Monday brings our final theatrical performance of the weekend, starting with the World Premiere of A Critical Miss, written and produced just for Dublin 2019 by Tantalus Ireland. A dramatic comedy, A Critical Miss delves into the world of table-top gaming and just how much it means to those who consider co-operative storytelling one of life’s greatest joys.

Convention Guest of Honour Professor Jocelyn Bell Burnell and Special Guest Dr. Norah Patten represent two different generations of Irish women rising to success and prominence in the fields of science and technology. They discuss their experiences and assessments of where the STEM fields are today, and shine a light on where they think we are going.

George RR Martin and Parris McBride Martin look at the connections in Ireland that the Martins have fostered, encouraged and help create, and are joined by Wild Cards writer Peadar Ó Guilín and Game of Thrones Story Board artist William Simpson, moderated by Marguerite Smith.

We are also excited to bring you a performance by Dublin-born traditional singer and bouzouki player Daoirí (pronounced ‘Derry’) Farrell, who has been described by some of the biggest names in Irish folk music as one of most important singers to come out of Ireland in recent years. After a promising debut album, The First Turn, back in 2009, Daoirí spent several years studying traditional music and performance across Ireland. Daoirí has won numerous awards and his third album, A Lifetime of Happiness, was just released in February 2019.

2000 AD – The Irish Connection features Irish contributers to the science fictional anthology comic talking about their work and the historical contribution Irish creators have made to the comic. 

Aduantas presents the debut of To the Waters and the Wild. Come flying, dancing, soaring… falling….drowning…Come away O Human Child, To the Waters and the Wild…. Aduantas presents an aerial and acrobatic blurring of the human world and that other Ireland that you might have glimpsed before in a shift of the light.

Other Monday items to attend include Guest of Honour Diane Duane telling stories about her animation working days; a look at the 100th Anniversary of Alcock and Brown; Shoot for the Moon: Lunar Depictions in SFF featuring our Guest of Honour Ian McDonald; Giant Robots in Science Fiction; Really Big Telescopes featuring our Guest of Honour Jocelyn Bell Burnell; a second concert by The Library Bards; The influence of Irish music on filk; Shifts in Irish mythology across the diaspora; Women Write About War; and an autographing session with Irish author Eoin Colfer (Artemis Fowl).

Finally, all good things must come to an end, and for Dublin 2019: An Irish Worldcon, that ending will come on Monday at 4:30pm. At our Closing Ceremonies, hosted by best-selling Irish fantasy author Eoin Colfer, we will take a look back at the weekend that was, say farewell to our Guests of Honor, and get a sneak preview of what awaits us at the 2020 Worldcon, CoNZealand.

We’re kidding – that isn’t actually the end! If you can stick around, we’d love you to help volunteer with our Move Out, and then join us in the final party of the weekend, the Dead Dog Party!

See you on Monday!

The post We love Monday at Worldcon! appeared first on Dublin 2019.

How the FDF Helps Programme Participants
Part of making a fantastic Worldcon is bringing together a diverse array of people to participate in Dublin 2019’s programme. The Fantastic Dublin Fund is designed to help programme participants from marginalized communities, people of colour, people with limited financial means, or people who suffer from other barriers that would otherwise keep them from attending.

The generosity of our community is heartwarming and we will be able to assist several programme participants who would otherwise not be able to attend Dublin 2019. However, more requests have been received than we can fulfill, and we are short of being able to assist everyone who has asked for help.

How You Can Help

Make a Gift: The biggest impact you can have is to make a gift to the FDF. Even a small gift of €25.00 /$25.00 will help to make an immediate, positive impact upon the lives of creators who need financial assistance to attend. Donate to the FDF.

Spread the Word: We’d also be grateful if you could help to spread the word because we need your generosity, kindness, and participation in this special community funded project.

Deadline for Participant Requests
For programme participants who need financial assistance to attend Dublin 2019, all requests must be receive by Friday, 3 May 2019 to be considered. Assistance is dependent upon funding availability, and we may not be able to fulfill all requests. We will answer all FDF requests by Monday, 6 May 2019.

Thank you for your help and assistance.

The post The Fantastic Dublin Fund (FDF) Needs Your Help Today appeared first on Dublin 2019.

To be considered for programming, you must submit the Programme Participant Query Form no later than 6 March 2019. Filling in the form allows us to email your Programme Survey to you, which is required for consideration on panels and programming. No person shall be considered for programming without first submitting this form due to the European Union’s data privacy regulations.

Your Programme Survey is due by Friday, 15 March 2019. The Programme Survey allows us to actually place you on programme items. Without your survey, our staff is not likely to know what topics and items would be a good fit for you, which would either result in your not being placed on programme or your being placed on poorly chosen programme items. Therefore, adding key terms in the tags section as well as other interesting notes about your experience and/or programme idea suggestions will help influence our decision on whether or not to put you on programming. Only including your bio is usually not enough information for us to make informed decisions for such a complex and competitive programming process.

