Guests of Honour
Celebrating extraordinary creators, visionaries, and community leaders who shape the speculative imagination.
Claire G. Coleman
Essayist, novelist, short story writer and poet, a journalist and an art writer.Coleman is a is an esayist, novelist, writer, poet, and journalist, as well as a Noongar woman whose family have belonged to the south coast of Western Australia since before history started being recorded. Claire is the author of multiple award winning science fiction novel Terra Nullius (2017).
David Gaider
Games Writer and Creative DirectorGaider is the founder & Creative Director at Melbourne game developer, Summerfall Studios, where his best known work is Stray Gods: The Roleplaying Musical (2023). Gaider has writing credits on numerous games, notably Baldur’s Gate II: Shadows of Amn & award winning Dragon Age: Inquisition (2014).
Jonathan Strahan
Editor & PodcasterStrahan is Reviews Editor of Locus and an award-winning editor, anthologist, critic and podcaster. He has edited more than 70 anthologies and 20 single-author collections, including four Locus Award-winning Best Anthologies and seven Aurealis Award winners. He has won Locus, Aurealis, Ditmar and World Fantasy Awards and co-hosts the Hugo Award-winning Coode Street Podcast.
Kathleen Jennings
Illustrator & NovelistJennings won the World Fantasy Award for Best Artist in 2020, and a number of Ditmars for her art and fiction. She has been a finalist for the Hugos and the Locus Awards.
Perry Middlemiss
A. Betram Chandler Award RecipientOur Fan Guest of Honour, Perry Middlemiss was the DUFF delegate in 1996 and won the Ditmar Award in 1998. In 1999 he chaired Aussiecon 3, and in 2010 co-chaired Aussiecon 4 with Rose Mitchell. In 2021 he was awarded the A. Bertram Chandler Award, for services to Australian sf.
Seanan McGuire
Author, Singer, and PodcasterMcGuire is a multi-talented award-winning author who has been nominated for awards every year since 2010. Seanan is a writer, singer, musician and podcaster. She is the author of over 50 novels, more than 200 short stories, comics, collections and critical work, and five albums.