Tag Archives: history

Past WisCons

WisCon Date Location Guests of Honor Chair(s)
1 February 11-13, 1977 Wisconsin Center Katherine MacLean, Amanda Bankier Jan Bogstad and Doug Price
2 February 17-19. 1978 Wisconsin Center Vonda N. McIntyre, Susan Wood Jan Bogstad
3 February 2-4, 1979 Wisconsin Center Suzy McKee Charnas, John Varley, Gina Clarke Jan Bogstad
4 March 7-9, 1980 Wisconsin Center Joan D. Vinge, Octavia E. Butler, David Hartwell, Beverly DeWeese Jan Bogstad
5 March 6-8, 1981 Wisconsin Center/Madison Inn Chelsea Quinn Yarbro, Don & Elsie Wollheim, Buck & Juanita Coulson, Catherine McClenahan, Steven Vincent Johnson Diane Martin & Karen Jones
6 March 5-7, 1982 Inn on the Park Terry Carr, Suzette Haden Elgin Hank Luttrell & Georgie Schnobrich
7 March 4-7, 1983 Inn on the Park Marta Randall, Lee Killough Diane Martin
8 February 24-26, 1984 Concourse Hotel Elizabeth A. Lynn, Jessica Amanda Salmonson Peter Theron
9 February 22-24, 1985 Concourse Hotel Lisa Tuttle, Alicia Austin Richard S. Russell
10 February 21-23, 1986 Concourse Hotel Chelsea Quinn Yarbro, Suzette Haden Elgin Andrew P. Hooper
11 February 20-22, 1987 Concourse Hotel Connie Willis, Samuel Delany, Carol Avedon Carrie Root
12 February 19-21, 1988 Holiday Inn Southeast R.A. MacAvoy, George R.R. Martin, Stu Shiffman Pete Winz
13 February 17-19, 1989 Holiday Inn Southeast Gardner Dozois, Pat Cadigan Hope Kiefer
14 March 9-11, 1990 Holiday Inn Southeast Iain Banks, Emma Bull Kim Nash
15 March 1-3, 1991 Holiday Inn Southeast Pat Murphy, Pamela Sargent Kim Nash
The Tiptree Award, now the Otherwise Award was announced at WisCon 15.
16 March 6-7, 1992 Holiday Inn Southeast Howard Waldrop, Trina Robbins Kim Nash
Tiptree (now Otherwise Award) winners: Eleanor Arnason, Gwyneth Jones
17 March 5-7, 1993 Concourse Hotel Kristine Kathryn Rusch, Lois McMaster Bujold Lorelei Manney
Otherwise Award winner: Maureen McHugh
18 March 4-6, 1994 Holiday Inn Southeast Karen Joy Fowler, Melinda Snodgrass, Jim Frenkel Matt Raw
19 May 26-29, 1995 Concourse Hotel Barbara Hambly, Sharyn McCrumb, Nicola Griffith Tracy Benton
20 May 24-27, 1996 Concourse Hotel Ursula K. Le Guin, Judith Merril Jeanne Gomoll
Otherwise Award winners: Theodore Roszak, Elizabeth Hand (not present)
21 May 23-26, 1997 Concourse Hotel Melissa Scott, Susanna Sturgis Diane Martin & Jim Hudson
22 May 22-25, 1998 Concourse Hotel Sheri Tepper, Delia Sherman, Ellen Kushner Thomas Havighurst
23 May 28-31, 1999 Concourse Hotel Terri Windling, Mary Doria Russell Dan Dexter
24 May 26-29, 2000 Concourse Hotel Charles de Lint, Jeanne Gomoll Kim Nash