After we receive your Programme Survey, we will be sending your Availability Survey, which is due by Saturday, 23, March 2019. The Availability Survey will allow us to schedule your items on days and times that you are planning to be at Dublin 2019.  Please note that we need people who are available in the morning and evening hours, and the more reduced your availability, the less likely that we will be able to find a program item for you, even if we have accepted you onto programme.  Similarly, and unlike North American Worldcons, there will be a great deal of interest on Thursday and Monday, and we need people who are available on both of those days.

To help us meet these upcoming deadlines, we will be emailing a series of reminders to everyone who has requested to be on programming. Email messages sent from the Dublin 2019 Programme Team come from the sender “Programme” and the email address programme@dublin2019.com or from one of our @dublin2019.com email accounts. If you have not heard from us, please check your spam folders and/or contact us at programme@dublin2019.com with any questions.

Please note that we have already begun sending out programme acceptances, and we will begin declining programme requests in March. Everyone should receive an answer to their programme participant request by the end of May.

Thank you so much! We look forward to seeing you in Dublin.

The post Programme Survey Tips and Deadlines Coming Up appeared first on Dublin 2019.

It’s that time again! The time that people who would like to be on paneling look forward to the most. It’s the Great Worldcon 2019 Mailing!

If you have submitted a Programme Participant Query form, you should have received a survey by now. Everyone who wants one will receive a survey. Although this creates a massive amount of work for the programme team since it inevitably means that we receive far more requests than we can ever hope to fill, it is absolutely worth the extra work. The result will be a diverse, engaging, informative, talented, and world-class group of programme participants who are going to help us create the best Worldcon programme yet!

There are a few things that you should know as we begin sending out the surveys. So, we created a Top Ten List for Things You Want to Know About Programme:

1. You can’t get a survey without filling in the Programme Participant Query Form. There are NO exceptions.  One question in the form – if answered “yes”  – allows us to contact you.
2. Everyone who fills in a form will receive a Dublin 2019 Programme Survey (if you answered “yes” to the Contact question).
3. The first batch of surveys were emailed to 700+ people on Sunday, 25 November 2018.  This includes everyone who previously submitted a query form, and agreed to be contacted by Dublin 2019. (In other words, they answered “yes” to the Contact question.
4. If you were expecting a survey and you didn’t receive one, please check your Spam folder. If you don’t have a survey email anywhere in your email, you need to submit a form.
5. If you submit a form after the initial survey mailing, the next mailing will happen in a couple of weeks and will continue on a regular basis over the next few months.
6. Confirmed participants, will be sent an email officially inviting them to be on the Dublin 2019 Programme. Their name will then then be included in the next batch of confirmed participants, which go up about once a month.
7. All participant surveys are considered applications to be on programming, and all applications will be answered by Summer 2019.
8. If you don’t get invited to be on programming shortly after submitting your survey, we ask that you be patient. We have over 700+ surveys to review today with more and more coming in over the next few months. Responses will take time.
9. All programme participants are required to purchase a membership to Dublin 2019 – An Irish Worldcon. Membership purchase does not guarantee placement on programming and having a membership already purchased is not a prerequisite for placement on programming; i.e. you can purchase your membership at any time as long as they are available.
10. If you have any questions about programming, the query form, the survey, etc., please contact the Dublin 2019 Programme Team at programme@dublin2019.com.

Now, go check your email boxes (and spam filters!) and see what the Dublin Programme Fairies left for you.

Standard Information that Everyone Should Know
Dublin 2019 looks forward to hearing from you! To learn more about the Dublin 2019 Programme division, our dates, and processes, please review our Programme Q&A. We also have additional information in our Code of Conduct that we are asking all of our members to review as well.  If you have any further questions, please contact us at programme@dublin2019.com or visit us at https://dublin2019.com/programming/.

Slán go fóill.

The post Would Paneling – Programme Surveys Have Been Sent! appeared first on Dublin 2019.

November Early Confirm List

• Elizabeth Bear
• John Berlyne
• Marie Brennan
• S.A. Chakraborty
• Paul Cornell
• Jack Dann
• Lucienne Diver
• Cory Doctorow
• Scott Edelman
• Steven Erikson
• Jo Fletcher
• Sarah Gailey
• Max Gladstone
• Daryl Gregory
• Joe Haldeman
• Ju Honisch M.A.
• SL Huang
• Wataru Ishigame
• James Patrick Kelly
• Conor Kostick
• Mary Robinette Kowal
• Rebeca Kuang
• Mur Lafferty
• Yoon Ha Lee
• Paul Levinson
• Jo Lindsay Walton
• Shawna McCarthy
• Mary Anne Mohanraj
• Mari Ness
• Garth Nix
• A.J. Odasso
• Sarah Pinsker
• Lettie Prell
• Gillian Redfearn
• Karl Schroeder
• V.E. Schwab
• Brian Showers
• Robert Silverberg
• Rebecca Slitt
• Alan Smale
• Melinda Snodgrass
• Allen Steele
• Christine Taylor-Butler
• Adrian Tchaikovsky
• Lisa Tuttle
• Mary Watson
• Fran Wilde
• Sean Williams
• Terri Windling
• Navah Wolfe
• Micah Yongo
• E. Lily Yu

As always, if you would enjoy paneling at Dublin 2019, please be sure to send in your Programme Participant Query Form.  We cannot follow up with you about being on programme unless you fill in this form!

