Help get Avery to WorldCon - Glasgow 2024

Hi, I'm Avery! I'm an activist, facilitator, writer, and renegade academic. I'm a confirmed speaker at this year's WorldCon (2024) in Glasgow but was told on the 14th July that my application to WorldCon's community fund was unsuccessful. I am hoping to crowdfund the costs so that I can still attend the convention from the 8th-12th August.

As a multiply marginalised person who was made redundant in May 2024, I am unable to afford the costs myself and have no access to financial assistance from elsewhere. I therefore need to rely on the generosity of the community to help get me to get to Glasgow.

Attending Glasgow 2024 is something that I have been looking forward to for the past 4 years and has been a source of light and excitement for me during some very hard times. As a disabled and working class queer person I have been incredibly isolated since the pandemic. Glasgow 2024 is not only a chance for me to participate in the programme and would allow me to reconnect with many of my friends and a community that I otherwise have been largely isolated from. Without assistance I will be unable to attend in person and will have to pull from the programme.

Below I have included more information about me and outlined what the funds will be used for. Please consider donating if you are able to, and please share within your networks.

About Me

I am a disabled, queer, trans and working class person from South London.

For almost a decade I have spoken and chaired a range of panels at fan conventions including Nine Worlds, EasterCon 2019, Dublin 2019, and ConZealand Fringe (online) 2020 on topics such as: inclusive worldbuilding in games, working class representation in YA fiction, ownvoices in SFF, women in Star Wars, and video games.

I was co-director of the London Science Fiction Research Community (2020 - 2022) where I organised events for an international community of science fiction scholars and fans. For the 2021 annual conference on the theme of Activism + Resistance I introduced the gaming track where I selected and chaired papers from global scholars on social justice and games; chaired the Creators Roundtable with Jeannette Ng, Rivers Solomon and Neon Yang; and organised the Indigenous Games Roundtable with Johnnie Jae, Santo Aveiro-Ojeda and Weyodi OldBear.

In July 2021 I also co-organised a one day Queerness + SF event with Ibtisam Ahmed which brought together queer SF writers, academics, thinkers and activists.

Lastly, I am a member of the Beyond Gender research collective. As part of this, I co-taught an Architecture + Science Fiction summer school; spoke at the Science Museum; and co-wrote chapters in Technologies of Feminist Speculative Fiction and the New Routledge Companion to Science Fiction.

What The Funds Will Be Used For

Funds raised will be used to pay for flights, accommodation and food for Glasgow 2024.

As a disabled attendee, I require my partner to come with me as carer and have to incorporate buffer rest days on either side of the con to manage flare ups before and after travel.

Accommodation: estimated £500-£550 for a double room in a shared AirBnB. Initially I had hoped to book somewhere cheaper but unfortunately the host has said it's not actually available for the entire duration so I am having to increase the budget to select a different place

Flights: estimated £190 economy return for 2 people from London Heathrow to Glasgow.

Food: estimated £50 for a food shop (2 people x 1 week) so that we can cook meals at the AirBnB for dinner and prepare packed lunches to bring to the con

Platform fees: I have budgeted a slightly higher amount to account for GoFundMe processing fees

Additional funds: Any funds provided over the requested amount will be used for additional con expenses such as travel around Glasgow and buffer money for food and drinks while we're out (if needed)