25 May 25-28, 2001 Concourse Hotel Nancy Kress, Elisabeth Vonarburg Diane Martin
Otherwise Award winner: Molly Gloss
26 May 24-27, 2002 Concourse Hotel Nalo Hopkinson, Nina Kiriki Hoffman Jennifer White
27 May 23-26, 2003 Concourse Hotel Carol Emshwiller, China Miéville Scott Custis
Otherwise Award winners: John Kessel, M. John Harrison (not present)
28 May 28-31, 2004 Concourse Hotel Patricia McKillip, Eleanor Arnason Victor Raymond
Otherwise Award winner: Matt Ruff
29 May 27-30, 2005 Concourse Hotel Gwyneth Jones, Robin McKinley Jim Hudson
30 May 26-29, 2006 Concourse Hotel Kate Wilhelm, Jane Yolen Jeanne Gomoll, Scott Custis
Otherwise Award winner: Geoff Ryman
31 May 25-28, 2007 Concourse Hotel Kelly Link, Laurie Marks Allan Moore, Karen Moore, and Debbie Notkin
Otherwise Award winners: Shelley Jackson, Catherynne M. Valente
Special Award: Julie Phillips
32 May 23-26, 2008 Concourse Hotel L. Timmel Duchamp, Maureen McHugh Carrie Ferguson, Betsy Lundsten
Otherwise Award winner: Sarah Hall (not present)
33 May 22-25, 2009 Concourse Hotel Ellen Klages, Geoff Ryman James Hudson, Diane Martin, and Debbie Notkin
Otherwise Award winners: Nisi Shawl, Patrick Ness (not present)
34 May 28-31, 2010 Concourse Hotel Mary Anne Mohanraj, Nnedi Okorafor Kafryn Lieder, Allan Moore, and Deborah Stone
Otherwise Award winners: Greer Gilman, Fumi Yoshinaga (not present)
35 May 26-30, 2011 Concourse Hotel Nisi Shawl Piglet Evans, Joanna Lowenstein
Otherwise Award winner: Dubravka Ugresic (not present)
36 May 25-28, 2012 Concourse Hotel Andrea Hairston, Debbie Notkin Lou Hoffman, Victor Raymond, Deborah Stone
Otherwise Award winner: Andrea Hairston
37 May 24-27, 2013 Concourse Hotel Joan Slonczewski, Jo Walton Jackie Lee, Kafryn Lieder, Gretchen Treu
Otherwise Award winners: Caitlin R. Kiernan, Kiini Ibura Salaam
38 May 23-26, 2014 Concourse Hotel N.K. Jemisin, Hiromi Goto Piglet Evans, Joanna Lowenstein
Otherwise Award winner: N.A. Sulway
39 May 22-25, 2015 Concourse Hotel Alaya Dawn Johnson, Kim Stanley Robinson Mikki Kendall, Levi Sable
Otherwise Award winners: Jo Walton, Monica Byrne
40 May 27-30, 2016 Concourse Hotel Sofia Samatar, Justine Larbalestier, Nalo Hopkinson Aileen Wall, Jackie Lee
Otherwise Award winners: Eugene Fischer, Pat Schmatz
41 2017 Concourse Hotel Amal El-Mohtar, Kelly Sue DeConnick Allison Morris, Bronwyn Bjorkman
Otherwise Award winner: Anna-Marie McLemore
42 2018 Concourse Hotel Tananarive Due, Saladin Ahmed Allison Morris, Phredd Groves
Otherwise Award winner: Virginia Bergin
43 2019 Concourse Hotel G. Willow Wilson, Charlie Jane Anders Levi Sable, Talia Day
Otherwise Award winner: Gabriela Damián Miravete
44

