Philcon 2019 will be held November 8-10 at the Cherry Hill, NJ Crown Plaza Hotel. Programming features a mixture of literary, science, gaming, film, anime, and costuming. There will be an open Meet the Authors/Artists Party on Friday and a Masquerade on Saturday, as well as the usual programming mixture of literature, art, costuming, and gaming panels, an art show, a dealers' room, a masquerade, and movies. The Guests this year are:
The PSFS sponsors a Young Writers' Contest, with separate competitions for children in grades 5-8 and 9-12. Winners receive a cash prize and free membership to Philcon. If the winners agree, their stories may be printed in the Philcon Program Book. Go to the Philcon website for full information.
History
In 1936, a half dozen fans came down from New York by train for the first intercity meeting of fans ever held. A picture taken of the group at Independence Hall has appeared in a number of the histories of science fiction fandom. They held a business meeting at the house of Philadelphia fan Milton A. Rothman, electing Rothman as chair and New Yorker Frederik Pohl as Secretary. Since Philadelphia had been the site of the 1936 Democratic and Republican National Conventions, they declared themselves the Philadelphia Science Fiction Convention. Part of the group went to John Baltadonis' home to examine his art collection and the printing press used to publish the PSFS newsletter. At Rothman's house, the group talked about science fiction and played craps. On the way back to the train station, some of the attendees sang early filk songs. One of the attendees, John B. Michel published an account of the day, the first convention report, in a New York fanzine: Some fan historians claim that the 1936 Philadelphia Science Fiction Conference, a.k.a. Philcon, was the first science fiction convention ever held. Others, such as Fred Patten and Rob Hansen, make this claim for the January 1937 event in Leeds, England, organized by the LeedsScience Fiction League, which was specifically organised as a conference, with a program and speakers. Out of this came the first incarnation of the British Science Fiction Association.
