Finncon is the largest science fiction convention in Finland and, with up to 15,000 participants, one of the largest SF conventions in Europe. Finncon is unique among SF conventions because it has no ticket/membership fee, and is funded primarily on various cultural grants as well as income from traders. The event is organised annually in different cities in Finland.
From 2003 to 2009 and in 2011 the convention included the anime convention Animecon, which boosted the convention's attendance and public visibility significantly. Since then the conventions have separated, and the future of the Finnish Animecon is currently uncertain beyond the 2011 combined Finncon-Animecon.
Finncon 2021 was cancelled due to logistical difficulties of conducting a large scale event during the COVID-19 pandemic while adhering to the event's ethos and criteria of being open to international communities.
Finncon alternates between different cities in Finland without a formal rota. Recently the event has been held almost every year, but occasionally a year is skipped if no city is found to host the event that year.
Finncons
ordinal number year dates city guests of honour notes 1 1986 Helsinki Brian Aldiss 2 1989 Helsinki John Brunner, Tom Ölander 3 1991 Helsinki Iain Banks 4 1993 Helsinki Terry Pratchett, Bryan Talbot 5 1995 17–18 June Jyväskylä Bruce Sterling, Vonda McIntyre, Storm Constantine 6 1997 16–17 August Helsinki Norman Spinrad, Ian McDonald 7 1999 14–15 August Turku Connie Willis, Philip Pullman, Ahrvid Engholm 8 2000 18–20 August Helsinki Neil Gaiman, Stephen Baxter, Ken MacLeod 9 2001 14–15 July Jyväskylä Jonathan Carroll, David Langford, Stelarc, Richard Stallman, Johanna Sinisalo also the year's Baltcon 10 2003 1–3 August Turku Michael Swanwick, Jonathan Clements, Steve Sansweet, Karolina Bjällerstedt Mickos, Bjørn Tore Sund, Boris Hurtta also the year's Eurocon, Baltcon, and Animecon 11 2004 10–11 July Jyväskylä Robin Hobb, Gwyneth Jones, John Clute, Cheryl Morgan, Toni Jerrman also the year's Animecon 12 2006 18–20 August Helsinki Jeff VanderMeer, Risto Isomäki, Justina Robson, Rickard Berghorn also the year's Animecon 13 2007 14–15 July Jyväskylä Ellen Datlow, Joe Haldeman, Gay Haldeman, Elizabeth Hand, Cheryl Morgan, Ben Roimola. Jonathan Clements, John Clute, Judith Clute also the year's Animecon, 7000 visitors 14 2008 26–27 July Tampere Petri Hiltunen, Charles Vess, Farah Mendlesohn, M. John Harrison, Johanna Koljonen and Nina von Rudiger as the duo Ms.Mandu also the year's Animecon 15 2009 10–12 July Helsinki George R. R. Martin, Alastair Reynolds, Adam Roberts, Jari Lehtinen also the year's Animecon, Irmelin Sandman Lilius was originally slated to be a guest of honour, however she cancelled for family reasons. 16 2010 16–18 July Jyväskylä Ellen Kushner, Pat Cadigan, Sari Peltoniemi, Liisa Rantalaiho 17 2011 15–17 July Turku Nalo Hopkinson, Richard Morgan, Himeka, Yukihiro Notsu also the year's Animecon 18 2012 20–22 July Tampere Lois McMaster Bujold, Liz Williams, Irma Hirsjärvi 19 2013 5–7 July Helsinki Aliette de Bodard, J. Pekka Mäkelä, Peter Watts, Stefan Ekman 20 2014 11–13 July Jyväskylä Elizabeth Bear, Hannu Rajaniemi, Jukka Halme 21 2016 1–3 July Tampere Jasper Fforde, Anne Leinonen, Catherynne M. Valente, Eeva-Liisa Tenhunen 22 2018 14–15 July Turku Lauren Beukes, Maria Turtschaninoff, Merja Polvinen 23 2019 5–7 July Jyväskylä Charles Stross, Kersti Juva, Raine Koskimaa, Cheryl Morgan 24 2020 10–12 July Tampere (virtual) Mike Carey, Helena Waris, Diane Duane, Vesa Sisättö, Bodhisattva Chattopadhyay 25 2022 8–10 July Espoo Marianna Leikomaa, Malka Older, Magdalena Hai, Marko Hautala 26 2023 7–9 July Tampere Diane Duane, Helena Waris, Vesa Sisättö, Marek Oziewicz 27 2024 5–7 July Jyväskylä Ursula Vernon, Tiina Raevaara, Tero Ykspetäjä, Jyrki Korpua
References
External links
Finncon website Finncon 2018