Racial and Gender Diversity in 2015 SFF Convention Guests of Honor
The first time I was invited to be Author Guest of Honor at a convention, it felt like I’d leveled up. I was thrilled and excited and — truth be told — more than a little intimidated. (It didn’t help that the prior year’s GoH had been bestselling author Brandon Sanderson.)
I’ve done a number of Guest of Honor gigs since then, and as a general rule, it’s a wonderful experience. There’s a fair amount of work, but you also get to meet a lot of great people. There’s also the sales and publicity boost that comes with it. I don’t know how much of a sales spike a GoH spot can create, but between books sold at the convention and the long-term effect of fans who might decide to buy more of your stuff in the future, it certainly doesn’t hurt.
But who actually gets those shiny Author Guest of Honor invitations? I decided to try to pull actual data to see if there were any trends or patterns.
I started with Wikipedia’s list of SF/F conventions. I filtered out the media and comic cons, because I wanted SF/F conventions with at least some significant literary focus. From the remaining 69 conventions, I built a list of all author guests of honor from 2015. If a convention wasn’t held in 2015, I used their scheduled GoH for 2016. If there was no con in 2015 and nothing planned for 2016, I removed it from the list.
Author Guests of Honor, by Gender
I gathered data on author gender from the authors’ websites, Wikipedia, convention listings, and other online sources. To the best of my knowledge, all authors listed identify as either male or female.
Of the 102 Author Guest of Honor slots, 52 were male and 50 were female.
This balance is great to see. I’d be interested in seeing longer-term trends over the past decade or two, but that’s a much more ambitious project, and I’m not sure how much of the data are publicly available.
This is encouraging, but does it mean we’ve solved sexism in SF/F? Obviously not. This is one measure among many. We still struggle with harassment, gender inequality in who gets reviewed and promoted, and a host of other issues. I also worry that we’ll see something like what happened with the Hugos this year, where a trend toward gender balance was abruptly reversed following pushback and backlash.
But this is very much a positive and encouraging sign, one I hope to see continue in the future.
Author Guests of Honor, by Race
Next, I categorized the guests of honor by race in order to see how we were doing in terms of racial diversity. This again involved referring to author websites, Wikipedia, and other online sources. For the sake of simplicity, I broke the data down into two categories: White and PoC (people of color).
92 of the 102 author guests of honor were white.
This was disappointing, to say the least. Don’t give me that bullshit about how PoC don’t write speculative fiction, either. That’s as ignorant and wrong as saying they don’t read it.
Here are just a few of the authors who aren’t on that list of GoHs:
- World Fantasy Award winner Nnedi Okorafor
- NAACP Image Award winners Steven Barnes and Tananarive Due
- Nebula award winner Aliette de Bodard
- SFWA Grandmaster Samuel R. Delany
- Campbell, Locus, and World Fantasy winner Nalo Hopkinson
- Nebula, Hugo, and Locus winner Ted Chiang
- Norton and Mythopoeic Award finalist Malinda Lo
- Tiptree Award winner Nisi Shawl
- University of Alberta Writer in Residence Minister Faust
Yet I’m on the spreadsheet three times.
And people wonder why PoC don’t always feel welcome or wanted at conventions. Not to mention all the fans who are getting cheated out of the opportunity to meet a more diverse range of authors, and read a broader range of stories.
We can do better. We should do better.
Survey Weaknesses
No survey is perfect. Here are some of the flaws I’m aware of. I don’t think they invalidate the points I’ve made, but they’re important to acknowledge.
- This doesn’t include all SF/F conventions. I used Wikipedia’s list as a starting point so my own knowledge and biases wouldn’t affect the results.
- Gender and racial identification may not be 100% accurate. If I’ve misidentified you, please let me know so I can correct that.
- A data pool of 69 conventions and 103 guest of honor spots is pretty good, but a broader and longer-term study would have been even better.
- 56 of the 69 conventions listed are in the USA, with 4 more from Canada. So the data is heavily skewed toward the U.S. and North America.
Disclaimer
This is not meant to criticize any individual convention. My frustration is with the trend as a whole. There’s absolutely nothing wrong with inviting John Scalzi or S. M. Stirling or David Weber or Jim C. Hines to be your author guest of honor. The problem is when conventions as a group stop looking beyond a narrow pool of potential guests, and when fandom focuses on honoring white authors to the exclusion of others.
My thanks to Tobias Buckell for double-checking my data. Any mistakes are mine and mine alone.
Raw Data
Here’s the Excel spreadsheet with my data, including author and convention names. Please contact me with any mistakes so I can correct them.
Edited to remove one non-GoH from Balticon, fix the 2015 Arisia GoH, and correct two data-entry typos in the gender category.
Tony
August 14, 2015 @ 12:15 pm
Thanks for this. I’ve never been an avid book reader (at least not in novel form; I’m a comic book reader), but I appreciate you doing this.
