I've received the list from programming director Heather Gammage of the panels I'll probably be on at Conjure, the national speculative fiction convention being held in Brisbane over the Easter long weekend. I haven't included times or full details of the other panellists because they may change but this list is here to whet the appetite a little and see if anyone has any ideas about the panel topics themselves. Shout loud if you have any thoughts.

What’s the scoop?
The future of reporting and consuming the news. Hear from Wired Magazine journalist Bruce Sterling and the former State Political Correspondent of The Courier-Mail newspaper, Malcolm Cole. 

The forces governing the news media - advertising, delivery, collection and consumption - are in a tremendous state of flux. But it's not the first time that people have made predictions about the reshaping of the news media. It will be fun to throw some of these ideas up in the air and see where they land. Bruce is smart. Malcolm is smart. I like to argue and throw evil questions into the mix. I'm not sure that I've fully formed my opinions on many of the issues surrounding this topic but I've been giving it a lot of thought over the past few days and I'm looking forward to doing some more reading and thinking on the issues.

Crumbs From the Editing Table
Editors give their insights into good writing, bad writing and the search for the diamond in the rough.

This is a panel I suggested, so I hope it works. Given the number of panels at cons about the business of writing, I'm surprised there aren't more on the craft of writing. Perhaps there's a reason for that.

Clarion South: Will it really help your writing career?
Hear from past students and tutors of this prestigious international writing workshop and find out how to apply for CS 2007. 

Ok, I can hear you saying this is just gratutous pimpage for Clarion South. And you're right. But lots of people are interested in the workshop and this is a very efficient way of answering lots of questions at once and exposing the good, the bad and the ugly of the whole thing.

Press # to register your protest
Technology and the future of political and social activism. 

I'm a big fan of creative civil disobedience (it's a major part of my new novel) and this panel will be a great opportunity to throw some ideas around. Could be one of those panels that either rocks people's socks off or falls flat. But the panel line-up is top-class for the topic. I have high hopes.

Those were the young years: Juvenilia Readings
Four great authors step back in time to read stories they wrote when they were twelve-ish.

This will be the most fun panel at Conjure. It will be the one they talk about for years to come and don't complain if you're not there - you've been warned. I've got the honour of chairing (not reading) and I'm going to spend most of my time getting out of the way of the authors. The wonderful Kim Wilkins suggested the panel and immediately volunteered to be one of the lambs to the slaughter authors who reads their work. 

I'll pimp my panel appearances further when I get official details. Overall, I think the programming team has done a great job in delivering panels that pretty much cover my unofficial tagline for the con: "Real Writers with Real Ideas."