Writer Guest of Honor: Ken Liu
Photo © Lisa Tang Liu, used by permission.
Ken Liu is an author and translator of speculative fiction, as well as a lawyer and programmer. A winner of the Nebula, Hugo, and World Fantasy awards, he has been published in The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, Asimov’s, Analog, Clarkesworld, Lightspeed, and Strange Horizons, among other places. Ken’s debut novel, The Grace of Kings (2015), is the first volume in a silkpunk epic fantasy series, The Dandelion Dynasty. It won the Locus Best First Novel Award and was a Nebula finalist. He subsequently published the second volume in the series, The Wall of Storms(2016) as well as a collection of short stories, The Paper Menagerie and Other Stories (2016).
In addition to his original fiction, Ken is also the translator of numerous literary and genre works from Chinese to English. His translation of The Three-Body Problem, by Liu Cixin, won the Hugo Award for Best Novel in 2015, the first translated novel ever to receive that honor. He also translated the third volume in Liu Cixin’s series, Death’s End (2016) and edited the first English-language anthology of contemporary Chinese science fiction, Invisible Planets (2016).
He lives with his family near Boston, Massachusetts.
Artist Guest of Honor: Galen Dara
Photo courtesy of Galen Dara.
Galen Dara likes monsters, mystics, dead things and extremely ripe apricots. She won the 2016 World Fantasy Award for Best Artist and has been nominated for the Hugo Award, the Locus Award, and the Chelsey Award. Her clients include Escape Artists Inc., Skyscape Publishing, Fantasy Flight Games, Uncanny Magazine, 47North Publishing, Fireside Magazine, Lightspeed Magazine, and Tyche Books.
When she’s not making art you can find her at the edge of the Sonoran Desert climbing mountains and hanging out with a friendly conglomeration of humans and animals.
You can follow her on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.
[Text borrowed from Galen Dara’s website.]
Science Guest of Honor: Mathew Wedel
Courtesy of Mathew Wedel
Mathew Wedel is a vertebrate paleontologist. His main areas of interest are sauropod dinosaurs and the evolution of pneumatic (air-filled) bones in dinosaurs and birds. He is also interested in the evolution of heads and necks in vertebrates, and in the nervous systems of very large animals.
He has been fortunate to coauthor three papers naming new dinosaurs: the sauropods Sauroposeidon (2000) and Brontomerus (2011), and the early horned dinosaur Aquilops (2014). He is currently an associate professor at Western University of Health Sciences in Pomona, California, where he teaches gross anatomy. In 2016 his book, The Sauropod Dinosaurs: Life in the Age of Giants, with artist and lead author Mark Hallett, was published by Johns Hopkins University Press.
In his spare time he enjoys stargazing. He writes the monthly “Binocular Highlights” column and the occasional feature article for Sky & Telescope magazine.
Guest of Honor Banquet
Please join us for the 2018 Guests of Honor Banquet. For $80, you will share a special meal with one of our Guests of Honor and six others in a relaxed, conversational setting. You’ll also enjoy learning more about Norwescon’s community outreach initiatives. Special swag will be available as well.
More InfoSpotlight Publisher: Green Ronin Publishing
Courtesy Green Ronin Publishing
Green Ronin Publishing is a Seattle-based company dedicated to the art of great games. Since the year 2000, Green Ronin has established a reputation for quality and innovation that is second to none, publishing such roleplaying game hits as Dragon Age, A Song of Ice and Fire Roleplaying, and Mutants & Masterminds, and winning over 40 awards for excellence. For an unprecedented three years running, Green Ronin won the prestigious GenCon EN World Award for Best Publisher.
Green Ronin will be represented at Norwescon 41 by Nicole Lindroos and Chris Pramas.
Nicole Lindroos
Courtesy Green Ronin Publishing
Nicole Lindroos entered the tabletop game industry in 1989. She was a founding member of White Wolf, contributor to Vampire: The Masquerade, cofounded Adventures Unlimited magazine, and served on the board of the Game Manufacturers Association and as the chair of the Academy of Adventure Gaming Art and Design. Nicole also served the Origin Awards as a volunteer for the advisory committee and as chair. Currently, she sits on the industry insider advisory panel for Gen Con and has been an active freelancer for large and small companies alike. Since 2000, she has been co-owner and general manager of Green Ronin Publishing. Her recent projects include contributions to the Dragon Age Tabletop Roleplaying Game, Titansgrave: Ashes of Valakana, and she is the strategic manager for Green Ronin’s Lost Citadel roleplaying project.
Chris Pramas
Courtesy Green Ronin Publishing
Chris Pramas is an award-winning game designer, writer, and publisher. He is best known as the designer of the Dragon Age RPG, Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay, 2nd Edition, and as the founder and president of Green Ronin Publishing. He has been a creative director at Wizards of the Coast and Flying Lab Software, and a lead writer at Vigil Games. Green Ronin continues to thrive under his leadership, publishing roleplaying games like Mutants & Masterminds, Blue Rose, and A Song of Ice and Fire Roleplaying. His recent work includes Elf Warfare from Osprey Publishing and the Fantasy AGE RPG from Green Ronin.
Do you have suggestions for people you’d like to see as future Norwescon Guests of Honor? We’d love to hear from you about who you’d like us to invite. You can check out the guidelines we use on our FAQ page, and at any time during the year, you can contact our Guest of Honor Committee to send in your suggestions!