of whom *are* the members. The conference is a
writer's conference, and as such, the 80-or-so discussion panels and seminars offered by academics and professionals in the genre over the course of four days are geared towards writers and other literary types, academics, and enthusiasts. The intense atmosphere and sparklingly erudite content delivered was most definitely worth the forty bucks.
Do I hear you mumbling under your breath and wringing your hands? What? The word
feminist in the title? Pfft. Fear not, for there are plenty of dudes in attendance; they have their offspring strapped onto them just like their female counterparts do. All this means is that the people who enjoy what WisCon has to offer understand that to be a feminist simply means to liberated from society's tired old misogynistic, racist stereotypes and egregiously harmful ideas. People there are happy to mingle with and appreciate all kinds of people-- young and old, with or without kids, brown, blue or green hair, tats, kilts, khakis, gays and lesbians, cisgender and transgender folks, steampunkers and superheroes. There are believers side by side with non-believers (the majority, actually) all gleefully discussing such things as the time-shift merits of the series,
Fringe, or the consent issues Octavia Butler raises in her
Xenogenesis Trilogy --and any other cultural offerings that address class, race, gender, identity, sexual orientation, age, environmental responsibility, and differing abilities.
Did I mention kids? Yes, people can bring their kids to the conference. Children have their own age-appropriate programming in separate suites with experienced facilitators so that member parents can attend the day programming. Other events include: an opening dessert party, a book dealers / publishers' ballroom, a bake sale, a clothing swap, an Art Show, a closing banquet, the
Genderfloomp dance party, and much much more.
The beauty of the conference is that it is a place whereby feminist writers and academics who love the genre can foster and cultivate the next generation of writers (and artists). Those who love the genre purely from a reader's point of view can rub elbows with them and discuss the issues about which they care deeply. Through the seminars, creatives are encouraged and reminded to think of their privileged role as having the potential to influence culture, to create a whole new society of ethical and responsible people through stories and imagined places.The seminars suggest ways for creatives to marry their ethics to their aesthetics and to build a genre that fits them and is inclusive. Therefore, the overarching intent of the conference is not just to celebrate the beauty and strangeness -- and difference-- within the F+SF world, but to dream other, better possibilities into existence.