(WisCONline)

2020 Online Rebecca Roanhorse Ira Alexandre, Kit Stubbs
Otherwise Award winner: Akwaeke Emezi

(Unofficial)

2021 Online
Otherwise Award winner: Oghenechovwe Donald Ekpeki
45 2022 Concourse Hotel and Online Zen Cho (not attending), Yoon Ha Lee (not attending), Rebecca Roanhorse, Sheree Renée Thomas Ira Alexandre, Kit Stubbs, Aileen Wall
46 2023 Concourse Hotel and Online Rivers Solomon, Martha Wells Bronwyn Bjorkman, Ira Alexandre, Kit Stubbs, Sherry Holcomb
Otherwise Award winners: Rivers Solomon and Ryka Aoki

 

40×40: WisCon 1

Jeanne Gomoll

Janus 7 (Vol 3, No. 1 / WisCon 1 program book)
Janus 7 (Vol 3, No. 1 / WisCon 1 program book)

WisCon 1 was forty years ago. I can no longer write a chronological narrative of what happened, who did what and who said what. I’m frankly amazed that I actually recall or can find as much about that long-ago convention as I present to you here. But I have no doubt that I am forgetting what was the most important part of the convention to one or more WisCon 1 attendees, or that I am forgetting to mention people that I will be embarrassed to have neglected. Please forgive me and add your own memories!

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WisCon 1 was a winter convention, held on the weekend of February 11–12, 1977. It was actually scheduled for these risky dates ON PURPOSE, in order to avoid conflicting with the dates reserved by other established Midwest conventions. Weather was always a worry; we began saving money each year in a “blizzard fund,” for the likely event that weather would eventually force us to cancel. Luckily, we never had to cancel on account of weather or any other reason.

Before WisCon 1, most concom members had attended only one or two other conventions. We were total neos. The exceptions were Hank and Lesleigh Luttrell who were experienced and famous fans. (In years to come, Hank Luttrell would run the Dealers Room for more than 20 years, and has sold in the Dealers room for 40.) Hank and Lesleigh had run cons in Columbia, Missouri, before moving to Madison and were editors of the Hugo-nominated fanzine Starling. Hank and Lesleigh joined the other founders of the Madison SF Group, Jan Bogstad, Philip Kaveny, and Thomas Murn, and put an ad in The Badger Herald, a local student newspaper, which attracted me to the first weekly Wednesday meeting in 1975, along with John Bartelt and a few others. Hank and Lesleigh had to teach us about “zines,” and “LoCs” (Letters of Comment), and mimeography. Hank encouraged many of us to attend our first conventions — Minicon 11 and MidAmericon 1 (1976 Worldcon in Kansas City). In turn, the attendees of the first WisCon were mostly people who had read and enjoyed copies of Janus or Starling, or fans we met in St. Paul or Kansas City. There may never have been a zine called Janus or a convention called WisCon if Hank and Lesleigh hadn’t taken under their tutelage a totally inexperienced group of (mostly) college students who loved science fiction but had no knowledge of the world of fans, fanzines, and conventions.

In the mid 1970s most members of the Madison group were students at UW-Madison, and so we received assistance from the Wisconsin Student Association and from the University of Wisconsin–Extension. George Hartung of the UW–Extension generously offered his support and influence to help make the first WisCon happen. The UW-Extension provided program space at the Wisconsin Center on Langdon Street (now known as the Pyle Center). In addition, attendees booked very affordable rooms at Lowell Hall, a UW-Extension dorm facility one block away from the Wisconsin Center.

WisCon 1 honored two women as Guests of Honor — Katherine MacLean and Amanda Bankier. MacLean is best known for short fiction published in 1950s pulp magazines like Analog, Astounding SF, and Galaxy. Bankier was currently editing a wonderful fanzine, The Witch and the Chameleon, the first and only other feminist SF fanzine other than the Madison group’s Janus. TWatC’s contributors included Joanna Russ, Racoona Sheldon (aka, Alice Sheldon and James Tiptree, Jr.), Marion Zimmer Bradley, and Vonda N. McIntyre. Their speeches were inspiring and were the first of many GoH speeches that have always been WisCon highlights for me.

