The National Irish Science Fiction Convention | 1st – 3rd October 2021
Octocon needs your help. Our Virtual Volunteer and Livestream Producer application forms are now open!
Find out more and apply at the links above, and through our Get Involved page. No prior experience is necessary for either of these roles.
If you’re looking for a front-facing role in Octocon 2021, our Programme Participant Registration is also still open. It only takes a couple of minutes to let us know your availability and interests.
We’re ending Pride Month with a gameshow!
Join us on Wednesday 30th June at 8pm IST (UTC+1) as the Octocon family goes up against the wonderful Under The Rainbow family to see who’s the geekiest of them all!
We will be livestreaming Found Family Fortunes on our Twitch channel so come find out what our survey actually says…
Octocon 2021 is once again online and you can watch our panels on Twitch and attend other programme items via Discord and Zoom, all for free.
To access anything other than our Twitch stream, you will need to register (for free). When registering, you can optionally give separate donations:
You’ll also be able to donate during the convention if you just want to register at the moment.
If you have ideas about what should be on the Octocon 2021 programme or you’re interested in taking part, get in touch!
Going online again this year creates lots of new opportunities and we’re especially interested in hearing from people who may never have attended an Octocon before.
Contact us via Google Form (preferred) or email.
As part of our Octocon Presents series of events in the run-up to our virtual event in October, we’re proud to present We Can Change Faster Than the Climate Can, on June 8th at 7:30pm (UTC+1). The event will feature a reading by Oisín McGann from his new non-fiction book ‘A Short, Hopeful Guide to Climate Change’, followed by an interview conducted by Daniella Bella.
Watch live on our Twitch channel OctoconIRL.
What is Climate Change? How can it be stopped? And what can you do to help the fight? Oisín McGann explains Climate Change science and encourages readers to be a part of positive change by getting involved in the global movement to fight humanity’s biggest challenge.
Oisín McGann is one of Ireland’s most prolific and best-known writer-illustrators, producing books for all ages of reader. He is the author of the Mad Grandad books, Headbomz: Wreckin’ Your Head, and novels such as Race the Atlantic Wind, The Gods and Their Machines and The Wildenstern Saga.
He is a winner of the European Science Fiction Society Award, CBI’s Children’s Choice Award and has been shortlisted for numerous other awards, including the Waterstones Childrens’ Book Prize in the UK, le Grand Prix de l’Imaginaire in France and Locus Magazine’s Best First Novel Award in the US.
You can find out more about Oisín McGann via the social media links below, and don’t forget to join us on Twitch at 7:30pm (UTC+1) on Tuesday 8th June for our Octocon Presents event.
Octocon Presents is hosting a panel quiz during Pride Month in June, and we’d like you to answer the following questions!
Don’t think too hard, just put down the first thing that comes to mind, and feel free to skip questions if it’s taking too long to think of an answer. Your answers to the survey will be used to determine the correct answers for the actual quiz – think Family Fortunes.
Octocon is delighted to run a series of events in the run-up to our virtual convention in October. The first of these is An Evening with Jessica Thorne (Ruth Frances Long) taking place on Friday 23rd April at 8pm IST, featuring a reading from her most recent book, The Lost Girls of Foxfield Hall, followed by an interview and Q&A session.
Watch live on our Twitch channel OctoconIRL.
The Lost Girls of Foxfield Hall blends time travel, folklore and Arthurian legend, along with romances both in World War Two and the modern day, in a spine-chilling magical mystery.
Jessica Thorne writes fantasy, space opera and other fantastic tales, including The Queen’s Wing, Mageborn and Nightborn. The Stone’s Heart was nominated for the Romantic Novelists’ Association Romantic Fantasy novel of the year in 2020.
As Ruth Frances Long, she writes young adult fantasy, often about scary fairies. In 2015 she won the European Science Fiction Society Spirit of Dedication Award for Best Author of Children’s Science Fiction and Fantasy for A Crack in Everything.
When she’s not writing, she works in a specialized library of rare & occasionally crazy books.
You can find out more about Jessica Thorne and Ruth Frances Long via the social media links below, and don’t forget to join us on Twitch at 8pm on Friday 23rd April for our first Octocon Presents event.
A message from our chair:
The committee and I had very much hoped that we would be able to host an in-person convention this year. Unfortunately government guidelines and ongoing restrictions on numbers at large gatherings make it impossible for us to plan an event at our chosen venue this year, and we have decided to go virtual once more for 2021.
Octocon 2021 will take place from Friday 1st to Sunday 3rd October 2021, using much of the same technology as our successful 2020 convention. We’re already in the middle of planning some exciting new programming for you!
If you have a membership for 2021, you should have received an email from us already. As with last year, your membership will be automatically rolled over to our next physical convention in 2022 – effectively giving you the early bird rate!
However, you are very welcome to request a refund for your membership – please contact members@octocon.com. We aim to process refunds within two weeks. Please note there will be a cut-off date for refunds but it will be closer to the convention and we will give you ample notice.
Keep an eye on our social media and website for more information.
Although we can’t yet confirm our date or venue for Octocon 2021, we can confirm that it will take place in October and hopefully in a physical location!
Our Guests of Honour will once again be Michael Carroll, Helen Ryder and Philippa Ryder, as it seems only fair to make sure we get to celebrate them in person as well as during our online Octocon 2020.
Supporting memberships are available and cost €20. These can be upgraded at a later date to attending/concession rates as appropriate.
If you had a membership for Octocon 2020, you are already automatically a member of Octocon 2021 (unless you requested a refund). Check your membership.