Chris Dundon
August 14, 2015 @ 12:18 pm
Another caveat (I hesitate to call it a weakness, necessarily) is that a lot of authors are busy and can’t attend some conventions. Thus. while the desire to have authors of color is there, the availability is something we can’t control either. This happened to the convention I work for, as we asked many different authors of color to attend but all were busy.
It doesn’t excuse the lack of diversity in guests of honor, but it is a factor I think it is worth mentioning. Thanks for bringing light to this disparity, Jim.
Josh
August 14, 2015 @ 12:27 pm
In your raw data it looks like you list John Scalzi as female on line 22
Jim C. Hines
August 14, 2015 @ 12:35 pm
Yep! Thank you. Fixing that now.
Seth
August 14, 2015 @ 12:40 pm
The information about who was invited to be GoH and turned it down is generally not publicized.
Ken Marable
August 14, 2015 @ 12:58 pm
What, you want to have an informed discussion based on actual numbers? you do realize this is the internet, right? 😉
Seriously, however, this is very useful to see. Also, since I actually enjoy Google-fu and Archive.org data mining, I grabbed the spreadsheet and I think I will start looking back into the past to see what further data I can find. Might take a bit, but I’m interested in seeing more numbers to see if the trend is steady/worse/better over time, as well as to rule out 2015 being anomalous.
Avilyn
August 14, 2015 @ 1:21 pm
Well, in fairness, he does rock a Regency dress. 😉
http://whatever.scalzi.com/2013/07/16/and-now-here-i-am-in-a-regency-dress/
Sylvan
August 14, 2015 @ 1:25 pm
Interesting and highly useful.
Tell me, do you think a good barometer on success would be to compare participation percentages to the overall percentage of those groups in the wider society in which the convention takes place? For example, could a good benchmark of what percentages would be indicative of a “good mix” be the latest census data for the country in which the convention takes place?
Geekhyena
August 14, 2015 @ 1:47 pm
For next year’s data, CrossingsCon might not make Wikipedia (we’re a first-time convention) but our confirmed GoH are Seanan McGuire and Mark Oshiro, and we’re negotiating with a third GoH. I wonder how other smaller/newer cons are doing compared to the big ones….at least based on online discourse, I’d expect them to skew more towards female GoH, but that may be based on the spaces I hang out in. Also, I haven’t been yet, but from what I’ve heard, Geek Girl Con is pretty literary. (I want to go once my schedule is more flexible though)
betsyl
August 14, 2015 @ 2:03 pm
this is a good point, but it isn’t a good point. yes, not everyone is available at all times. very true. however, if the person you are trying to invite isn’t available, you can just invite someone else. and that person who is second on the list but we don’t talk about them being second because that’d be rude? that person can *also* be a poc. or you can say okay, sorry to hear you’re not available third weekend in october 2015; how about third weekend in october 2016?
Chris Dundon
August 14, 2015 @ 2:07 pm
In our case, we went through a lot of authors before we landed one who was available. The timing of our next convention seemed to be bad for everyone (who we got responses from, anyways!) As for the next con year, that’s up to the next con chair as each year is a new chair with a new theme. But our board strongly encourages diversity in our GOHs as a priority, and not just in the authors.
And you’re correct, we never imply that somebody was a first choice, second choice or even tenth choice. That would be incredibly unprofessional and unintentionally debases the value of their work and contributions.
Anne Gray
August 14, 2015 @ 2:10 pm
I am happy to note that Minister Faust will be a GoH at Pure Spec in October.
http://www.purespec.org/come-to-pure-spec/guests-of-honour-2015/
Ron Oakes
August 14, 2015 @ 2:14 pm
One of my local conventions is having a theme of “IDIC” (i.e. Infinate Diversity in Infinate Combinations) in honor of Star Trek’s 50th anniversary {which means I’m approaching my 50th anniversary a few days earlier}.
I provided the chair with a list of author guest of honor suggestions (including at least one or two of the above) to go along with the real meaning of that theme. Alas, the GoH ended up being David Gerold for a more direct Star Trek tie in.
Since I’m not likely to be running a local convention in the near future (not enough people-points to run all of the conventions in San Diego we’d like to run), I won’t be able to make use of that list myself.
Jim C. Hines
August 14, 2015 @ 2:19 pm
Re: Gerrold, with a theme of IDIC, you could do a lot worse than a gay, Jewish Star Trek writer…
Anne Gray
August 14, 2015 @ 2:23 pm
Yeah, most concoms are not empowered to invite a guest for more than the next con, but starting your invitation process earlier can help you stick to diversity goals despite availability issues, and may make you more likely to get the first guests you ask, too.
I think it is both valid and helpful to point it out if PoC seem to be more likely to turn you down if you invite them — that doesn’t mean you should give up, but maybe that you need to have a longer short list and more time to go through it.