Janice Bogstad and Douglas Price co-chaired the first WisCon. In a record that has never been beaten by any other WisCon chair, Jan went on to chair the next three WisCons for a total of four consecutive years! A mere 16 additional concom members are listed for WisCon 1. Planning meetings happened once a week at Nick’s Bar on State Street as part of our group’s weekly meetings. Milwaukee fandom turned out en masse, filling the need for gophers that, as first time con-runners, we hadn’t clearly anticipated. If a time traveler had joined us at one of those weekly meetings and revealed our future, we would never have believed how large WisCon and its concom would grow!

The Madison Science Fiction Group was committed to a quarterly publishing schedule for its feminist SF-focused fanzine, Janus (6 issues were published between 1975-1976; Janus would be nominated for a Hugo three times, 1978, 1979, and 1980). But time got tight when the group added con-running to its to-do list, and it didn’t seem possible to meet the Spring deadline in addition to making WisCon happen, so we had a brainstorm: Janus 7 was assigned double duty as both fanzine and WisCon program book. Besides articles and bibliographies on the GoHs, the zine included book, fanzine, and film reviews related to the Guests’ work.

Both Jeanne Gomoll and Janice Bogstad had been impressed by an event that happened during the previous year’s Worldcon (MidAmericon 1). Susan Wood had struggled and succeeded in getting a single “Women and SF” panel scheduled, though the concom frankly didn’t expect many people to actually attend and therefore placed it in a tiny, out-of-the-way room. As it turned out, there was a rather huge number of people interested in it, and the 100 or so folks who had managed to squeeze into the room, or who had stood around outside the room trying to hear what was being said inside, stuck around in the lounge outside the panel room for several hours afterwards, talking with one another and networking. Victoria Vayne proposed A Women’s Apa during that extended conversation. And Jeanne and Jan began to talk about a convention where there would be more than a single “women and SF” panel. WisCon 1 programming got kickstarted in that lounge and many women left it intent on making new kinds of cons, publications, and networks.

Everyone on the first WisCon concom contributed program ideas. In fact, in the early years, there was no separate department that managed programming. Many panels were inspired by articles written for Janus and/or rehearsed in the group’s monthly public meetings. The group met weekly at Nick’s Bar on State Street; in addition, the group produced a monthly program at UW’s Union South, advertised in the campus press. Members volunteered to present (For example: “Your First Time…Reading SF” and “Will the Real James Tiptree, Jr. Please Stand Up!”); I designed flyers for these events and they were posted on campus kiosks. Many group members found one another through these events and eventually joined the concom. The best of those monthly presentations were turned into WisCon programs. For many years, the task of creating programming was shared by everyone on the committee. Most planning meetings devoted significant time to brainstorming and refining program ideas. Although I love the crowd-sourcing process used by WisCon nowadays, I sometimes miss the camaraderie of those early meetings when it felt as though we were inventing WisCon.

The WisCon 1 panel I remember working hardest on was “Alice Through the Looking Glass of Science Fiction” with Amanda Bankier, Katherine MacLean, Mary Bedami, Janice Bogstad, and me. Our idea was to try to cover various fields of knowledge and describe how changes within these fields had resulted from feminist awareness, and could be applied to the writing of science fiction. I talked about matriarchy theories being developed within anthropology. Mary Badami touched on the relationship between sexism and racism. Jan Bogstad focused on linguistics and talked about how the words we use can support or degrade an egalitarian society. Amanda Bankier pointed out that traditional psychological societies equated mental health with typical male behavior and women’s behavior with neurosis. Katherine MacLean spoke last, throwing out dozens of ideas impressing everyone with her wide-ranging and wildly imaginative mind.

Katherine MacLean had a marvelous time talking with everyone at the convention. Her passionate debate with Thomas Murn at his panel, “Contemporary Science Fiction,” in which she championed the notion that IDEA was the most important part of an SF story, was one of many discussions that spilled over into the Center’s lobby and continued long after the panel had ended.

Amanda Bankier was and, I expect, still is a very private person, and she was less comfortable than Katie with diving into conversations and debates with people she’d never met. But she belonged at WisCon. Her ideas and her contributions to the conversations were invaluable.

