The History of Novacon

The first Novacon was intended by the then Aston Science Fiction Group as a one-off event to complement the long-established Eastercon, but its success prompted the newly-resurrected Birmingham Science Fiction Group to assume the reins and organise a Novacon every autumn since.

The table below details past venues and guests; a more in-depth guide, including committee members and pre-convention membership figures, will be published in the programme book. You can see the archive websites for Novacon 36 onwards by following the links here.

Novacon 1971 Imperial Centre Hotel, Birmingham James White
Novacon 2 1972 Imperial Centre Hotel, Birmingham Doreen Rogers
Novacon 3 1973 Imperial Centre Hotel, Birmingham Ken Bulmer
Novacon 4 1974 Imperial Centre Hotel, Birmingham Ken Slater
Novacon 5 1975 Royal Angus Hotel, Birmingham Dan Morgan
Novacon 6 1976 Royal Angus Hotel, Birmingham David Kyle
Novacon 7 1977 Royal Angus Hotel, Birmingham John Brunner
Novacon 8 1978 Holiday Inn, Birmingham Anne McCaffrey
Novacon 9 1979 Royal Angus Hotel, Birmingham Christopher Priest
Novacon 10 1980 Royal Angus Hotel, Birmingham Brian W Aldiss
Novacon 11 1981 Royal Angus Hotel, Birmingham Bob Shaw
Novacon 12 1982 Royal Angus Hotel, Birmingham Harry Harrison
Novacon 13 1983 Royal Angus Hotel, Birmingham Lisa Tuttle
Novacon 14 1984 Grand Hotel, Birmingham Robert Holdstock
Novacon 15 1985 De Vere Hotel, Coventry David Langford, James White
Novacon 16 1986 De Vere Hotel, Coventry Chris Evans, E C Tubb
Novacon 17 1987 Royal Angus Hotel, Birmingham Iain M Banks
Novacon 18 1988 Royal Angus Hotel, Birmingham Garry Kilworth
Novacon 19 1989 Excelsior Hotel, Solihull Geoff Ryman
Novacon 20 1990 Excelsior Hotel, Solihull Dr Jack Cohen
Novacon 21 1991 Forte Post House, Solihull
(formerly the Excelsior Hotel)
Colin Greenland
Novacon 22 1992 Royal Angus Hotel, Birmingham Storm Constantine
Novacon 23 1993 Royal Angus Hotel, Birmingham Stephen Baxter
Novacon 24 1994 Royal Angus Hotel, Birmingham Graham Joyce
Novacon 25 1995 Chamberlain Hotel, Birmingham Brian W Aldiss,
Harry Harrison,
Bob Shaw
Special Guest: Iain M Banks
Novacon 26 1996 Ibis Hotel, Birmingham David Gemmell
Novacon 27 1997 Abbey Hotel, Malvern Peter F Hamilton
Novacon 28 1998 Britannia Hotel, Birmingham Paul J McAuley
Novacon 29 1999 Britannia Hotel, Birmingham Ian Stewart
Novacon 30 2000 Britannia Hotel, Birmingham Christopher Priest
Special Guest: Rog Peyton
Guest Artist: David A Hardy
Novacon 31 2001 Quality Hotel, Bentley Gwynneth Jones
Novacon 32 2002 Quality Hotel, Bentley Ian McDonald
Novacon 33 2003 Quality Hotel, Bentley Jon Courtenay Grimwood
Novacon 34 2004 Quality Hotel, Bentley Ian Watson
Novacon 35 2005 Quality Hotel, Bentley Alastair Reynolds
Novacon 36 2006 Quality Hotel, Bentley Ken MacLeod
Novacon 37 2007 Quality Hotel, Bentley Charles Stross
Novacon 38 2008 Quality Hotel, Bentley Ian R MacLeod and Vernon Brown
Novacon 39 2009 Park Inn, Nottingham Justina Robson
Novacon 40 2010 Park Inn, Nottingham Iain M Banks
Special Guest: Brian Aldiss
Novacon 41 2011 Park Inn, Nottingham John Meaney
Novacon 42 2012 Park Inn, Nottingham Jaine Fenn
Novacon 43 2013 Park Inn, Nottingham Jo Walton
Novacon 44 2014 Park Inn, Nottingham Kari Sperring
Science Guest: John Gribbin
Novacon 45 2015 Park Inn, Nottingham Anne and Stan Nicholls
Novacon 46 2016 Park Inn, Nottingham Juliet McKenna
Novacon 47 2017 Park Inn, Nottingham Adrian Tchaikovsky
Novacon 48 2018 Park Inn, Nottingham Chris Beckett