Otherwise Award activities at WisCon 2023

Come join us in celebrating the 2021 Otherwise Award winners at WisCon next week!

WisCon is an annual science fiction convention with a focus on feminism and social justice, held in Madison, Wisconsin, USA. This year’s convention runs from May 26 through May 29.

WisCon is capping its in-person membership at 600 people this year, and they have only a few of those in-person memberships remaining. So if you want to attend in person, register as soon as you can.

Alternatively, you can register to attend the online parts of WisCon. There’s no cap on online attendance.

This year, as usual, the convention’s program will include several panels and other events related to the Otherwise Award, including the traditional live auction on Saturday night to benefit the Award.

Program items listed in this post are in-person except where marked as online.

Celebrating the winners

The winners of the Otherwise Award for 2021 were Light from Uncommon Stars, by Ryka Aoki, and Sorrowland, by Rivers Solomon.

Aoki and Solomon will both be at WisCon 2023 in person. We’ll celebrate them and their winning novels on Sunday night of the convention, during the Dessert Salon, with a brief awards ceremony. We’ll present both authors with their awards and the most important Otherwise accoutrement: chocolate.

(The award for 2021 was announced early in 2023 rather than in 2022, for pandemic and other reasons. The award for 2022 will be announced later in 2023.)

Two panels that are specifically relevant to the Otherwise Award:

Otherwise Award 2021 and Beyond (Sun 1:00 PM–2:15 PM CDT), discussing such topics as:
- The 2021 winners and Honor List.
- Trends in the handling of gender in speculative fiction.
- Plans for the award to catch up from pandemic delays.
Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in SF/F (Sat 2:30 PM–3:45 PM CDT), which will discuss Otherwise as well as many other organizations.

Rivers Solomon’s panels

Rivers Solomon will be on the following program items:

Guest of Honor reading and reception (Thurs 6:00 PM–8:00 PM CDT)—Solomon is one of this year’s Guests of Honor at WisCon.
Fighting the Good Fight with Limited Resources (Fri 1:00 PM–2:15 PM CDT)
Healing From Cissupremacy (online; Fri 4:00 PM–5:15 PM CDT)
Opening Ceremonies (Fri 5:30 PM–6:00 PM CDT)
Too Disabled to Labor? (Sat 1:00 PM–2:15 PM CDT)
Colonialism and the Social Sciences (Sat 2:30 PM–3:45 PM CDT)
Guest of Honor Reading: Rivers Solomon (Sun 10:00 AM–11:15 AM CDT)
Abolition and Transformation (Sun 1:00 PM–2:15 PM CDT)
What We’ve Gained and What We Grieve (Sun 2:30 PM–3:45 PM CDT)
Guest of Honor Speeches & Otherwise Ceremony (both in-person and livestreamed; Sun 8:00 PM–9:00 PM CDT)
The SignOut Autograph Party (Mon 11:30 AM–12:30 PM CDT)

In addition, the following program items will include discussion of Solomon’s work:

The Fiction of Rivers Solomon (online; Fri 4:00 PM–5:15 PM CDT)
Generational Trauma in Rivers Solomon’s Fiction (Sat 1:00 PM–2:15 PM CDT)
Sea & Sky: Spaces of Black Liberation & Dreams (Sun 4:00 PM–5:15 PM CDT)

Ryka Aoki’s panels

Ryka Aoki will be on the following program items:

Fighting the Good Fight with Limited Resources (Fri 1:00 PM–2:15 PM CDT)
Healing from Cissupremacy (online; Fri 4:00 PM–5:15 PM CDT)
Opening Ceremonies (Fri 5:30 PM–6:00 PM CDT)
Otherwise Award Winner Reading: Ryka Aoki (Fri 9:00 PM–10:15 PM CDT)
Nonviolence in SF/F (Sat 10:00 AM–11:15 AM CDT)
Redemption 2: Beyond Good and Evil (online; Sun 2:30 PM–3:45 PM CDT)
Guest of Honor Speeches & Otherwise Ceremony (both in-person and livestreamed; Sun 8:00 PM–9:00 PM CDT)
The SignOut Autograph Party (Mon 11:30 AM–12:30 PM CDT)

Aoki was added to the program late, so may not be listed in some printed or online program listings, but will be listed in errata for each day.

Fundraising auction

Our fabulous live auction will be on Saturday evening of the convention (7:30 PM–9:30 PM CDT), featuring fabulous auctioneer Sumana Harihareswara. It will be livestreamed, but only in-person attendees will be able to bid.

Items to be auctioned include the following:

A signed copy of 1998 Otherwise Award winner Raphael Carter’s novel The Fortunate Fall, which is currently out of print, donated by the author. (The author has since transitioned and is now Cameron Reed.)

Cover of The Fortunate Fall, by Raphael Carter. — The Fortunate Fall cover

A ’zine created by Sumana: Quill & Scroll.

Two pages from Sumana’s ’zine Quill & Scroll, describing Hedgehog’s all-night bookstore. — ’Zine pages

Dead in the Scrub (A Shirley McClintock Mystery) by B.J. Oliphant, a pseudonym of Sheri S. Tepper, donated by Sigrid Ellis.
A first edition of Gideon the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir, donated by Heather Rose Jones.
An item to benefit the Carl Brandon Society: a lot of three handspun yarns and a project bag, all made by Carl Brandon Society co-founder Candra K. Gill. These fine-weight skeins include a tonal blue Merino & jewel-toned rainbow sparkle Merino/Cashmere/Stellina (80/10/10), each spun from fiber dyed by women of color fiber artists and a one-of-a-kind mini-skein of mill-end wool mixed with other fibers that Candra blended herself. (Note that these were made in a cat-friendly home.)