Title: Panel Female creators, how far have we come?
Time: Sunday 11:30
Location: Mees
Description: Once upon a time, our female authors hid their identity with a male or unisex pen name so they were treated equally as men. Works created by women were taken less seriously. Finding an audience was harder for women than for men. Has this changed? Or do we still need to put these statements in the present tense? Come listen to the women who have been creating books, art, and movies for at least ten years. What has changed during their careers? Have they bridged the gap with their male colleagues and left the bias behind them, or is there still work to do?
Moderator: Kim ten Tusscher
Panelists: Bo Balder, Kathryn Sullivan, Cora Buhlert
Title: Panel Star Wars and Star Trek through the ages
Time: Sunday 9:30
Location: Penn
Description: No, this panel is not meant to be an all-out brawl to finally decide which franchise should rule all. There is plenty of room for both. Both Star Trek and Star Wars have managed to stay popular and are producing new series for the fans to enjoy. Members of both fandoms will discuss the way these franchises have managed to stay relevant and continue to find new audiences.
Moderator: Jeroen Geelhoed and Heidi van der Vloet
Panelists: fanclubs representing Star Trek and Star Wars
Title: Panel Expanding Horizons – (y)our favorite non-Western fiction
Time: Sunday 11:30
Location: Penn
Description: Diversify your to-read pile with Non-Western fantastic fiction! The fantastic genre is everywhere and bookstores offer science fiction, fantasy and horror stories from all over the world. Expand your horizon and try a book by non-Western authors from Africa, China, India and other parts of the world. To get you started, our panellists will discuss their favourite non-Western books. You’ll be sure to come out of this panel with more than enough reading tips to start a whole new to-read pile!
Moderator: Martijn Lindeboom
Panelists: Roderick Leeuwenhart, Valentin Ivanov, Joost Uitdehaag, Carolina Gomez Lagerlöf, Kat Clay
Title: Panel Follow the trope or follow your heart
Time: Sunday 13:45
Location: Penn
Description: We’re all familiar with tropes, for example ‘enemies to lovers’. Tropes make it easier to connect to a story and can be a comfort. But are they as much fun for the author as they are for the reader? Maybe an author wants to take their characters in an entirely different direction, feeling the trope brings more restriction than clarity. How does an author navigate tropes, creativity, originality and the expectations of their readers? This panel will include a range of authors to discuss the sometimes difficult decision made during the writing process: will I follow the trope or will I follow my heart?
Moderator: Arno Behrend
Panelists: Nicole Leclercq, Robert Corvus, Renske de Wolf, Jasper Fforde, ilana
Title: Panel Shipping and Fanfiction
Time: Sunday 14:45
Location: Penn
Description: Fanfiction boasts a long history where the fan writer is free to decide how the characters relate to each other. Let’s talk about our favorite ships. What type of storytelling makes for great shipping fodder: genres and formats? What can fanfiction do for our ships that the original works can’t? And we’ll discuss when shipping goes pro: our reactions to shipping tropes in books, film and TV.
Moderator: ilana
Panelists: BlueLeader, Klara Lammers, Mara van Ness
Title: Panel DIY: the ins and outs of self publishing
Time: Sunday 16:00
Location: Penn
Description: How to get your work published? This modern day and age give you many options. This panel will discuss the self-publishing option, including authors who found non-conventional ways to get their work published and to fans. They will discuss the paths they took and welcome questions from the audience.
Moderator: Cora Buhlert
Panelists: Jasper Polane, Sophia Drenth, Joost Uitdehaag
Title: Panel How it’s made: series
Time: Sunday 9:30
Location: Leeuwen
Description: Building a series is not as easy as it looks. Many books are part of a trilogy (at least) nowadays, but how often does it feel like a single book story has been dragged out to make three books? This panel will discuss how to plan and plot your series properly.
Moderator: Robin Rozendal
Panelists: Kim ten Tusscher, Adrian Stone, Nicole Leclercq, Andrzej Sapkowski, Bianca Rodriquez
Title: Panel A monster to believe in
Time: Sunday 10:30
Location: Leeuwen
Description: Every story needs an antagonist. And when it comes to horror story, that antagonist is usually some kind of monster. How do you make a monster that is both scary and believable — not to mention a species that could sustain itself in its environment? How do you prevent a monster from becoming a laughingstock? And what does it take to make that monster the unexpected favourite?
Moderator: Valentin Ivanov
Panelists: Sophia Drenth, Marieke Frankema, W.A. Thomasson, David Bamford, Joro Penchev
Title: Panel Neurodiversity – a proper representation
Time: Sunday14:45
Location: Leeuwen
Description: The world is full of varied neurodiverse experiences, and our stories should mirror this reality. But how can we write characters who process the world in a different way, and do so with care and accuracy? This panel will delve into the art of creating neurodiverse characters that are genuine and relatable, and will discuss their importance.
Moderator: Jasper Fforde
Panelists: Alexander Verbeek- van den Toren, Adrian Stone
Title: Panel YA, the bridge between child and adult
Time: Sunday 16:00
Location: Leeuwen
Description: Young adult is an ever-growing genre. It also seems to be essential in getting teenagers back into reading, with popular young adult writing sometimes selling up to millions of books. What elements make a book distinctively young adult? What makes these books so popular? And how weird is it for adults to love this genre too? This panel will include authors of YA books who can shed light on this genre that spans the gap between children’s and adult literature. And of course, we are keen to hear what our audience thinks of these massively popular books.
Moderator: Nicole Leclercq
Panelists: Renske de Wolf, Rima Orie, Kathryn Sullivan, Marieke Frankema