Join us for a free, family-friendly celebration of science fiction, fantasy, anime, LEGO, and so much more! We will have speakers, vendors, games, and activities throughout the library, along with a video game trailer and food trucks in the parking lot.
KEYNOTE TALK
Professor Lisa Yaszek will show us how science fiction can be both a time machine connecting us with history and a virtual laboratory for generating new futures. She will explore how artists of the past 100 years have used science fiction to both entertain and educate with thrilling tales about important issues including new energy sources, the race for space, and AI development.
About our keynote speaker
Lisa Yaszek is Regents’ Professor of Science Fiction Studies at Georgia Tech, where she explores science fiction as a global language crossing centuries, continents, and cultures. Her books include Galactic Suburbia: Recovering Women’s Science Fiction (2008); Sisters of Tomorrow: The First Women of Science Fiction (2016); and The Future is Female! Classic Science Fiction Stories by Women series (2018-present). Yaszek’s ideas about science fiction as a window to cultural history have been featured in venues including The Washington Post, Food and Wine Magazine, and USA Today, and she has been an expert commentator for CBS Sunday, Morning, the BBC4, Turner Classic Movies, and the AMC miniseries James Cameron’s Story of Science Fiction. A past president of the Science Fiction Research Association, Yaszek currently serves as a juror for the Eugie Foster and Philip K. Dick Speculative Fiction Awards.
Combat Demonstration!
SCA combat is an attempt to portray armored foot combat. The weapons are rattan, a bamboo-like material. It weighs the same as a real sword but has spring to absorb blow force. In the Middle Ages, wooden swords were used for training, which helped to prevent injury. SCA members use rattan for the same reason.
The Society for Creative Anachronism (SCA) is a not-for-profit educational organization dedicated to the study of the Middle Ages and the Renaissance.
VIDEO GAME TRAILER Available throughout the event!
free FACEPAINTING!
Exhibitors/Vendors
Roger Byrd, Local author & artist, founder of Hunger & Hardship Creek Press
ZombieDice&More (Damien Graham, resin artist)
Circus Cixx (Anna Cowart, local artist)
Murcles Art /Josh Bragdon
Flying Nuggets, an Atlanta-Based non-profit organization whose mission is to promote STEAM programming in K - 12 educational settings through community outreach and competitions.