2023 AugurCon LIVE! August 26 / 25+ Speakers / 7+ Sessions Buy Tickets Now!

About AugurCon

On Saturday, August 26, join the Augur Literary Society and 25+ panelists from across the GTA and Ontario for AugurCon Live!—Toronto’s celebration of speculative literatures!

Join a workshop to get live feedback from editors, agents, and grants officers. Drop by our tiny SFF marketplace and stock up on new reads. Enjoy readings from Augur Magazine creators. Attend our panels, and explore equitable worldbuilding techniques; how to build a CanSpec library; the construction and enlivening of a speculative city; and how science fiction and fantasy holds a mirror up to our selves.

WHERE

Propeller Coffee
50 Wade Ave, Toronto, ON M6H 2Z3

WHEN

10:30-7:30 EST
Saturday August 26th, 2023


Conference Schedule

We’re bringing together authors, editors, and industry experts for a whole day packed with panels, workshops, and conversations about reading and crafting stories with care. Here's what's on:
  • Panels


  • Featuring Larissa Lai

  • Economy. Diversity. Politics. Culture. Cities are rich, complex settings. They come alive with the right touch, as familiar as your favourite character—sometimes literally. Join our panel as they discuss the creation, infrastructure, aesthetic, and personality of the speculative city. (Spoiler: we might talk about Toronto) Featuring Larissa Lai, A.D. Sui, Natasha Ramoutar, and Andrew F. Sullivan
    Panel

  • Join our authors as they explore the power of science fiction & fantasy as a space to unearth, process, explore, and express the self. What can you learn about yourself by creating a space untethered to reality? How can you enact transformative justice when you are the God of your own world? What undefinable things—grief, loss, healing, joy, love—can you give form through the speculative? How does SFF help in managing vulnerability, escaping persecution, or accessing privacy, while exploring the deeply personal? What unconscious desires, or new learnings, can we find, when we escape from normal and embrace the possible? Featuring Ai Jiang, Amanda Leduc, Zalika Reid-Benta, and Sydney Hegele

  • So you want to build a Canspec library. But where the heck do you start? Canadian speculative fiction often goes one of two ways: blended into the literary canon of Canlit, or commercially positioned as broader SFF. Growing your own collection of Canadian and Indigenous speculative writers can be a challenge. Until you know where to look! Join representatives from Canadian literary events, libraries, and publishers to learn where to find your next amazing Canspec read. Featuring Sienna Tristen, Ardo Omer, Hana el Niwairi, and Chris Krawczyk from Little Ghosts Books

  • In this panel, our speakers discuss power systems at the root of every secondary world. What are they acutely aware of when building new cities, governments, and cultures? Where is the line between the perpetuation and the exploration of harmful systems? What opportunity is there to imagine anti-colonial, trans-inclusive worlds? Who gets to wield power, and what happens when they do? Power isn't a bad word. SFF gives us the opportunity to imagine the responsible wielding of power, where we honour the land, one another, and the breaking of age-old systems. Featuring Natalie Zina Walschots, Suzan Palumbo, Kaitlin Tremblay, and Rati Mehrohtra

  • Workshop AMAs


  • Led by Cody Caetano

  • Led by Rudrapriya Rathore (TAC)

  • Led by Jen Albert (ECW)
    Workshop

Don't miss out—grab your tickets for AugurCon!

Get Tickets

Featured Speakers

Start the Countdown

Buckle in, friends, and register soon. AugurCon will start in...

Our Team

Festival Director, Programming — Terese Mason Pierre
Festival Director, General — Kerry C. Byrne
Assistant Director, Festival Operations — Victoria Liao
Technical Operations Manager — Amy Wang
Marketing Manager — Sonia Urlando
PR Manager — Ayesha Mumal
Volunteer Coordinator — André Geleynse

Want to learn more about Augur? Check out our site or catch us on Twitter!

Official Bookstore

Logo for Another Story Bookshop, featuring an open book with red cover surrounded by a seafoam green semi-circle containing the name of the store.

Supported By

Toronto Arts Council logo, featuring big blocky text with thick blue lines on top and bottom.

Logo: Canada Council for the Arts