A date for your diaries
Two of the questions we've been asked most often over the past couple of years - usually in tones of deep sadness or anxiety - are: "What happened to UnConvention? Are you ever going to do another one?"
UnConvention, for those readers who have never attended, is a weekend get-together in which we assemble some of the best and most exciting fortean researchers from around the world for two days of talks, demonstrations, workshops, exhibitions and performances. Perhaps more importantly, it's a chance to meet fellow forteans in a social environment, an opportunity to catch up, swap news and discuss ideas - often over a few drinks, if past years are anything to go by.
We understand the disappointment people suffer when they don't get their annual fix - although our fellow forteans at the Centre for Fortean Zoology and Newcastle's Centre for Life have done their bit to plug the gap left by UnCon in recent years with their crypto-themed Weird Weekend and Monster Weekend. By way of explanation, various periods of change at our publishers and the difficulties involved with finding a suitable venue for an event the size of UnCon have conspired to make it an occasional rather than annual event of late, with the most recent one taking place in the distant days of May 2006. So, after what we believe, regretfully, is the longest ever hiatus between UnConventions, we're overjoyed to be able to announce that we're back!
UnConvention 2008 will definitely be happening, although we don't yet have full details to give you. It will be a London-based event taking place in the autumn,
most likely over the weekend of 1-2 November, so we suggest you pencil this into your diaries, turn down invitations to any school reunions, second cousins' weddings, beer festivals and other less pressing social events that might happen to clash with this one, and get ready for a weekend of fortean fun. The other good news - for all those who complained about the venue of the previous two UnCons - is that, this year, there will be a bar!
Obviously, at this stage, we don't have a line-up to announce - keep an eye on future issues of FT and the website for further announcements - but we'd like you to get involved.
UnConvention is your event, so we'd like to know who, and what, you'd most like to see appearing at it. Do you have favourite speakers you'd like to see return? Or new ones you think would enliven the UnCon stage? Are there particular themes or topics you'd like to see covered this year, or areas we've neglected in the past? Should we hold more hands-on, workshop-type events? Or host more films, live performances and exhibits? Perhaps you'd even like to deliver a talk or a workshop yourself...
We'd like to know what you think and get you involved in creating the programme for this year's event, so get in touch. You can email suggestions to us - with a subject line of '
UnCon 2008' - at
[email protected], drop us a line at the office address shown at left or post your thoughts on the Fortean Times message board at
http://www.forteantimes.com, where there will be a special thread for UnCon 2008 suggestions.