Guests of Honor

Each Worldcon selects a small number of Guests of Honor for the ultimate recognition that the event can bestow. Each Guest of Honor is chosen for their lifetime commitment and contribution to the field. Effectively, this is the Hall of Fame for the science fiction and fantasy field - and it is filled with major names, from Asimov to Clarke and Bradbury to le Guin, as shown by this list of all Worldcon Guests of Honor.

Renovation has chosen to add four new names to this list. Each is representative in their own way of our theme of "The New Frontiers" and between them they have over one hundred and twenty years service to the field.

• Ellen Asher became the editor of the Science Fiction Book Club in February, 1973, and held that position for thirty-four years and three months. Ellen has introduced more Golden Age writers to new generations of science fiction readers than any other individual in the field.

• Charles N. Brown was involved in the science fiction field from the late 1940s and was best known as the Publisher & Editor-in-Chief of 29-time Hugo winner Locus magazine which he founded in 1968. Sadly, Charles passed away shortly after accepting our invitation. but we continue to honor him.

• Tim Powers has been writing science fiction since the early 1970s. Throughout this period he has used his lifelong love of history to imbue his fiction with a strong sense of time, place and the fantastic. His novels include The Anubis Gates, On Stranger Tides and Declare.

• Boris Vallejo has been one of the field's leading artists for over 30 years. His mastery of oil painting is immediately and abundantly clear to anyone who looks at his work, and his classic sense is as much homage to the old masters as it is to anyone working in the Fantasy genre.

Follow the links below to learn more about the uniques lives and contributions to our field of each of our Guests of Honor.

Ellen Asher

Charles N. Brown

Tim Powers

Boris Vallejo

Special Guests

In addition to the main Guests of Honor, each Worldcon typically features a small number of Special Guests and Featured Speakers. These are typically people who bring something different to the Worldcon.

Renovation has announced two Special Guests so far:

• Tricky Pixie. This trio of musicians take the listener on a musical journey ranging from Celtic rock, to haunting and bluesy a cappella numbers, to sweetly sung circus lullabies and even to roaring tribal folk songs. Renovation is delighted that Tricky Pixie will be performing a headline concert during the convention.

• Bill Willingham is one of the leading figures in comics today. A three-time Eisner Award winner, he is best known for his creation of Fables, an award-winning urban fantasy series about folkloric characters exiled from their homelands to the mundane world. Fables was nominated for the Graphic Story Hugo Award in 2009 and is again a nominee in 2010.