SFeraKon is the oldest and (still!) the largest SF convention in Croatia. Started 41 years ago, it has hosted Eurocon twice as well as many great writers of science fiction. This year it is happening from May 10th – 12th, at FER (Faculty of Electrical Engineering and Computing ) in Zagreb. If you’ve never been, time to buy a membership!
If you are not Croatian, and thinking of exploring European SF cons, SFeraKon is a good place to start: loads of programming, plenty of it in English (we do not translate our GoH panels and items as SF fandom in prolific in English, to the amazement of almost all of our guests over the years) and four Guests of Honour this year.
Alwyn Hamilton, the Canadian novelist with a European address, is SFeraKon’s literary Guest of Honour. Her debut YA novel Rebel of the Sands was very successful, loved among readers and librarians too (was nominated by American librarians for the Teen’s Top 10 list in 2017). Hamilton won the Goodreads Choice Award in 2016 as Best Debut Author.
John Kovalic is Art Guest of Honour, and I fully expect SFeraKon to be overrun by adoring Munchkin fans. As Kovalic is also a comic book author, I am surprised not to have heard more rumblings from the usual suspects bemoaning the fact that the Zagreb Comics Convention is on at the same time. I know him only as illustrator and suddenly feel the urge to go find some of his comics work.
Captain Ghostly Cosplay is the Cosplay Guest of Honour. The Belgian costume designer and prop maker is famous for his armor making skills and for the fact that photographs of him on his social media never show his face.
Ivica Puljak is the Science Guest of Honour. A famous Croatian physicist, professor and politician Puljak works as a professor of Physics at the Faculty of Electrical Engineering, Mechanical Engineering and Naval Architecture of University of Split and has been a member of MAGIC collaboration since 2009 and of CMS collaboration since 1994. He participated in the discovery of the Higgs boson at CERN.
Three days of diverse programming, geek fun and seeing all of my favourite people in the same place – I cannot wait!
