We are thrilled to announce that all of the Guests of Honor who were scheduled for Norwescon 43 have accepted our invitations to attend in 2021!
Writer GOH – Jacqueline Carey
Artist GOH – Sana Takeda
Science GOH – Dr. Susan Langley
Spotlight Publisher – TOR Books
Writer Guest of Honor – Jacqueline Carey
New York Times bestseller Jacqueline Carey is the author of the critically acclaimed and award-winning Kushiel’s Legacy series of historical fantasy novels, The Sundering tragedy duology, postmodern fables Santa Olivia and Saints Astray, the Agent of Helcontemporary paranormal trilogy, Shakespearean adaptation Miranda and Caliban, and the epic fantasy standalone, Starless. Jacqueline currently lives in west Michigan.
When asked if she would be our Writer GOH in 2021, she responded, “I’d be very pleased to be your Writer Guest of Honor next year, and will put it in my calendar. It would be great if of your team’s hard work and planning that went into this year wasn’t in vain. In the meantime, be safe and well!”
Because Jacqueline will be joining us in 2021, the theme will remain The Longest Night. For those of you who are not aware, in Jacqueline’s Kushiels’s Dart Legacy, there is an extravagant costume party combining New Year’s Eve and Independence Day called The Longest Night.
We had planned a Longest Night Masque Ball for Saturday night, so you can look forward to that next year. We also themed our single-pattern and prop contests around The Longest Night, for which Jacqueline has agreed to be a judge! Those details are up on our website. Now you have much more time to prepare for the contests and the ball!
Artist Guest of Honor – Sana Takeda
Sana Takeda is a British Fantasy, Eisner, and Hugo Award winning illustrator and comic book artist from Japan, known for her work on the Monstress series.
At age 20 Takeda started working as a 3D CGI designer for the Japanese video game company, SEGA. Her comic book career includes work for Image Comics, Aspen, and Boom Studios, among others. She has worked on several titles for Marvel, including X-23, X-Men, Venom, Civil War II, and Ms. Marvel. Sana lives in Tokyo, Japan.
When we asked Sana to join us in 2021 she enthusiastically replied, “Thank you so much for the lovely offer again! Yes! I would love to join you next year!!!”
We’re all looking forward to meeting Sana and seeing her work in the Norwescon Art Show!
Science Guest of Honor – Dr. Susan Langley
Susan Langley is the Maryland State Underwater Archaeologist, a post she has held for more than 25 years. She has taught at numerous universities including those in Canada, Thailand and most recently in at Salisbury University, the University of Maryland Baltimore County, and Washington College, but also at Johns Hopkins University and chiefly at St. Mary’s College of Maryland. She has edited and published in numerous volumes and journals.
She worked with Maryland’s Department of Natural Resources and Charles County to have the nearly 100 WWI-era vessels and related structures in Mallows Bay and the Potomac River designated the first new National Marine Sanctuary in more than 20 years.
She has been working with the U.S. Coast Guard since 1999 on emergency planning and response for heritage resources threatened by oil and hazmat spills.
In addition to maritime archaeology and the history and anthropology of piracy, she is a recognized authority on textiles, and beekeeping past and present.
When asked if she would be our Science GoH next year, she said, “I am delighted and honored to be asked to come to Norwescon next year!! Thank-you so very much, it will be something wonderful to look forward to doing.”
Susan will be teaching “The Archaeology of Piracy” at the University of Maryland next year and we bet we’ll be able to talk her into giving a presentation at Norwescon.
Spotlight Publisher – TOR Books
Tor Books, an imprint of Tom Doherty Associates, is a New York-based publisher of bestselling and critically acclaimed fiction in all formats. Founded in 1980, Tor publishes what is arguably the largest and most diverse line of award winning science fiction and fantasy, with its books receiving every major award in the SF and Fantasy field. Tor has been named Best Publisher 30 years in a row in the Locus Poll, the largest consumer poll in SF.
When we asked Tor if they would be our Spotlight Publisher next year, they replied a very enthusiastic, “Let’s do it!”
Tor has been wonderful to work with all year. In fact, they had already sent us books for the registration bags! We’ll keep those tucked away for you until next year.
We are in the process of inviting more guests, so keep watching the social media accounts and norwescon.org for updates!