Program Participants

Rigel Ailur wrote her first novel—all of seven pages!—at the age of seven and hasn't stopped since. Now with twenty-four novels and ninety...

Scott H. Andrews is Editor-in-Chief and Publisher of the ten-time Hugo Award finalist fantasy magazine Beneath Ceaseless Skies...

Sarah Avery's first book, Tales from Rugosa Coven, won the 2015 Mythopoeic Fantasy Award. Her short fiction has appeared in Beneath...

Jim Beall (BS-Math, MBA, PE) has been a nuclear engineer for over 50 years and an avid science fiction reader for even longer. His...

After an eventful youth living in Israel and fathering 3 sons, I live with my wife and 2 of my now-grown sons in Potomac, Maryland...

Paul Bove is a Maryland based World History Teacher with an M.A, in International Relations. An author with articles published on...

Jana S. Brown entered the world of publishing in the mid-90s and has never looked back. She’s worked as a fiction writer, technical...

Doc Coleman never dreamed of being a writer. He dreamed of being an actor, of making movies. Unfortunately, that didn't happen...

Elwin Cotman is a storyteller from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. He is the author of three collections of speculative short stories...

Virginia DeMarce, since retiring as a historian in 2004, has been an active participant in the 1632 alternate history series founded by Eric Flint...

Oghenechovwe Donald Ekpeki is an African speculative fiction writer...

Kit England is a fantasy author whose work is deeply influenced by her academic background in Disability Studies and...

Elektra Hammond emulates her multi-sided idol Buckaroo Banzai by going in several directions at once. She’s been involved in publishing...

A budding streamer, compulsory world-builder, and a occasional author of short stories, Lee has been in the fandom for nearly fifteen...

Larry Hodges is an active member of SFWA with over 220 short story sales, with 56 "pro" sales, including four novels...

Akua Lezli Hope, a Grand Master of Fantastic Poetry (SFPA), is a creator & wisdom seeker who creates poems, patterns, stories, music, sculpture...

Michelle is the former president of the Games Club of Maryland. She has been involved in the boardgaming community for over 25 years...

Daniel M. Kimmel is the 2018 recipient of the Skylark Award, given by the New England Science Fiction Association. He was a finalist...

Tris Lawrence has been writing since she was a child, filling notebooks with the worlds, dreams, and voices inside her head. She declared in sixth...

Mike Luoma writes and publishes science fiction and comics, narrates audiobooks, creates the long-running "Glow-in-the-Dark Radio"...

Gail Z. Martin writes epic fantasy, urban fantasy & more for Solaris Books, Orbit Books, and Falstaff Books. She also writes as Morgan...

Born in the 70s, raised in the 80s, and trying hard to recover from both of those traumas, I crawled into my first RPG before I became a teenager...

LH Moore’s speculative fiction has been published in all three Dark Dreams anthologies of Black horror writers; Bram Stoker Award Finalist...

Bryant Keith O'Hara is a programmer, poet, and musician - not always in that order, sometimes all at once. His poetry has been...

Neil Ottenstein obtained a PhD in theoretical nuclear physics in 1990 and since then has been workingin flight dynamics for one of...

Sarah Pinsker is the Hugo, Nebula, Sturgeon, Philip K Dick, Locus, and Eugie Award winning author of A Song For A New Day, Sooner or...

Andrija Popovic is a native of the Washington DC metropolitan area who indulges in photography, spends entirely too much on books, and...

Dave Ring is a writer and editor of speculative fiction living in Washington, DC. He is the author of The Hidden Ones (Rebel Satori...

Naomi S. is a writer, crafter, and mother of twins (one of which is a self-proclaimed dragon). She resides in Maryland where...

Melissa Scott has published more than thirty original novels and a handful of short stories, most with queer themes and characters...

D. A. Xiaolin Spires steps into portals and reappears in sites such as Hawai’i, NY, various parts of Asia and elsewhere, with her keyboard...

Mary G. Thompson is the author of the sci-fi novella One Level Down (Tachyon, 2025). She is also the author of The Word, Flicker...

Mark L. Van Name is a writer, technologist, and spoken word performer. He has published five novels (One Jump Ahead...

Kris Vyas-Myall is the co-founder of Cloaked Creators and someone who reads way too much fiction and likes anything bizarre, the weirder the...

Joy Ward has been a pro writer and editor for over thirty years. She has several science fiction books including a novel. and several...

L. Marie Wood is a psychological horror author, recipient of the Golden Stake Award, a MICO Award-winning screenwriter, a two-time Bram...

