Note: as this is a preview piece, SLurls will be added once Fantasy Faire has opened its doors on April 18th, 2019.
On Thursday, April 18th, Fantasy Faire will open for 2019, and will remain open through until Sunday, May 5th, 2019 inclusive. Throughout this entire period, the Faire and the Fairelands will be host to the fifth annual Fantasy Faire Literary Festival (LitFest).
Lying deep within the Fairelands is Trollhaugen, the home of the LitFest. A magical realm and very special location for the Festival, it is a place where the magic of the spoken word will weave tales of wonder, relate stories of great adventure and daring; where talks by authors, discussions, creative writing sessions and performances will all take place. In addition, literary hawks and writers will be encouraged to join daily LitFest tours of the Fairelands and afterwards compose pieces related to their travels.
The full LitFest schedule is now available, but here are some preview highlights to whet appetites!
Guest Of Honour and Authors
The special guest for this year’s festival is the Hugo, Sturgeon, Locus, and Campbell Award winning author of dozens of novels; over a hundred short stories; and a number of essays, Elizabeth Bear. She will be appearing at the LitFest as follows:
- 14:00 SLT on Tuesday, April 23rd: in an interview and discussion about her work as a novelist, writer and futurist, doubtless touching on her upcoming new novel, The Red-Stained Wings (The Lotus Kingdoms Book 2), which will be released on May 28th, 2019.
- 14:00 SLT on Friday, April 26th: reading an extract for her work.
The Litfest will also feature two published authors who are also Second Life residents:
- Maxwell Grantly, whom I had the great pleasure to profile back in 2015 in The independent author whose muse is Second Life. He will be presenting Professor Nibbler’s Most Amazing Mouse Circus at 12:00 noon SLT, ob Friday, April 19th.
- Nika Thought-werk will be talking about her children’s book, Do Clockworks Dream of Gear-Toothed Sheep? and her upcoming book at 20:00 SLT on Friday, April 19th.
Milk Wood Writer’s Dash and NaPoWriMo Fantasy Writing Prompts
Want to hone your writing skills? Join in with one of the following:
- Milk Wood Writer’s Dash (Friday April 19th through Sunday, May 5th, 06:00-06:30 and 18:00-18:30): spend 15 minutes writing poetry or prose based on a writer’s prompt. When time is up, everyone exchanges their writings with one another.
- NaPoWriMo Fantasy Writing Prompts (Friday, April 19th, and Monday April 22nd through Friday April 26th, 08:00-09:00 SLT): April is National Poetry Writing Month, and participating poets are asked to write a poem a day for the month of April – so why not do so in-world with like-minded poets?
Ursula K. Le Guin Day
On Wednesday, April 24th, Litfest marks the life and works of the late author, Ursula K. Le Guin, regarded as one of America’s foremost writers of speculative fiction, including science fiction works set in her Hainish Universe, and the Earthsea fantasy series. In a career spanning 60 years, she produced more than twenty novels, over a hundred short stories and many volumes of poetry, literary criticism, translations, and children’s books.
The day will be marked by a series of special events, including:
- 09:00-10:00 SLT: Exploring Le Guin: A Brief Tour and Discussion: a “tour” of Le Guin’s lands, via favourite passages from her books – suggestions invited. Moderated by Aoife Lorefield.
- 10:00-11:00 SLT: Aoife Lorefield Shares Readings from Ursula K. Le Guin.
- 15:00-17:00 SLT: A Wizard in Earthsea Party: The LitFest Ball.
- 19:00-21:00 SLT: Seanchai Library present Celebrating Ursula K.Le Guin.
In addition, and ahead of Ursuala Le Guin day, on Monday, April 22nd between 19:00-20:00 SLT, Seanchai Library’s Gyro Muggins will be reading selected excerpts from Le Guin’s Left Hand of Darkness, in which a human envoy arrives on the planet known as Gethen aka “Winter”; and from The Lathe of Heaven, where a battle of wits ensues between a psychiatrist and a patient with psychic dream powers.
Arrivals and Departures
On Thursday, April 25th from 14:00 SLT at the FaireChylde performance area, there will be a special performance of Arrivals and Departures, the story film by CEH Productions. Based on a short story written by Caledonia Skytower and recorded for Fantasy Faire Radio as part of Fantasy Faire 2018, the film was shot at a reproduction of Fantasy Faire 2018’s Erstwhile Station.
You can read more about the film at Arrivals and Departures in Second Life.
LitFest Tours
The popular Fantasy Faire LitFest Tours will once again be taking place, leaving daily from the LitFest home base of Trollhaugen to explore the Fairelands and seeking the stories they have to tell as well as their special secret places and details. Each tour will be guided and accompanied by music, as some of the Faire’s best loved DJs offer selections of music, especially chosen for each of the regions visited.
The Tours for 2019 will be as follows (all commence at 17:00 SLT unless otherwise indicated):
| Thursday, April 18th |
Region 1 – Fairholm |
| Friday, April 19th |
Region 2 – Light of Va’loth |
| Saturday, April 20th |
Region 3 – Nightshade Blossoms |
| Sunday, April 21st |
Region 4 – Sanguinely Garden |
| Monday, April 22nd |
Region 5 – Bayounimba |
| Tuesday, April 23rd |
Region 6 – The Shrine Tree |
| Wednesday, April 24th |
Region 7 – Department of Discarded Curiosities |
| Thursday, April 25th |
Region 8 – Twilight Spring |
| Friday, April 26th |
Region 9 – Tensors’ Flying Market |
| Saturday, April 27th |
Region 10 – Midas |
| Monday, April 29th |
Region 11 – Fairelands Junction |
| Tuesday, April 30th |
Region 12 – Urafiki |
| Wednesday, May 1st |
Region 13 – Genesia |
| Thursday, May 2nd |
Region 14 – Trollhaugen |
| Friday, May 3rd |
Region 15 – The Celestial Plain |
| Saturday, May 4th |
Region 16 – Thornfast |
Keep up with all the news and information on the LitFest and Fantasy Faire through the Fantasy Faire website.
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