There were many panels and no doubt there were substantially more panels than we absolutely needed for a small, 200-person convention. But the concom had imprinted on Worldcon programming and assumed there were supposed to be too many programs for any one person to actually attend. And thus began WisCon’s tradition of packing in as many programs into a weekend as possible. Programs that year included: Doug Price’s “Can Fans Still be Fannish with Frostbitten Noses?”, Philip Kaveny’s “H.G.Wells: a Multi-Media Presentation,” Diane Martin’s “Religion & SF,” Richard West’s “The Literary Pleasures and Possibilities of Heroic Fantasy,” Greg Rihn’s “A Fantasy Upon the Theme of Education,” and Jan Bogstad’s “Political Issues in SF.” John Bartelt invited UW Physics professor Dr. Robert March to give a talk on quarks, “The Things that the Things that Atoms are Made of are Made of.” There was also an art show, a dealers’ room, and a masquerade.

In spite of its multi-track schedule, WisCon 1 (and the next few WisCons), often felt to attendees as if panels consisted of one continuing and evolving conversation. Topics that began at one panel were built upon in the next and developed in conversations in the lounge among folks who had attended other panels that intersected with similar ideas.

Hank and Lesleigh Luttrell, Philip Kaveny, and Demmie McGinley (director) created an elaborate play, Galactic Banana Dealer, for opening ceremonies. Thus began WisCon’s frequent thespian aspirations in opening ceremonies for decades to come … some good, some not so good!

Richard S. Russell ran the registration table, greeting everyone with a happy smile. He would continue in this role for 38 years. In addition, Richard’s and Diane Martin’s thematic film review column ran within the combination program book/Janus 7. Eventually Richard’s annual film review moved from print to presentation and became a regular part of WisCon programming, each year examining a common theme running through the year’s crop of SF/Fantasy films.

The convention was a mass of “firsts” for nearly everyone on the concom. James Cox ran his first art auction at WisCon 1. It was the first of many: Jim became a familiar figure at Midwest art show auctions.

The first WisCon hospitality suite occupied two connecting rooms in the UW-Extension dorm, Lowell Hall. I don’t remember how we got around the fact that entry to each floor required a room key for a room on that floor, but we did. I also recall a problem with the unfortunately excellent sound-conducting properties of Lowell Hall’s steel walls, but no police were involved and we decided to do WisCon 2 before the first had even ended, so things must have turned out all right. The con’s total attendance (around 200) was small enough that there may not have been any other parties than the one held in the consuite. I do not recall. I do remember riffing on the elaborate maps I’d seen published in worldcon program books: I drew a map of the party suite, showing the location of the trash can, TV, and other individual pieces of furniture.

Perri Corrick-West insisted that we show The Rocky Horror Picture Show as part of the film program — this was well before the movie had acquired a cult following. There was no audience participation at WisCon’s showing; the audience laughed and clapped, but did not sing along or dress in costume as would soon happen at weekly midnight showings at local art houses.

People didn’t own videotape machines in 1977, so conventions’ film programs offered welcome opportunities to see older movies. Besides Rocky Horror, that year’s film program included Metropolis, Nosferatu, Siegfried, Little Shop of Horrors, Night of the Living Dead, and Island of Lost Souls.

WisCon and Janus were, for me at that time, about discovering and examining the connection between science fiction and feminism. About erasing the embarrassment I had felt with feminist friends when I admitted that I read SF. About being proud of being a feminist among SF fans who did not think feminism should be part of the field. That connection turned from a dotted line to a fully functional and permanent bridge by the time WisCon 1 had ended. The folks I worked with on the concom, the many people I met for the first time who attended WisCon, became lifetime and lifework family, who changed my life, and I think, the science fiction community, too.