D.H. Aire has published more than 20 books, most recent are Knight's Blood and Bigfoot Hunting. His love of history & archaeology found...

John Appel's debut novel ASSASSIN’S ORBIT was published by Rebellion in July 2021 and was a finalist for the 2022 Compton Crook Award...

Emad El-Din Aysha is an academic researcher, author, freelance journalist and translator. He attained his PhD in International Studies...

Owned by two cats Taj and Esther, Dana Bell often creates tales that include her four footed overlords. Most of her stories and books...

Joshua Bilmes is the President of JABberwocky Literary Agency, which he founded in 1994, and hopes to discover another new client this year...

Walt Boyes is a journalist, analyst, and recognized authority on 21st Century manufacturing and automation. He is a Fellow of...

When Suzanne A Buck was a girl, her older sister bet she would end up working with animals because even as a toddler she had a natural...

Iver Cooper has been an active contributor to Eric Flint's "1632" shared universe, with more than 20 short stories and more than 40...

Galen Dara has created art for Uncanny Magazine, Lightspeed Magazine, Fireside Fiction Magazine, Fantasy Flight Games...

Formerly known as The Sagacious Traveler, Tavair Dominque is a singer-songwriter, poet, and author based in Baltimore. His music...

Christiana is an engineer, podcaster, writer and streamer from the Boston area. She is the author of the fantasy novel, "Nina Kimberly the...

Dr. Charles E. Gannon’s best known work is in the best-selling Caine Riordan hard sf series and the Vortex of Worlds epic fantasy saga...

Eric is a fan, an author and an artist, usually in that order. Eric lives in central Pennsylvania with his amazing family. He writes...

Morgan Hazelwood has been sharing “Writing Tips & Writerly Musings” with writing tips from the pros and her own writerly musings since 2015...

Anastasia has enjoyed costumes and Halloween and being in plays since I was a baby. My love for this only grew as I immersed myself more...

Best known in his home town of Bethlehem, PA as the longtime drummer for The Philadelphia Funk Authority, George Hrab is also an...

Somto Ihezue (He/Him) is an Igbo writer, editor, and filmmaker. He is a Creative Writing MFA student at the University of Maryland, and...

Christiane Knight [she/they] is an artist, musician, writer, and author of the contemporary fantasy series Stories of the Eleriannan. Her...

Emily got hooked on filk as a member of Sassafrass. Having played Baldur in Sassafrass' production "Sundown" at...

Shahid Mahmud created Arc Manor; a Maryland based small press in 2006. Since then, the company has become a significant small SF...

Adeena is a physicist and astronomer and software engineer working - by day - for nearly three decades in the aerospace industry as a Mission...

Miguel O. Mitchell, PhD (he/him) is a Black speculative poet, SFF author, visual artist, and retired chemistry professor. He has published poems...

I have been a researcher of African History since 2011. I have a...

I am a professional historian with some 25 years of experience, 17 with the U.S. Air Force. I have been a sci-fi/fantasy fan since the 1970s, and...

Dr. Larry J. Paxton started on this road when he read a book his friend said was 'cool': Have Spacesuit Will Travel. There was a vision...

Dr Gillian POLACK is an award-winning Jewish Australian speculative fiction writer. She was the 2020 recipient of the A. Bertram Chandler...

Jennifer R. Povey lives in Northern Virginia with her husband. She writes a variety of speculative fiction, whilst following...

A Native of Maryland, John is a lifelong fan of Science Fiction and Fantasy. He loves Star Wars, both versions of Battlestar Galactica...

Robert J. Sawyer, the 2017 recipient of the Robert A. Heinlein Award, has been called “The dean of Canadian science fiction” by both the CBC...

Alex Shvartsman is the author of Kakistocracy (2023), The Middling Affliction (2022) and Eridani’s Crown (2019) fantasy novels...

Morgan Stallard is an autistic trans man, local convention regular and LGBT+/Disability activist. He's been involved in running LGBT+ and...

The Ree Reyes books: Geekomancy (2012), Celebromancy (2013), Attack the Geek (2014), Hexomancy (2015), Genrenauts The Shootout Solution...

Hugo and Nebula nominee Marie Vibbert has over 90 works in print, including multiple appearances in Analog, F&SF, and Lightspeed...

David Walton hails from Philadelphia, where he lives with his wife and eight children. An engineer by day and an author by night...

T. C. Weber has pursued writing since childhood, and learned filmmaking and screenwriting in college, along with physics and ecology. His latest...

Sherri Cook Woosley has a Master's Degree in English with a focus on comparative mythology from the University of Maryland. She drew...

