Octocon

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title: "Octocon" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["science-fiction-conventions-in-europe", "entertainment-events-in-ireland", "irish-science-fiction", "autumn-in-the-republic-of-ireland"] description: "Speculative fiction convention in Ireland" topic_path: "geography/ireland" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Octocon" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary Speculative fiction convention in Ireland ::

::data[format=table title="Infobox Convention"]

Field	Value
name	Octocon, Ireland
image	Octocon Logo.png
caption	Octocon, Ireland logo
genre	Science fiction, fantasy
location	Dublin
country	Ireland
first	1990
website	http://www.octocon.com/
::

| name = Octocon, Ireland | image = Octocon Logo.png | caption = Octocon, Ireland logo | status = | genre = Science fiction, fantasy | venue = | location = Dublin | country = Ireland | first = 1990 | last = | organiser = | filing = | attendance = | website = http://www.octocon.com/

Octocon, the National Irish Science Fiction Convention, first held in 1989, is held (almost) annually in October. It has mostly been staged in Dublin, but for four years was in the university town of Maynooth. It was not held in 2003, and in 2014, when Ireland hosted that year's Eurocon, Shamrokon, in Dublin. It was virtual in 2020 and 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

History

::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/10/Kristian_Nairn_and_George_R._R._Martin_at_Octocon.jpg" caption="Game of thrones actor Kristian Nairn (Hodor) and Writer George R. R. Martin at Octocon in Dublin, 17 October 2010." alt="Kristian Nairn and George R. R. Martin at Octocon"] ::

• 1989/1990: The convention was initiated by members of the Irish Science Fiction Association, and named by artist Peter McCanney, who created the convention's first logo.
• 1990: Terry Pratchett was the first Guest of Honour of the convention.
• 1995: Advertised Guest of Honour Mary Gentle had to cancel her appearance at the last minute, leading to the appointment of Kim Newman in her place.
• 1997: This was also the year's official Eurocon, and consequently the largest Octocon to date.
• 1998: A one-day Octocon to date, something which would not be repeated until 2019.
• 2003: The convention took a break for a year.
• 2004: For the first time, Octocon was held outside Ireland's capital of Dublin, in Maynooth, County Kildare, where it was held for 3 further years.
• 2008: The convention returned to Dublin.
• 2009: The first Golden Blaster was awarded.
• 2014: There was no October convention this year. Instead a lot of the regular organizers helped run the official Eurocon, Shamrokon, in August.

Events

::data[format=table title=""]

Year	Guests of Honour	Location	Date	Ref
1990	Terry Pratchett	Royal Marine Hotel		13–14 October 1990
1991	Geoff Ryman		Royal Marine Hotel
1992	Orson Scott Card		Royal Marine Hotel
1993	Storm Constantine		Royal Marine Hotel
1994	Robert Holdstock		Royal Marine Hotel
1995	Kim Newman		Royal Marine Hotel
1996	Brian Stableford		Royal Marine Hotel
1997 – Eurocon	Harry Harrison	Dublin Castle, Dublin	25–27 October 1997
1998 - Octocon Lite	James White	Royal Marine Hotel	10 October 1998
1999	Robert Rankin	Royal Marine Hotel	9–10 October 1999
2000	Michael Marshall Smith	Royal Dublin Hotel	21–22 October 2000
2001	Anne McCaffrey	Royal Marine Hotel	13–14 October 2001
2002	China Miéville	Royal Marine Hotel	19–20 October 2002
2003 - no event
2004	Tanith Lee	Glenroyal Hotel	16–17 October 2004
2005	Charles Stross	Glenroyal Hotel	15–16 October 2005
2006	J. G. Jones	Glenroyal Hotel	14–15 October 2006
2007	Alastair Reynolds	Glenroyal Hotel	13–14 October 2007
2008	Ken MacLeod	Royal Dublin Hotel	18–19 October 2008
2009	Mike Carey
Fan Guest Dave Lally	Camden Court Hotel	10–11 October 2009
2010	George R. R. Martin	Camden Court Hotel	16–17 October 2010
2011	John Higgins	Camden Court Hotel	15–16 October 2011
2012	Liz Williams	Camden Court Hotel	13–14 October 2012
2013	Richard K. Morgan and Gail Simone	Camden Court Hotel	12–13 October 2013
2014 – No Octocon, per above & *
2015	Maura McHugh and Emma Newman	Camden Court Hotel	19–11 October 2015
2016	Rhianna Pratchett, Diane Duane and Peter Morwood	Camden Court Hotel	14–16 October 2016
2017	Dan Abnett and Nik Vincent Abnett	Camden Court Hotel	October 2017
2018	Pat Cadigan and Colleen Doran	Crowne Plaza Hotel, Blanchardstown	19 - 21 October 2018
2019 - 1-day due to
August Worldcon in Dublin	Diane Duane, Peter Morwood, Ruth Frances Long, Peadar Ó Guilín	Crowne Plaza Hotel, Blanchardstown	13 October 2019
2020	Michael Carroll (and fan GoHs Helen and Philippa Ryder	Virtual due to pandemic	9 - 11 October 2020
2021	No GoHs	Virtual due to pandemic	1 - 3 October 2021
2022	Michael Carroll (and fan GoHs Helen and Philippa Ryder	Croke Park Convention Centre & online	15 - 16 October 2022
2023	Sarah Rees Brennan	The Gibson Hotel	7-8 October 2023
2024	Ruth Frances Long	The Gibson Hotel	5-6 October 2024
2025	Fenek and Przysto, PJ Holden, Shauna Lawless	The Maldron Hotel and Online	11-12 October 2025
::

