We had a fantastic time at our SFF books outreach this weekend at Dublin Comicon, where we gave away over 2500 books to attendees, and chatted to them about fandom, the Dublin 2019 Worldcon Bid, and Irish Conventions. It was great to see so many people excited by what we were doing, and agonising over which book to pick! At the end of the weekend, we had given away every single book, but people were still wandering over to chat and find out all about us. Check out the album of photos we took, and you can also read James’ report on File 770.
One of the most important things for us was seeing the venue in action. An estimated 12000 people came through the doors over the weekend, and the CCD didn’t even break a sweat. In fact, we had staff coming over to check on us regularly, and when we asked for power at one point, they immediately opened up a floor panel and gave us access, as well as a plug terminal to use. Our panel was also handled well – despite the fact that there were literally hundreds of people ‘behind’ us, there was no sound bleed whatsoever, and we were all mic’ed up and ready to go within a minute of arriving. More reasons to get excited about this great venue…
We’d like to thank all of the volunteers and supporters who turned up to help us on the day. Their infectious enthusiasm was really conveyed to all of the people who stopped by to choose a book, and we had great fun telling everyone all about Dublin 2019 and the opportunities to attend conventions and events in Ireland. Photographs were taken by Gareth Kavanagh, Esther MacCallum-Stewart and Raissa Perez. We’d also like to thank all of the amazing cosplayers who allowed us to take their picture; there was an amazing spread of different costumes and characters represented.
Books were provided by Angry Robot, Gollancz, Hodder, O’Brien Press, Penguin Books and Tor. Forbidden Planet in Dublin donated a box of comics which were given out as prizes to anyone who asked a question in a panel – and thanks to the Pubcast for helping us out there! Books were also donated from the Estate of Irish fan Mick O’Connor, and by Michael Carroll, who came down to the table to sign books especially for us.
We’ll see you next year…
