Hello all, and thank you! Since announcing the inaugural TriCon and opening registration, we have been so honoured by the support and enthusiasm we’ve received from the specfic writing community! We are excited to bring you all together for a weekend of enrichment, inspiration, and camaraderie.

With four months left before the big event, we already have a tonne going on. As this is our first newsletter, we’d like to start with a State of Affairs. We will follow up with a roundup of TriCon announcements, some reminders, and a little extra info that didn’t easily fit into social media If you have any questions after that, don’t be shy about directing them to triconhalifax@gmail.com! 

What IS TriCon Anyway?

Those of us who have been attending genre conventions for years think we know what a “con” is, but the form has evolved in so many directions over time that one convention is often nothing at all like another. San Diego ComiCon and Seattle WorldCon are very different events with wildly different structures, even if both are a gathering of genre fans! So what is TriCon?

TriCon is a collaborative conference intended for writers of fantasy, science fiction, horror and other speculative genres. Creators at all stages of their careers are invited to take part in three days of programming and events intended to explore, discuss, and engage in genre fiction. Our goal is to bring creators together to share their expertise and knowledge in a meaningful way. At TriCon, the attendees ARE participants, rather than fans looking to hear from their idols. 

Each day of the conference, we will host 4-5 concurrent programming items every hour and a half or so. These panels, workshops, lectures, and sessions are created and curated by the TriCon programming team, but they will be delivered, moderated, and informed by attendees. In addition, we will have con-wide games, after-hours parties, book launches, breakout opportunities, and more, so that at any time, you might attend programming, explore Halifax with friends new and old, shop at the vendor room, or participate in programming you have been scheduled for.

How does that work?

Our Programming team will be working between now and the conference to build a schedule of events and activities spanning a range of topics. If you have ideas for panels or a workshop or lecture you would like to deliver, feel free to suggest it! We have a Programming Suggestions Form here, as well as the opportunity to weigh in when you pre-register. Not every suggestion can be accommodated, but we welcome your voices during this brainstorming period!

All attendees who are interested in participating as a panelist, moderator, or presenter will be sent a link to an Expression of Interest form which will assess what topics you are best suited to represent.

Finally, we will put together a programming schedule in the spring, inviting individual attendees to speak on specific panels. We hope to be able to accommodate your interests and requests to the best of our ability, but please bear in mind that this will be an elaborate game of Tetris, and not everyone will get exactly the speaking schedule that they want. But, no fear! Even if you are not selected to be on a panel, you can always attend as an audience member. Our goal within many of these events will be to enable discussion beyond the panel.

What Kind of Programming Will We Have?

The bulk of TriCon’s sessions will be panels or symposiums: moderated discussions on topics might range from The Importance of Fanfiction to Contemporary Genre to What To Charge For That Freelance Gig; Reclaiming Space Narratives from Corporate America to Marketing Yourself for Marginalized Creators. In addition, we will have pitch and querying sessions with our attending agents, editors, and publishers, lectures from expert journalists and academics, book launches for an array of fabulous authors, ice breaker activities, after-hours parties, and more.

We already have several banner events announced on our website and social media, with many more to come in the next few weeks!

Where is This All Happening?

TriCon will take place in lovely Kjipuktuk, also known as Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada! Our official hotel is the Westin Nova Scotian at 1181 Hollis Street, where we have some of TriCon’s conference rooms. The rest of the conference rooms are situated at other locations within a very short walk of the hotel, in Halifax’s Port District. These include the headquarters of the Writers’ Federation of Nova Scotia, the Port Campus of the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design, and the stage of Trident Booksellers & Cafe! 

Don’t worry, these are closer together than they sound! This is a high-density tourist district, and the venues are mere steps from each other. If you have mobility or accessibility concerns, please reach out at triconhalifax@gmail.com. We will answer everything we can, and are eager to work with you to solve any potential issues.

Okay, this sounds great! Sign me up!

We have a number of event, pitch, vendor, and author opportunities opening to signups very soon. We will send a follow-up newsletter with many those listed out, and will announce them on our Instagram, Facebook, and Bluesky accounts. Make sure you are registered for the conference at:

TriCon: The Trident Conference for Speculative Fiction Tickets, Halifax | Eventbrite

TriCon is Atlantic Canada's literary conference for writers of speculative fiction.

See you soon!

Charlotte Ashley & the TriCon Team
https://tricon-halifax.com/