A SFWA and HWA member, Ken Altabef's short fiction has appeared in magazines such as F&SF, Interzone, Daily Science Fiction...

Michelle Appel has been engaged in the examination and use of higher education data for over 28 years, working in Institutional Research...

Phoebe Barton is a Canadian queer trans science fiction writer. Her short fiction has appeared in venues such as Analog, Lightspeed, and F&SF...

Leonardo Espinoza Benavides (a.k.a. Leo) is a Chilean physician-writer...

I'm a STEM Librarian passionate about eco-criticism, Indigenous justice in the library, and comic books. In my free time, I write...

C.D. Brown is a writer and filmmaker from New Orleans. He edits and publishes the fantasy magazine Dirty Magick and is the author...

I’m a longtime gamer and designer working on making sure the next generation of geeks sees themselves represented. I’m a panelist...

Tyaz Cosplay has been sewing since she was 10 and cosplaying for 10 years. Although sewing is her original focus, she has also expanded into...

Randee Dawn is a Brooklyn-based SFF/H author at night and an entertainment journalist during the day for publications including...

Tom Doyle is the award-winning author of the American Craftsmen trilogy from Tor Books, and the Agent of Exiles series...

Ruthanna Emrys is the author of the Innsmouth Legacy series, including Winter Tide and Deep Roots, and A Half-Built Garden. She writes...

Carolyn Ives Gilman is a Hugo, and Nebula, and Sturgeon Award-nominated author of science fiction and fantasy. Her books include...

Bjorn was in a library looking for Timothy Zahn's Thrawn Trilogy when he found David Weber's Honor Harrington books. Once he read...

Born and raised in Berlin, Germany, Dr. Inge Heyer completed her secondary education there before accepting a language...

Thomas R. Holtz, Jr. is Principal Lecturer in Vertebrate Paleontology at the Department of Geology, University of Maryland, College Park...

hymie! is here because his wife is making him. She has involved him in the boardgaming community for over 20 years. She has also...

A. L. Kaplan’s love of books started as a child and sparked a creative imagination. Born on a cold winter morning in scenic northern New...

Nicole Givens Kurtz has been called “a genre polymath who does crime, horror, and Science Fiction and Fantasy (Book Riot).” They’ve...

Evelyn Lewis is the producer, editor, and one of the hosts for the podcast Tolkien About It. Evelyn's father, Professor Robert Lewis, has used...

Elora Malat (she/her) has been volunteering at Balticon since 2010 since she graduated from Cumberland County College...

Jo Miles writes optimistic science fiction and fantasy, including the Gifted of Brennex space opera trilogy beginning with Warped State...

Jessica Morán is a published fantasy author witch, & poet. Being a lover of all thing geeky she combined her passion for food, fantasy, folklore...

Chris Oakley owned and operated Oakley’s Gently Used Books, a bricks & mortar used bookshop with a specialty in Sci Fi/Fantasy, for more...

Sydney Olivia is a soon-to-be traditionally published author who writes fantasy, romance, fantasy romance, romantasy, and anything...

Diana Peterfreund has published fifteen novels for adults, teens, and kids, including the four-book Secret Society Girl series, the “killer unicorn...

Ann Pollack, Principal Professional Staff member at the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Lab (APL), brings 35+ years of engineering...

Dr. Karen Purcell obtained her Bachelor's in Biology from Pace University, Pleasantville Campus. She graduated with the Class...

Christopher Mark Rose is an engineer for NASA spacecraft by day, a writer of speculative fictions by night. His work has appeared...

Ken Schrader writes Science Fiction, Steampunk, Fantasy, Weird Westerns, and anything else he can get away with. He’s a...

Alan Smale writes alternate history, historical fantasy, and hard SF. His novella of a Roman invasion of ancient America, “A Clash of Eagles”...

Library worker by night—crafter, author, artist, voice actor, and sometime podcaster by everywhen else. His stories have appeared in...

Wendy Van Camp, Anaheim's Poet Laureate Emerita, is a dynamic voice in speculative poetry, blending cutting-edge technology...

Sabrina Vourvoulias is an award-winning Latina news editor and writer whose work has appeared at The Guardian US, PRI’s The World...

Jean Marie Ward writes fiction, nonfiction and everything in between, including novels, art books, and military strategy...

Martin Wilsey is a full-time author and creator of the bestselling SOLSTICE 31 SAGA. Mr. Wilsey's first novel, STILL FALLING...

Hello fellow nerds, I am Yoshi! I am the Director of RPG and Tabletop Programming for Balticon 59...