Contrariwise

Arisia's this weekend!  My schedule is tiny but delectable, like a Lady Apple:  three sweet-sharp bites.

What Makes Reading a Pleasure?
Saturday 10:00 AM
James Hailer (m), Lena G., Greer Gilman, Danny Miller, Meredith Schwartz

Fiction readers are a minority—only about one in five Americans, on average, reads for pleasure, and of those, some say they prefer non-fiction and never read novels or stories. Reading’s prime Nemesis is television (not the Internet!)—as reading goes down, television viewing goes up. What makes an avid reader so passionate about the written word? What is distinctive about the pleasure of reading—and how do we get more people (of all ages) to share in it?


Shakespeare and Fantasy
Sunday 11:30 AM
Shoshana Traum (m), Greer Gilman, Dan “Grim” Marsh, Rebecca Maxfield, Anne E.G. Nydam

Let’s talk about Shakespeare’s fantastic worlds and characters—the witches of Macbeth, the spirits and spells of The Tempest, the fairies of A Midsummer Night’s Dream, and more. We’ll share what we love about them, examine the huge range of ways they’ve been interpreted and presented, and talk about what more we want of these magical ideas in productions, adaptations, or fanfic.


Libraries of the Future
Sunday, 2:30 PM
Cate Schneiderman (m), Michael A. Burstein, Greer Gilman, Danny Miller, Meredith Schwartz

SF predicted ebooks and electronic media many decades ago. Along with the vision of a paperless future came the occasional view of a futuristic library with no books, and often only AI or holographic librarians. In 2020, libraries still have books (and librarians), but they’re circulating increasing numbers of ebooks, audiobooks, DVDs and other media. What is the greatest value libraries have to offer, and what will they look like fifty or a hundred years from now?

Looking forward to hearing lots of panels and sings!

Nine