• Shamrokon, a Eurocon, was run 22 to 24 August, at the Doubletree by Hilton, Dublin, with guest authors Michael Carroll, Seanan McGuire, Andrzej Sapkowski, translator Ylva Spångberg and artist Jim Fitzpatrick. Unlike 1997, this was not an Octocon.

Golden Blasters

The Golden Blasters are the National Irish Science Fiction Awards for short science fiction, fantasy or horror films. Submissions can and have come from anywhere in the world, and the winners are selected by audience vote and a panel of judges.

The awards now include the Golden Blaster, The Silver Blaster and the award for the best script.

::data[format=table title=""] | Year | Golden Blaster||Silver Blaster||Best Script | |---|---| | 2009 | Silent City (Director Rurairi Robinson) | | 2010 | Übermensch (Directed by Simon Temple and written by Daniel Poole) | | 2011 | Hai In Mano Il Tuo Futuro! (Directed by Enrico Maria Artale) | | 2012 | Shoreditch Slayer (Directed by Simon Levene) | | 2013 | Locked Up (Written and directed Jane Eakin) | | 2014 | ON/OFF (Directed by Thierry Lorenzi) | | 2015 | C.T.R.L (Directed by Mariana Conde) | | 2016 | The Way Back (Directed by John Carlin) | | 2017 | Einstein Rosen (Directed by Olga Osorio) | | url=https://2019.octocon.com/2019/08/29/the-golden-blasters-2019/|title=The Golden Blasters 2019|date=August 29, 2019|accessdate=July 13, 2025}} | Gryphon Animo, directed by Matthew Maloney | ::

In 2018 it was decided to have a "Best of best" award given in place of the usual structure. The overall winner was the 2017 Einstein Rosen short film.

In 2019 the founder of the Golden Blasters, John Vaughan, stepped down from managing the award for reasons of ill health. While a new team was appointed, the Golden Blasters did not appear in the convention's schedule following the pandemic.

References

References

1. (6 October 2016). "Meet Rhianna Pratchett - The woman behind the Lara Croft backstory". www.irishexaminer.com.
2. (2018-10-19). "Convention Connection: Geek Culture Conventions for Week 42 2018".
3. "Previous Guests of Honour".
4. "Octocon 2019".
5. "Octocon 2017".
6. "Octocon 2018".
7. "Octocon 2019".
8. "Octocon 2020".
9. "Octocon 2021".
10. "Octocon 2022".
11. "Octocon 2023".
12. "Octocon 2024".
13. "Octocon 2025".
14. "Welcome to nginx!".
15. (2019-05-10). "Octocon Presents...".
16. (August 29, 2019). "The Golden Blasters 2019".

::callout[type=info title="Wikipedia Source"] This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page. ::