Anne Gray
August 14, 2015 @ 2:51 pm
Another name that jumps out at me as missing from the list is two-time Carl Brandon Society Award winner Andrea Hairston. I only recently read her novel Redwood and Wildfire, which was hands-down amazing. And I know she’s a terrific speaker.
http://andreahairston.com
Tasha Turner
August 14, 2015 @ 4:00 pm
It would be interesting to see numbers on LGBT and disabled and other underrepresented minority groups for GoH. I suspect we fall down in a number of areas and having a broader group of non-cis-het-white-able-bodied humans to choose from would improve things overall. Not that there is anything wrong with the “default” other than leaving out lots of other eligible & interesting humans to be GoHs who could bring different insights to the table and show that cons really are interested in being more welcoming to “the way the world really looks” as most of the world, even the US & Canada, are not exclusively white, straight, able bodied.
Jim C. Hines
August 14, 2015 @ 4:03 pm
Agreed. This is a rather limited first look, but it’s what I was able to pull together in the time I’ve had over the past week. Definitely a lot more research and work to be done.
Tar
August 14, 2015 @ 4:04 pm
(For some reason I can’t reply directly to Anne Gray’s comment?)
My first thought upon seeing “PoC seem to be more likely to turn you down” was actually “if that’s actually the case, *why* might that be the case?”
spacefaringkitten
August 14, 2015 @ 4:18 pm
Hmm. There’s obviously plenty of room for improvement but what kind of PoC percentage would you consider “good” or “sufficient”?
I mean, I have absolutely no idea what kind of race balance there is in the pool of writers with enough acclaim to be GoH.
mjkl
August 14, 2015 @ 4:47 pm
In an related situation, I’ve heard of this problem for science conferences trying to get women speakers in areas where there are few women researchers. The women scientists in areas where they are severely under-represented say they simply get more invitations than they can accept.
Tar
August 14, 2015 @ 5:43 pm
The situation you describe would seem to pan out with respected female scientists appearing on speaker lists in a bird’s-eye-view survey like Jim has done for convention GoHs, rather than a significant list of respected female scientists who haven’t been invited to speak at any major conferences at all.
Sally
August 14, 2015 @ 5:59 pm
And single father of a special-needs child!
(Who now lives, works, and loves all on his own.)
mjkl
August 14, 2015 @ 6:04 pm
The situation I described was an answer to why a particular group might be more likely to turn someone down, which was the situation Chris described, without the problem being the person doing the asking.
Sally
August 14, 2015 @ 6:09 pm
I’ve been to a con with Steven Barnes as a GoH, but it was in… eeesh… around 1990?
I’m struggling to recall EVER seeing a disabled GoH, except for those who needed wheelchairs, etc. for reasons of old age.
Westercon 66 was heavily LGBT. The guys in charge are a married couple, the GoHs were Nicola Griffith and Kelley Eskridge, and David Gerrold was the Toastmaster. All white, admittedly, but definitely from the queer spectrum. I’ve never seen so many trans and gender-nonconforming people at a non-LGBT event, and I’ve never felt so safe since the anti-harassment policy had teeth and the vibes were good.
Indeed, we all had a gay old time. 😉
Andrew Trembley
August 14, 2015 @ 6:26 pm
…and you missed that Nicola has MS, and needs crutches to get around unless she’s having a really good day 😉
Of course, that became a bit of a concern when we had the *best* *blackout* *ever* because she was on the second floor and it took a few minutes to determine whether or not we were going to have to evacuate the building (we didn’t).
(oh, and our token white heterosexual guests were Canadian)
Andrew Trembley
August 14, 2015 @ 6:27 pm
@Jim, your “wink” emoticon image looks a bit weird, not really sly and winky…
Stewart C Baker
August 14, 2015 @ 8:32 pm
Ugh. Very disappointing. 🙁
OTOH I have some great new names to look up and read…
Karen Junker
August 14, 2015 @ 9:37 pm
When I was running Cascade Writers we actively looked for speakers who were people who liked to talk about diversity issues in addition to being great writers and teachers. I started a list over the years of people I’d like to invite one day – some of those people can’t get time off work for such a small event, but others may be able to.
We have some amazing young writers I think would be cool to hear on a panel (and not just about diversity issues!). Well, and some older ones, too.
Dave Hogg
August 14, 2015 @ 11:10 pm
“Here are just a few of the authors who aren’t on that list of GoHs:
World Fantasy Award winner Nnedi Okorafor
NAACP Image Award winners Steven Barnes and Tananarive Due”
I know you are looking specifically at 2015, but this makes me more proud that Detcon1 had all three of these outstanding authors as guests last summer.
Jim C. Hines
August 15, 2015 @ 11:23 am
Detcon1 did a lot of excellent work, from everything I saw.
