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Ad Astra is an annual science fiction, fantasy, and horror convention in
Ontario Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central Ca ...
. Major events of the convention include the Masquerade, Guest of Honour presentations, panel discussions, Art Show, and Dealer's Room, as well as a wide variety of privately run room parties. Other events on the convention program include a games room, book launches, and the Saturday evening dance.


Programming

Ad Astra's programming features a wide variety of discussion panels on various topics of interest to science fiction and fantasy fans. Writing, art, and costuming workshops are also often seen each year at the convention.


History

Ad Astra first ran in 1980, and has run every year since, excepting 1981, 1999 and 2020. The convention occasionally serves as host for other conventions; for example,
Canvention Canvention is the Canada, Canadian national science fiction convention, where the Prix Aurora Awards are presented. Normally it is held as part of an existing convention. Conventions The list of past Canventions may be referenced in the programme ...
7 was held as part of Ad Astra 7, in 1987, and the convention hosted the Toronto games convention Orion for the years 2003 and 2004. In previous years, guests have included prominent Canadian writers including
Robert J. Sawyer Robert James Sawyer (born April 29, 1960) is a Canadian science fiction writer. He has had 24 novels published and his short fiction has appeared in ''Analog Science Fiction and Fact'', ''Amazing Stories'', ''On Spec'', ''Nature'', and numerous ...
,
Nalo Hopkinson Nalo Hopkinson (born 20 December 1960) is a Jamaican-born Canadian speculative fiction writer and editor. Her novels ('' Brown Girl in the Ring'', ''Midnight Robber'', '' The Salt Roads'', ''The New Moon's Arms'') and short stories such as thos ...
,
Tanya Huff Tanya Sue Huff (born 1957) is a Canadian fantasy author. Her stories have been published since the late 1980s, including five fantasy series and one science fiction series. One of these, her '' Blood Books'' series, featuring detective Vicki Ne ...
,
Guy Gavriel Kay Guy Gavriel Kay (born November 7, 1954) is a Canadian writer of fantasy fiction. The majority of his novels take place in fictional settings that resemble real places during real historical periods, such as Constantinople during the reign of Jus ...
,
Robert Charles Wilson Robert Charles Wilson (born December 15, 1953 ) is an American-Canadian science fiction author. Career Wilson was born in the United States in California, but grew up near Toronto, Ontario. Apart from another short period in the early 1970s ...
,
Phyllis Gotlieb Phyllis Fay Gotlieb (née Bloom; May 25, 1926 July 14, 2009) was a Canadian science fiction novelist and poet. Biography Born of Jewish heritage in Toronto, Gotlieb graduated from the University of Toronto with degrees in literature in 1948 ...
, etc., as well as internationally renowned authors including
C. J. Cherryh Carolyn Janice Cherry (born September 1, 1942), better known by the pen name C. J. Cherryh, is an American writer of speculative fiction. She has written more than 80 books since the mid-1970s, including the Hugo Award-winning novels '' Downbelo ...
,
David Brin Glen David Brin (born October 6, 1950) is an American scientist and author of science fiction. He has won the Hugo,Connie Willis Constance Elaine Trimmer Willis (born December 31, 1945), commonly known as Connie Willis, is an American science fiction and fantasy writer. She has won eleven Hugo Awards and seven Nebula Awards for particular works—more major SF awards than ...
,
Stephen Hunt Stephen Hunt or Steven Hunt may refer to: Football *Stephen Hunt (footballer, born 1981), Republic of Ireland footballer *Stephen Hunt (footballer, born 1984), English footballer *Steve Hunt (footballer, born 1956), England, Coventry, Aston Villa ...
,
Larry Niven Laurence van Cott Niven (; born April 30, 1938) is an American science fiction writer. His best-known works are ''Ringworld'' (1970), which received Hugo, Locus, Ditmar, and Nebula awards, and, with Jerry Pournelle, ''The Mote in God's Eye'' ...
,
Lois McMaster Bujold Lois McMaster Bujold ( ; born November 2, 1949) is an American speculative fiction writer. She is an acclaimed writer, having won the Hugo Award for best novel four times, matching Robert A. Heinlein's record (not counting his Retro Hugos). Her no ...
,
Frederik Pohl Frederik George Pohl Jr. (; November 26, 1919 – September 2, 2013) was an American science-fiction writer, editor, and fan, with a career spanning nearly 75 years—from his first published work, the 1937 poem "Elegy to a Dead Satelli ...
,
Katherine Kurtz Katherine Irene Kurtz (born October 18. 1944) is an American fantasy writer, author of sixteen historical fantasy novels in the ''Deryni'' series, as well as occult and urban fantasy. Resident in Ireland for over twenty years, she moved to Virgi ...
,
Orson Scott Card Orson Scott Card (born August 24, 1951) is an American writer known best for his science fiction works. He is the first and (as of 2022) only person to win both a Hugo Award and a Nebula Award in consecutive years, winning both awards for both ...
, James P. Hogan and others. Ad Astra has continued to evolve past its focus on literature to include programming dedicated to costuming, art,
filking Filk music is a musical culture, genre, and community tied to science fiction, fantasy, and horror fandom and a type of fan labor. The genre has existed since the early 1950s and been played primarily since the mid-1970s. Etymology and defin ...
, and media. In some years,
Jason Taniguchi Jason Taniguchi is a writer and actor from Toronto, Ontario, Canada. His poems and short fiction appear in the collection ''Jason Taniguchi's Very Sensible Stories and Poems for Grown-ups'' from Kelp Queen Press. He has also both written for and a ...
has performed popular one-man parody shows at the convention.


Event history


See also

*
Toronto Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the ancho ...
*
Canadian science fiction A strong element in contemporary Canadian culture is rich, diverse, thoughtful and witty science fiction. History of Canadian science fiction Possibly the first recorded Canadian work of science fiction is the 1896 '' Tisab Ting, or, The Electrical ...


References

{{reflist


External links


Official Site
Science fiction conventions in Canada Events in Toronto Fantasy conventions