Eurocon is in Zagreb this year

The largest European SF convention, Eurocon, which takes place in a different country each year, is coming to Zagreb this year. It will take place between 26 and 29 April, together with the traditional Zagreb SF convention SFeraKon.

Between 26 and 29 April, numerous SF panels, book presentations and initiatives in the SF fandom (community of active SF fans), masquerades and meetings with some of the current bestselling SF authors will attract thousands of fans of the genre to Zagreb. All of this will take place as part of the biggest European science fiction convention, Eurocon, which will be taking place in Zagreb this year.

Eurocon is an annual convention of SF fans which takes place in a different country each year. Every host gives it its own name so the Zagreb edition will take place under the name Kontakt, and the event will unify two major happenings, the Eurocon and the traditional SF convention of Zagreb, SFeraKon, both of which are modelled after Worldcon. Significantly, both events will celebrate their 34th birthdays this year.

As far as this year’s edition goes, Kontakt has been conceived in order to promote SF literature in non-English, European languages. The programs of both events will take place in the facilities of Zagreb’s Faculty of Electrical Engineering and Computing and the nearby Hotel International.

Fans will be delighted to learn that, apart from the classic programs of SF literature presentations, there will also be an array of gaming events such as RPG, LARP, Pathfinder and many others, as well as costume-making workshops, writing workshops, entertainment programs, quizzes, book and jewellery fairs, artwork exhibitions, masquerades… Special guests will also attract attention; among them will be Tim Powers, the author whose novel was adapted for the screen into the planetary popular film Pirates of the Caribbean and Scottish author Charles Stross, who combines hard SF, Lovecraftian horror and James Bond in his novels. He is also known as a blogger who fights for rights on the Internet. Also attending the convention are Russian writer Dimitri Gluhovsky, who became famous by publishing his novel online, and Croatian comic-book artist and SF writer Darko Macan.

The main event will take place on Saturday night and it will include an award ceremony for three categories. The first award is from the European Association for Science Fiction, the second is from SFERA – for best literary works, and the third is from SFERICA, which will single out the winners of SFera’s contest for the best literary works written by children and youth on an assigned topic.

The registration fee will entitle each visitor to a collection of Croatian SF stories about the end of the world, or a collection of the best SF stories in English.