Posted by jukkahoo
Let's say you'd be organising a science fiction/fantasy/horror convention. Pretend you are, this is purely hypotetical. And you'd have some Guests of Honours ready. Let's make them all male. And let's pretend that in order to give your con some sort of aspect of gender equality, you'd want to add a Guest (or two) that are female. Who'd be on top of your list?
And let's continue this game furthermore: say you'd be organising this con in Finland and you'd be advised not to bring back old GoH's. New would be the idea, not necessarily age-wise. And one more thing: in order to keep a well balanced budget, that GoH (or two) would have to be either European or already in Europe for reasonably priced travel expenses.
Now, in this completely hypotetical situation, who would You choose?
I'm now off to Hämeenlinna.
First picking people you want to meet and then adding a woman isn't gender equality. But I know that's not what you meant.
Liz Williams is the first one that comes to mind. Which isn't a surprise (it would be if you hadn't already considered her). I'd like to see Pat Cadigan at a Finnish convention some day -- that lady has lots to say and can say it in an extremely witty and entertaining manner. Susanna Clarke might make for a nice GoH (and of course as an added bonus you would bring her hubby too).
There are tons of others I'm sure, but these were the first off the top of my head.
Posted by: Tero | February 23, 2008 at 13:00
Arthur C.?
(Joo, oli pakko. Sori. Tää tulee toistumaan).
Posted by: Veriveli | February 23, 2008 at 14:47
Mary Gentle?
Posted by: Marko | February 23, 2008 at 15:04
Cornelia Funke unfortunately lives in the states, but might just be in Europe for a junket or something?
And Susan Cooper is over seventy...
So crap ideas from me.
Posted by: Mekku | February 23, 2008 at 21:52
Diana Wynne Jones, of course!
Posted by: jovain | February 23, 2008 at 23:21
How about Robin McKinley (web at http://www.robinmckinley.com/ and blog at http://robinmckinley.livejournal.com/)?
Susanna Clarke of course has the benefit of already having been translated to Finnish.
Posted by: Ben | February 24, 2008 at 12:32
Mary Gentle, Marta Randall or Kelly Link. I can´t remember if anyone of these have ever been to Finland.
Posted by: Kenneth | February 24, 2008 at 12:45
Good choices, some of them even similar that I could imagine the completely hypotetical concommittee could've already made themselves. If I'd be looking for a GoH for a convention, I might include some of these to a list of candidates.
And none of these have ever been guests at Finnish cons, Kenneth. Not even Kelly Link, who lives in the United States, nor Marta Randall, who lives in Mexico. :)
Thanks, everyone.
Posted by: jukkahoo | February 24, 2008 at 18:19
OK. I just tought about writers I would like to listen or talk too. Not where they lived. :D
Posted by: kenneth | February 25, 2008 at 08:27
Great!
Kelly Link and Mary Gentle get my vote.
IP
Posted by: ipa | February 25, 2008 at 10:45
When Americans aren't an option, the most obvious choice would of course be the great Steph Swainston!
http://www.stephswainston.co.uk/
Liz Williams might also be a good choice, but Jukka already knows that, as he has written an article about Liz for Tähtivaeltaja 3/06.
http://babeknabel.fi/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1176&Itemid=96
Posted by: Toni | February 25, 2008 at 14:05