Unwilling to go home when the convention had finally ended, the whole concom, both guests of honor, and many attendees strolled over to the theater at University Square to see Wizards, which had premiered over the weekend.

Because we paid attention to political ideas, especially feminism, and because we supported women, lesbians, and gays in our program, WisCon gained a derogatory nickname from some Midwest fans. They called us “PervertCon” for a couple years. We thought the label was quite hilarious and considered using it in our advertising for WisCon 2.

I wrote a con report about WisCon 1; here is part of what I wrote: “Having once seen a convention from the peculiar vantage point of one of the con committee members, I don’t think I’ll ever go to another convention with quite the same, uh, innocence as I did before WisCon. It’s sort of like a small child who sees the world as both a very complex place (in terms of their lack of understanding of it) and, at the same time, an almost magically, effortlessly mechanized machine. Now I know about the incredible concoms who pour sweat and adrenalin into the machine of conventions and make them work. Now I’ll always be aware of the stage crew.”

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Jeanne Gomoll helped create the first WisCon concom and worked on WisCons #1 through #38, except #24 in 2000 — when she took the year off in order to better enjoy being Guest of Honor. Jeanne chaired WisCons #20 and #30 and over the years wore many hats: publications, programming, Tiptree Auction, art show, the Gathering, scholarships, and others. She has frequently served on the SF3 Board and chaired it several times. With much sadness, Jeanne resigned from both the WisCon concom and the SF3 board in 2014. Jeanne was active in fanzine fandom and nominated for three Hugos for her work as editor and artist on the Madison SF group’s feminist SF fanzine Janus; she has been honored as guest of honor at quite a few cons, including the 2014 WorldCon, Loncon 3. She is a member of the James Tiptree, Jr. Award Motherboard; she also served as a juror/chair for the 1993 Tiptree Award.

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Note:  You can view/download a PDF copy of Janus 7 / the WisCon 1 program book at the SF3 website!

WisCon — 40×40

Chris Wallish
SF3 Communications Committee

It was a dark and stormy February.  Suddenly, a shot rang out.

WisCon.

Well, maybe it wasn’t “dark and stormy” — the official WisCon record says that February of 1977 was “bitterly cold.”  I wasn’t there, so I couldn’t say.  I was, in fact, not quite five years old and living in Pennsylvania.  I didn’t even know what a Wisconsin was let alone a WisCon.

But I did know who Wonder Woman was, would shortly know what “Battlestar Galactica” was, certainly knew what “Star Trek” was.  And I know that when I (finally) discovered fandom in my 20s and learned about WisCon thanks to a friend who’d already attended once, I knew with complete clarity that WisCon was what I needed.  I wasn’t wrong — when I attended WisCon 29 it was everything I could have hoped for, everything a ‘70s kid who loved Wonder Woman and “Star Trek” could have wanted.

Now, WisCon is turning 40.  Four decades of being a home for those of us who’ve needed both science fiction and feminism!

To mark this monumental anniversary, we are kicking off a blog series — “WisCon: 40×40.”  Every week we’ll focus on a WisCon (or two), celebrating and reminiscing about this space that’s gone from being known as “PervertCon” to an institution that’s inspired so many people and has spawned a whole host of other organizations over the years.

Later today you’ll see the first post in this series, written by none other than Jeanne Gomoll, who was at WisCon 1 and has graciously written an incredible recollection of that first convention.

We are especially excited to hear memories from the WisCon community.  Please join us in comments on the blog posts in the coming months!  Think of this as a crowd-sourced history project.

Would you like to write one of the posts for a particular WisCon?  Please contact me directly at comms_chair@sf3.org.

Was WisCon a shot that rang out across ’70s fandom?  Has it been a home for you, an annual reunion of sorts?  How has WisCon and its community been inspiring for you?  Which guests of honor have particularly moved you?  What were your favorite Con Suite conversations?  Let’s count down the past 39 years together as we anticipate WisCon 40’s opening on May 27, 2016.