Science Ficition Convention Kicks Off In Riverside
A raft of prominent science fiction writers are slated to attend an upcoming UC Riverside scifi confab that begins Friday.
The 2011 Eaton Science Fiction Conference will continue through Sunday at the Mission Inn Hotel & Spa and will feature established authors in the genre from around the globe.
The conference is expected to draw hundreds of sci-fi buffs and aficionados.
“We’ve attracted almost three times as many scholars than we’ve ever hosted, and there is a greater diversity of presenters and topics,” said Melissa Conway, director of Special Collections & Archives at UCR.
Conway said she was especially thrilled that author Harlan Ellison would be headlining the event.
The 76-year-old novelist and short story writer’s works include “Approaching Oblivion” and “Stalking the Nightmare.” In the 1980s, he penned episodes for the “Twilight Zone” series.
Conference speakers will include authors Nalo Hopkinson (“The New Moon’s Arms”); China Mieville (“The City and the City”); and Karen Tei Yamashita, a literature professor at UC Santa Cruz who in 1997 published “Tropic of Orange,” combining elements of race, culture and war.
Ellison and author Samuel R. Delaney (“Dahlgren”) will each receive the Eaton Award for Lifetime Achievement. Ray Bradbury received the first Eaton lifetime achievement award in 2008.
