The 20th World Horror Convention will be the first to be held outside North America. The convention will be in Brighton, England, the weekend of 25-28 March 2010. The convention’s theme will be “Brighton Shock!—A Celebration of the European Horror Tradition from Victorian Times to the Present Day”, and the convention will host numerous panels, talks, presentations, readings, workshops, and displays devoted to horror, macabre, mystery, and thriller fiction and art in all its varied and fearsome forms.
The convention venue will be the historic Royal Albion Hotel, which is more than 180 years old and is situated directly opposite Brighton’s iconic Palace Pier and “a stone’s throw from the beach.” (Brighton was also the location of the 1979 and 1987 World Science Fiction Conventions.)
For foreign travelers (and locals looking to extend their vacations), Britain’s annual National Science Fiction Convention, Odyssey 2010, will be held near to Heathrow airport the following weekend.
Attending membership is currently £50, but it will rise incrementally during the run-up to the convention (it will rise to £60 on 1 February 2009). More information about the convention is available at www.whc2010.org. There is an on-line membership form. Paper registration with payment by check (in British pounds only) can be sent to: World Horror Convention, PO Box 64317, London NW6 9LL, England.
No guests have yet been announced, but the convention committee includes Amanda Foubister (chairperson), Stephen Jones (programming and publications), and Michael Marshall Smith (publications).
The 2009 World Horror Convention will be in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada from 30 April to 3 May 2009. Guests of Honor will include Conrad Williams, Edo van Belkom, F. Paul Wilson, and Joshua Gee.