The post Would Paneling – Look Who’s Coming to Dublin 2019 appeared first on Dublin 2019.

What if we had a panel of current and former NASA employees who talk about life in space? What if we had an Irish oral storyteller recite the telling of “The Legend of Cú Chulainn” and “The Leprechaun and the Thistles”? What if … Dublin 2019 members were able to share great programme ideas BEFORE they are sitting in a programme room suggesting a panel on how to terraform Mars?

To make all this happen requires a couple of things. One: a body of ideas submitted by prospective panelists; and Two: engagement from you, the fan/attendee/panelist. The sooner the better.

Got a great idea? Not sure it’s a great idea? Send it to us anyway! Some of the most inventive panel ideas come out of brainstorming sessions where we go over ALL the ideas submitted. So please share  with us via our Idea Submission Form.

As part of that brainstorming process, the Dublin 2019 Programme Team hosted a panel at Worldcon 76 in San Jose, which also included a fun trivia session to get the creative juices flowing. We are planning to hold a similar session at Octocon in Ireland, 19-21 October 2018. To bring a little of that fun here to Would Paneling: The Dublin 2019 blog, we are sharing 3 trivia questions. (To find the answers, check below.)

Dublin 2019 Programme Trivia!

• Question 1: Which famous fictional mad scientist was imprisoned in Ireland after being framed for murder?
• Question 2: The opening scenes of which Star Trek novel take place in the Wicklow mountains in Ireland?
• Question 3: Name The Irish member of the X-Men.

Now that you are thinking creatively about fun programme topics and trivia, unleash your ideas and share them with us!

Please note that due to the nature of programming 600-800 programme ideas and managing the schedules of 500+ people, programme ideas used may be altered to fit the overall needs of the programme. Thank you so much for your help! We look forward to hearing your ideas!

As always, if you would enjoy paneling at Dublin 2019, please be sure to send in your Programme Participant Query Form.  We cannot follow up with you about being on programme unless you fill in this form!

Trivia Answers:

1. Victor Frankenstein
2. Spock’s World by Diane Duane
3. Banshee

The post Would Paneling – The Programme Blog: Bringing Your Ideas to Dublin 2019 appeared first on Dublin 2019.

So, Really, What’s All this About GDPR?
GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation) is a new European Union data privacy law, which requires us to have proof that you gave us your consent to have your data in our system, even if we entered your data before the law went into effect 25 May 2018. Since every Worldcon is an independently incorporated entity, Dublin 2019’s programme team has to build our programming database from scratch. Even if you were a member and/or participant of a previous Worldcon, you have no relationship with Dublin 2019.

We are not allowed to email you from our programme database unless you fill out our Programme Participant Query Form. It is designed to collect your contact information, your consent to be contacted in the future, and some optional data. This is NOT our programme survey, which contains more detailed information, like availability, programme topics, and accessibility questions. It is simply the mechanism with which we can collect your consent to send you a programme survey in the future…and we will send a survey to everyone who requests one. So, when we say everyone who is interested in being considered for a spot on Dublin 2019’s programme has to complete this form, we mean everyone, whether your name is George R.R. Martin or Charlaine Harris (who both filled in their forms. Thanks, George and Charlaine!!!).

Dublin 2019’s Programme Team is Coming to Worldcon 76 in San Jose
This is it! This is your chance to meet some of our programme team, give us live and in-person programme ideas, and to win some fun swag! (And it’s very cool swag! … and there might be chocolate! I’m not supposed to say anything since the prizes are supposed to be sur“prizes!” So, shhhh….!)

Join us at our special programme panel at Worldcon 76!

Dublin 2019 Programme Pitches
[Sunday, 19 August, 2018 from 4:00-5:00 p.m.]
Dublin 2019’s Programme Team is here and they want to hear from you. What’s the wildest and wackiest thing you’ve never seen and would like to have as a panel at Dublin 2019? What clever and cool idea do you have to share? You have an opportunity to pitch your ideas to the Dublin Dragons. Plus, there will be trivia for added fun!  Prizes and swag will be handed out.
Ian Stockdale (M), Brian Nisbet, Sara Felix, Elizabeth McCarty, Marguerite Smith

Standard Information that Everyone Should Know
Dublin 2019 looks forward to hearing from you! To learn more about the Dublin 2019 Programme division, our dates, and processes, please review our Programme Q&A. We also have additional information in our Code of Conduct that we are asking all of our members to review as well.  If you have any further questions, please contact us at programme@dublin2019.com or visit us at https://dublin2019.com/programming/

The post Would Paneling – The Programme Blog: GDPR, Prizes, and More! appeared first on Dublin 2019.