Science fiction & fantasy book signing to be hosted by Oread Books at KU July 12

LAWRENCE -- Several authors of science fiction and fantasy will attend a book signing from 12:45 to 1:30 p.m. Saturday, July 12, at Oread Books on level 2 of the Kansas Union at the University of Kansas. The event is free and open to the public.

The authors will include: Robin Wayne Bailey, KU Emeritus Professor James Gunn, Kij Johnson, Frederic Pohl, Leslie What, Kate Wilhelm and the recipient of the 2003 John W. Campbell Award for the best science fiction novel of the year. The winner of the Campbell award will be announced during the conference.

The book signing will be in conjunction with the annual Campbell Conference, the John W. Campbell and Theodore Sturgeon awards, and this year's inductions into the Science Fiction & Fantasy Hall of Fame. The Campbell Conference is the concluding event of the yearly Writer's Workshop and the beginning of the Intensive English Institute on the Teaching of Science Fiction.

The John W. Campbell Memorial Award for the best science fiction novel of the year has been presented at KU since 1979; the Theodore Sturgeon Memorial Award for the best short science fiction of the year has been presented at KU since 1987. The Science Fiction & Fantasy Hall of Fame inductions have been presented since 1996, in cooperation with the Kansas City Society for Science Fiction and Fantasy. The honors will be announced at an awards banquet July 11.

Wilhelm, along with Wilson Tucker, is a 2003 inductee into the Science Fiction & Fantasy Hall of Fame; the 2003 posthumous inductees are Edgar Rice Burroughs and Damon Knight. Books by all this year's inductees will be available at the KU book signing.

Registered conference attendees also will view a free private showing of the recent film "Confederate States of America," a feature-length speculative documentary about an alternate present in a world where the South won the Civil War. The film's creators, Kevin Willmott and Matthew Jacobson, both assistant professors of theatre and film at KU, will lead a discussion of the work following the screening.