Nisi Shawl
August 16, 2015 @ 11:08 am
Regarding why POC may say nay: dunno. I’ve been asked twice and said yes both times.
SherryH
August 17, 2015 @ 9:06 am
@Tasha Turner and @Sally,
That was one of my thoughts, too–that it would be nice to have stats for disability as well. Of course, as Jim mentions, there are never enough hours in a day!
Also, some disabilities are invisible, and some individuals choose not to disclose. (Though from an awareness standpoint, maybe a guest with an invisible, nondisclosed disability is indistinguishable from a guest with no disability?) Still, I’d be fascinated to see numbers for GoHs with visible and/or self-disclosed disabilities. I can’t imagine the legwork involved, though.
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August 17, 2015 @ 11:54 am
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platypus
August 17, 2015 @ 2:12 pm
This is useful, but I have one question with the PoC chart.
92% of convention guests of honors being white I gather is off balance. But how off-balance is it? What percentage of guests of honor should be PoC? And which demographics would that be based on? World demographics? United States demographics? North America demographics? English-speaking world demographics? New York City demographics? State of Maine demographics? Published science fiction and fantasy author demographics?
I would like to be able say X number of guests of honors should have been PoC. It gives context to how bad the problem is. It also would allow for more concrete solutions.
For example, if we learn that only 10% of published authors in science fiction and fantasy are PoC, then from what you’ve shown, the conventions are doing well. The solution would then be to get more PoC published in the SF&F field and we could expect the PoC guest of honor percentage will adjust to match. Course this still has the question of what percentage of SF&F authors should also be PoC?
But say we learn that 30% of published authors in science fiction and fantasy are PoC. From what you’ve shown we have a problem of not inviting PoC SF&F authors to be the guest of honor and need to look at why. Are the conventions all asking the same 5 or 6 PoC authors and not branching out to lesser known PoC authors? Do we just not think of inviting a PoC guest of honor? Is is active hatred towards PoC authors?
Another example, say we learn that only 1% of published authors in science fiction and fantasy are PoC, then from what you’ve shown the conventions are showing a bias towards inviting PoC guest of honor. Then we need to ask what impact is this having. Is it encouraging more publishers to sign on authors that are PoC? Is it encouraging more people to read SF&F written by a AoC? Are we inviting PoC authors just as spectacle for a non-diverse audience?
Just looking for some additional context.
geekhyena
August 17, 2015 @ 5:03 pm
Agreed – then again, because LGBT people and disabled people aren’t as visible sometimes, it could be harder, which is annoying. Or conventions/events that don’t seem to acknowledge that disability issues are a thing (I got to skip TA training because I was in a wheelchair at the time and training was in building that only had stairs), or conventions that have rooms with stadium-style seating so disabled people get stuck in the back of the room. But seeing the numbers on LGBT GoH/speakers and disabled GoH/speakers at conventions would be interesting, if depressing.
geekhyena
August 17, 2015 @ 5:06 pm
At least with Seanan McGuire being at more conventions we have someone who is open about mobility issues and the need for accessibility at conventions! (She has mobility issues and regularly blogs about the shit she gets for existing as female/not-skinny using mobility devices)
Guess
August 17, 2015 @ 10:33 pm
I dont think awards qualify you for GoH. If enough people like your writing then you are good guest. Win or lose, Id like to see Cixin Liu invited to cons. It could open up for more chinese SF to be translated to English. He is also a hard SF writer with actual science in his book. There has been alot of disdain toward hard SF lately. Also Liu appeals to conservatives since alot of us really like hard SF. Diversity includes people with different political views.
Sally
August 17, 2015 @ 11:44 pm
I guess she was having a good day since I didn’t see the crutches.☺ And at least the blackout was during party time, a good time for everyone to stay in place.
Now is Canadian a sexual orientation or a disability?
William D. Richards
August 19, 2015 @ 9:31 pm
I shake my head in wonder, how could Samuel R. Delany NOT yet have been a Guest of Honor? I am dumbstruck. His thought provoking writing has had great impact in science fiction.
Anne Gray
August 19, 2015 @ 11:17 pm
William, Jim’s post was just about 2015. Delany has certainly been a GoH in previous years, and I know at least one event that invited him this year that he was unable to accept.
Kristen Blount
August 24, 2015 @ 12:58 pm
http://www.sirensconference.org/
Sirens is committed to celebrating women in fantasy … as writers, editors, readers, and fans. The GOHs have been only women and have included many POC, including Nnedi Okorafor. It’s a fantastic experience, part con and part retreat. This year, they are back on their home stomping grounds of Colorado. I highly recommend it!
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August 27, 2015 @ 6:04 pm
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Chris Nelson
September 4, 2015 @ 2:33 pm
Delany isn’t an acceptable invite since his views on paedophilia became public. Which is a shame since I enjoyed reading his books.