Have you caught the recent announcements for the special guests who will be attending Glasgow 2024, A Worldcon For Our Futures? We’re thrilled to welcome the following talented individuals to the 82nd World Science Fiction Convention, along with our Guests of Honour. Make sure you check out their special guest feature pages (linked below) for more information and to connect online!
Samantha Béart (she/they) is a BAFTA and DICE nominated, GANG Award-winning actor. They are best known for their role as Karlach in Baldur’s Gate 3 (Larian Studios). They are also a member of this year’s BAFTA Breakthrough cohort, the first actor to enter the scheme on a video game, The Excavation of Hob’s Barrow (Wadjet Eye Games/Cloak and Dagger Games). Samantha is also the creator and host of “It Takes A Village”, a streaming chat show on Twitch featuring a live audience Q&A. The show is an attempt to shine a spotlight on those who are so often overlooked – the people who make our games – on themes of collaboration and community. VODs can be found on Samantha’s YouTube Channel. Most recently they co-hosted the “Future Games Show: Spring Showcase”.
Read more about Samantha: https://glasgow2024.org/whos-coming/special-guests/samantha-beart/
Dr Meganne Christian FRAeS (she/her) is Reserve Astronaut / Exploration Commercialisation Lead at the UK Space Agency, developing strategy on human and robotic spaceflight in the post-ISS landscape.
In November 2022, she became a member of the ESA astronaut reserve, one of only 17 candidates selected from a pool of more than 22,500 applicants across Europe. Dr Christian holds a Bachelor of Engineering and a PhD in Industrial Chemistry from the University of New South Wales. From 2014 to 2023, she was a materials science researcher at the National Research Council of Italy and took two parabolic flight campaigns to test graphene coatings for thermal management in satellites.
Dr Christian has also undertaken two missions, including as a winter-over scientist, to the Concordia station in Antarctica, where she was a research scientist in charge of atmospheric physics and meteorology.
“I love science fiction, so I’m looking forward to soaking up the atmosphere with fellow fans and of course finding out the winners of this year’s Hugo Awards,” says Dr Christian.
Read more about Dr Christian: https://glasgow2024.org/whos-coming/special-guests/dr-meganne-christian/
Tanya DePass (she/her) is a Hugo Nominated Editor (for Fireside Magazine), award-winning games content creator and developer, and creator of the Into the Mother Lands RPG.
Tanya is a lifelong Chicagoan who loves everything about gaming and wants to make the industry better and more inclusive for everyone. She is the founder and Director of I Need Diverse Games, a not-for-profit organization dedicated to better diversification of all aspects of gaming. She was part of the Rivals of Waterdeep actual play stream from its inception, and is the creator and Creative Director of Into the Mother Lands, a new sci fi afro-futurist RPG developed with a team of all POC and Black creators. Tanya often writes and speaks on issues of diversity, feminism, race, intersectionality & other topics online, at conventions and as a public speaker.Read more about Tanya: https://glasgow2024.org/whos-coming/special-guests/tanya-depass/
Professor Catherine Heymans (she/her), the Astronomer Royal for Scotland, will be appearing online as a Special Guest at this year’s Worldcon. As Professor of Observational Cosmology at the University of Edinburgh and Director of the GCCL Institute at the Ruhr University Bochum, Germany, Catherine specialises in observing the dark side of our Universe using deep sky observations to test whether we need to go beyond Einstein with our current theory of gravity.
Catherine is currently part of a large international team preparing for first light at the Vera Rubin Observatory in Chile. As one of the largest telescopes in the world, Rubin will create the first movie of our Universe, looking for anything that moves in order to locate potential killer asteroids that could one day obliterate planet Earth! Catherine is certainly hoping that we won’t find any evidence for that future doomsday scenario, with her true passion lying in the by-product of this search: the deepest widest view of the cosmos, the ultimate data set to unveil the origin of the mysterious dark energy that permeates our Universe.
Catherine’s recent two-year long battle with Long Covid and her passion to nevertheless continue her scientific research featured in a widely-shared Long Read article and podcast in the Guardian. Before the pandemic, Catherine appeared at music, art, philosophy, comedy, TED-x and science festivals. Worldcon will be the first time she returns to “the stage” since falling ill, made possible thanks to the full online access offered by Glasgow 2024.
Looking forward to her appearance, Catherine said “I’ve always loved the way that science fiction influences and drives scientists to think even bigger, and how scientists in turn inspire sci-fi writers to create and innovate new big dreams. Our communities spark off each other and I’m really looking forward to being part of the sparkle in Glasgow this summer!”
Read more about Professor Heymans: https://glasgow2024.org/whos-coming/special-guests/catherine-heymans/
(T.L.) Tendai Huchu (he/him) is a Zimbabwean-born author and long-time Edinburgh resident. Following critically acclaimed first novel “The Hairdresser of Harare” (2010), T.L. Huchu’s genre and mainstream fiction has been widely published and awarded. A long-time resident of Edinburgh, his main genre project at present is the Edinburgh Nightsseries, set in a dystopian futuristic fantasy version of the city. The first three books (“The Library of the Dead”, “Our Lady of Mysterious Ailments”, and “The Mystery at Dunvegan Castle”) are in print now, with book four, “The Legacy of Arniston Hall”, due in October 2024.
Read more about Tendai: https://glasgow2024.org/whos-coming/special-guests/tendai-huchu/
Three Black Halflings comprise Olivia “Liv” Kennedy (she/her), Jeremy Cobb (he/him), and Jasper William Cartwright (he/him): nerdy friends with strong opinions and even stronger Charisma scores. Their weekly podcast is on a continuing quest to explore diversity and roll for melanin in the world of TTRPG, and has been described as “a joyful, creative, and chaotic celebration of gamer culture that puts the Black and BIPOC experience front and centre.”
Three Black Halflings won the Best Podcast Award at the inaugural CRIT (Creator Recognition in TTRPG) Awards in 2023. Liv, Jeremy and Jasper are currently excited to be preparing for their first ever live shows, taking place in Manchester and London in April 2024.
Check out Progress Report 4 for an in-depth interview with the Halflings by Ed Fortune.Read more about Three Black Halflings: https://glasgow2024.org/whos-coming/special-guests/three-black-halflings/
The 82nd Worldcon will take place in Glasgow, August 8–12, 2024. We can’t wait to welcome you to Glasgow and the SEC/Armadillo for a Worldcon for Our Futures.