Minicon 57

March 29-31, Easter weekend, 2024

About Minicon

Minicon is a volunteer run, general science fiction convention held every year on Easter weekend in or near Minneapolis, Minnesota. Minicon is run by the Minnesota Science Fiction Society, or MNStF. Attendees of Minicon can expect to find a full slate of programming (panel discussions, readings, signings, etc.), costuming, films, gaming (open and organized), a teen lounge, an art show, dealers, a kids' room, a science room, filk and folk music, a consuite and bar, room parties, and various special events.

Minicon is always over Easter weekend. This year, rarely, Minicon does not overlap with Passover. Because of some disagreement in lunar calendars, Passover is a month later than Easter in 2024.

All the information!

You can now see our:

The Bozo Bus Tribune is our at-con newsletter. It had five issues at Minicon 57:

Guests

Author and Illustrator Guest of Honor: Ursula Vernon

Ursula Vernon began her SF/F career as a web comic writer, winning a Hugo Award for Best Graphic Novel in 2012. "Digger" is a wonderful story about a female wombat engineer who maintains her solid practicality in the face of magic, gods and demons. Since then, Ursula has written and illustrated a huge assortment of stories for children, from the early-reader series "Dragonbreath" to young adult novel "Castle Hangnail." She has also become an incredibly prolific writer for "older audiences," with about a dozen books written under the pen name T. Kingfisher. As Ursula Vernon or T. Kingfisher, she has won two more Hugos and a Nebula. Presumably both of them will be at the convention, since they seem to be a single person, with enough energy, sincerity, and silliness for two.

Archivist Guest of Honor: Jeremy Brett

Jeremy Brett is an Associate Librarian at Cushing Memorial Library & Archives, where he is both Processing Archivist and the Curator of the Science Fiction & Fantasy Research Collection. (He also serves as Interim Curator of the Area Studies and the Women’s and Gender Studies Collections.) He has worked at the University of Iowa, the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, the National Archives and Records Administration-Pacific Region, and the Wisconsin Historical Society. He received his MLS and his MA in History from the University of Maryland-College Park in 1999. His professional interests include science fiction, fan studies, and the intersection of libraries and social justice.

Musician Guest of Honor: Tim Griffin

Tim Griffin is a retired STEM teacher; an award-winning songwriter, performer, and storyteller; and the founding director of GriffinEd, a nonprofit team of educators and musicians creating and sharing brilliant (peer reviewed!) songs about science, math, history, and other great stuff that will no-kidding, we've-got-data, make you and your kids smarter. Tim has performed to great hilarity and edification for gatherings of the National Science Teachers' Association, NASA, AAAS, MENSA, dozens of sci-fi conventions, and a few hundred schools, libraries, and other places of learning. Come laugh and learn with songs about particle physics, marine biology, and that weird thing on your lunch tray.

Featured Japanese Scholar: Jeffrey Angles

Jeffrey Angles is a professor of Japanese literature and translation at Western Michigan University. He has a lifelong interest in Japan, and has lived and taught in Japan numerous times. He won several awards for his translations of Japanese works of literature and poetry, and also wrote Writing the Love of Boys (Minnesota, 2011), a history of the emergence of homophobia in Japan and the resulting bishonen culture. He recently published the first ever English translation of the two original Godzilla novels by Shigeru Kayama (Minnesota, 2023). He will be speaking about translating the Godzilla books and the cultural importance of Godzilla.

Who else will be at Minicon?

You! we hope. Have you registered? Have your friends? Not sure? Check The List of Members.

Bunches of former Minicon guests of honor and other professionals will be in attendance. You can also find them on The List.

Blinkie badges! And more blinkies!

We are partnering with Build-a-Blinkie this year. Our badges will be will be printed circuit boards which you can optionally solder blinkie LEDs onto!

Many other blinkies will be available to assemble at their soldering stations in the lower atrium, on the first floor, visible over the balcony from the registration desk.

Schedule

Registration will open at 10am on Friday.

Programming will begin 3pm Friday.

Our Consuite is open at all hours from midday-Friday through midday-Sunday. The Minicon Bar is open Friday, Saturday and Sunday nights.

The Art Show and Dealers' Room open 3pm Friday.

Gaming space is available at all hours, including Sunday night.