Guests of Honor

Writer Guest of Honor: Mary Robinette Kowal

Mary Robinette Kowal is the author of historical fantasy novels: The Glamourist Histories series and Ghost Talkers. She has received the Campbell Award for Best New Writer, three Hugo awards, the RT Reviews award for Best Fantasy Novel, and has been nominated for the Hugo, Nebula, and Locus awards. Her stories appear in Asimov’s, Clarkesworld, and several Year’s Best anthologies. Mary Robinette, a professional puppeteer, also performs as a voice actor (SAG/AFTRA), recording fiction for authors including Seanan McGuire, Cory Doctorow, and John Scalzi. She lives in Chicago with her husband Rob and over a dozen manual typewriters.

Artist Guest of Honor: Tran Nguyen

TRAN NGUYEN is an award-winning illustrator, gallery artist & muralist. At the age of three, she and her family were given the opportunity to immigrate to the States, escaping their impoverished life in Vietnam. Growing up in a more developed country, she was able to pursue her passion for the arts and is currently working as a freelance artist.

Tran’s paintings are created with a soft, delicate quality using colored pencil and acrylic on paper. She creates illustrations for magazines, book covers, wine and beer labels, film, animation, as well as other advertising assets. She has worked for clients such as VH1, Tiger Beer, World Wildlife Fund, and has showcased with galleries across the world.

[Text borrowed from Tran Nugyen’s website.]

Science Guest of Honor: Dan Koboldt

Dan Koboldt is a genetics researcher and fantasy/science fiction author from the Midwest. He is the author of the Gateway to Alissia series (Harper Voyager) about a Las Vegas magician who infiltrates a medieval world. He is also the editor of Putting the Science in Fiction, (Writers Digest, 2018), a reference book that aims to help writers craft more realistic stories, and the creator of The Triangle, a sci-fi adventure serial (Serial Box, April 2019).

Dan works at the Institute for Genomic Medicine at Nationwide Children’s Hospital, where he and his colleagues use next-generation DNA sequencing technologies to uncover the genetic basis of pediatric diseases. He has co-authored more than 70 publications in Nature, Science, The New England Journal of Medicine, and other scientific journals.

Dan is also an avid hunter and outdoorsman. Every fall, he disappears into the woods to pursue whitetail deer with bow and arrow. He lives with his wife and three children in Ohio, where the deer take their revenge by eating all of the plants in his backyard.

[Text borrowed from Dan Koboldt’s website.]

Special Guest of Honor: Nancy Pearl

Nancy Pearl regularly speaks about the importance and pleasure of reading at libraries, literacy organizations, and community groups around the world. She can be found on NPR’s Morning Edition and KWGS-FM in Tulsa, Oklahoma talking about her favorite books. Her monthly television show on the Seattle Channel, Book Lust with Nancy Pearl, features interviews with authors, poets, and other literary figures.

Among her many honors are the 2011 Librarian of the Year Award from Library Journal and the 2011 Lifetime Achievement Award from the Pacific Northwest Booksellers Association. Nancy is the creator of the internationally recognized program If All of Seattle Read the Same Book, and was the inspiration for the Archee McPhee “Librarian Action Figure.”

Nancy is a best-selling author, librarian, and literary critic, but first and foremost, she is a reader and has spent her life promoting reading as one of the most beneficial and joyful experiences anyone can have.

[Text borrowed from Nancy Pearl’s website.]

Honored Professional: Neil Clarke

Neil Clarke is best known as the editor and publisher of the Hugo and World Fantasy Award-winning Clarkesworld Magazine. Launched in October 2006, the online magazine has been a finalist for the Hugo Award for Best Semiprozine four times (winning three times), the World Fantasy Award four times (winning once), and the British Fantasy Award once (winning once). Neil is also a six-time finalist for the Hugo Award for Best Editor-Short Form and two-time winner of the Chesley Award for Best Art Director. In the twelve years since Clarkesworld Magazine launched, numerous stories that he has published have been nominated for or won the Hugo, Nebula, World Fantasy, Sturgeon, Locus, BSFA, Shirley Jackson, WSFA Small Press, and Stoker Awards.

In 2012, Neil suffered a near-fatal heart attack while attending Readercon in Burlington, MA. The damage sustained in this incident later required that he undergo surgery for the implantation of a defibrillator. These events inspired both Upgraded, his 2014 cyborg anthology and his 2017 jump from his day job to become a full-time editor.

Additionally, Neil edits Forever—a digital-only, reprint science fiction magazine he launched in 2015—and The SFWA Bulletin—a non-fiction periodical published by the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America. His anthologies include: Upgraded, Galactic Empires, Touchable Unreality, More Human than Human, The Final Frontier, and the Best Science Fiction of the Year series. His next anthology, Not One of Us, will be published in November and will be followed by The Eagle has Landed in July 2019.

He currently lives in New Jersey with his wife and two sons.

Spotlight Publisher: Subterranean Press

Subterranean Press creates readable art, publishing luxurious specialty, limited editions and groundbreaking original works in the science fiction, fantasy, and horror genre. Subterranean works with a wide range of authors, from cult favorites to some of the bestselling and most acclaimed authors in the world.

Based in Burton, Michigan, Subterranean issues approximately 45 titles each year. Since it began in 1995, both the publisher and numerous works it has produced have been honored with accolades including the World Fantasy, Locus, Horror Writers Association, and Hugo awards.

Among the authors Subterranean has worked with are Stephen King, Ann Leckie, Kelley Armstrong, John Scalzi, Joe R. Lansdale, Caitlín R. Kiernan, China Miéville, and many more.

Subterranean Press will be represented by Yanni Kuznia.

[Text borrowed from the Subterranean Press website.]

Yanni Kuznia

Yanni Kuznia is the COO and Managing Editor of Subterranean Press. Subterranean Press creates readable art, publishing luxurious specialty, limited editions and groundbreaking original works in the science fiction, fantasy, and horror genre. Subterranean works with a wide range of authors, from cult favorites to some of the bestselling and most acclaimed authors in the world. Based in Burton, Michigan, Subterranean issues approximately 45 titles each year. Since it began in 1995,  publisher and numerous works it has produced have been honored with accolades including the World Fantasy, Locus, Horror Writers Association, and Hugo awards.

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!