As readers will probably have noticed from all the coverage on Teleread, Worldcon 75 is now officially under way at the Messukeskus Expo and Convention Centre in Helsinki. I’ll be reporting live from the con from tomorrow, but already have some advance info from the Worldcon team to share. There are also videos of the convention, including the opening ceremonies, available on the Worldcon 75 YouTube channel, here.
According to the bulletin from the Worldcon 75 press team, as of the morning of August 10th, the con has already “sold over 6,100 memberships.” This should help ensure a strong voting base for the Hugo Awards. This year’s Hugo Awards presentation ceremony will take place at the Messukeskus Hall 1, commencing at 7.30 pm local time on Friday August 11th. The finalists have been posted up in many locations, with a YouTube video here, and the Awards ceremony itself is also due to be livestreamed.
For anyone who needs a refresher on Worldcon, as per the official documentation: “Founded in 1939, the World Science Fiction Convention is one of the largest international gatherings of authors, artists, editors, publishers, and fans of science fiction and fantasy. The Hugo Awards, a leading award for excellence in the fields of science fiction and fantasy, are voted on by the Worldcon membership and presented during the convention… World Science Fiction Conventions are annual gatherings of fans including writers, artists, editors, and academics. They are organized by not-for-profit groups who raise the money to run them with ticket and advertising sales, sometimes supplemented with governmental arts funding. The event moves to a different location each year, although some cities have hosted a Worldcon more than once.”
Feedback via social media from writers already at Worldcon 75 is enthusiastic to jubilant, with plenty of appreciation of Helsinki as a venue. Watch this space for more reporting of Worldcon 75 events in the days ahead.
teleread.org 