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Sirens Newsletter—Volume 13, Issue 8: October 2021

Sirens 2021

This month:

The time draws nigh!

We are now just days away from welcoming far-flung friends to Denver, Colorado, for Sirens 2021! Like so many other things in These Pandemic Times, it won’t be quite like other years. We’ll be masked; we’ll be respecting social distance; we’ll be arranging our rooms and meals and events a little differently, in the interests of keeping all our attendees as safe as possible.

What we are sure of, though, is that this will be an amazing opportunity to gather together and celebrate the work of female, nonbinary, and transgender creators of speculative fiction! We will still have brilliant programming presented by dazzling minds. We will still have a bookstore absolutely overflowing with fantastic stories, set in worlds worth losing yourself in. We will still have keynote sessions from our amazing guests of honor. We will still dance!

We’re looking forward to welcoming you to Denver soon—and if you can’t join us this year, we hope to see you in 2022!

A Siren’s Voyage

The final two installments in our conference-prep series, A Siren’s Voyage, cover the on-the-ground aspects of attending Sirens.

We know it can be nerve-wracking to insert yourself into a new group, so Part 5: Our Bookish Community supplies you with some tips for socializing at Sirens. Whether you’re a new attendee and want to introduce yourself to the community or a returning attendee looking to expand your circles, we recommend one question to get the ball rolling: “What are you reading?” Because everyone at Sirens, whoever they may be at home and whatever brought them to the conference, shares a love of speculative fiction—and you can take it from there!

Part 6: Attending Programs addresses the formal component of the conference: the panels, lectures, presentations, workshops, classes, and roundtables that make up the scheduled programming on Friday and Saturday. We let you know what to expect from those sessions—and that it may be more interactive than other conferences or conventions you’ve attended! Sirens thrives on conversations, and we hope that you’ll take part.

In case you missed them and want to catch up, here are the prior installments of the series:

Books

Book Recommendations and Reviews:

  • Want to immerse yourself in a story of magic and self-discovery? S.K. Tiao recommends Madeline Miller’s Circe: “Above all, this is a story about love—of everything people and gods are willing to do for it, and all of the blessings that life can contain if it is attained.”
  • Downloading a hot new read for your travel to Sirens? Let our October Roundup of new speculative works by female, transgender, and nonbinary authors be your guide!

We’re looking forward to greeting attendees in Denver soon! And if you won’t be joining us, we hope you’ll keep reading wonderful books and sharing the love!

This newsletter is brought to you by:

 


Questions? Concerns? Please email general queries to (help at sirensconference.org) and questions about programming to (programming at sirensconference.org).

 

A Siren’s Voyage, Part 6: Programming

What to Bring to Sirens Conference

After a very unusual year, in which we transformed Sirens into an online gathering, we are again planning for an in-person event this fall. We are readying the programming schedule, collecting newly released books, searching for amazing auction items, and discussing how we can make Sirens—after a year away—feel as warm and welcoming as ever. We confess: This all feels a bit strange.

And we suspect that coming—or coming back—to Sirens might feel a bit strange to you, too. So we thought we’d offer a series of posts about what Sirens is (or isn’t), some travel tips and tricks, and how you might choose to engage with the conference and community. If you’re planning on attending, we can’t wait to see you. And if you’re returning, we can’t wait to see you again.

Here are the first five posts in our Siren’s Voyage series, about whether Sirens might be the right conference for you, making travel arrangements, what to pack, pandemic protocols, and joining the community. This week, let’s talk about navigating the Sirens programming schedule.

Sirens Conference: Programming Philosophy

Sirens is, at its heart, a series of conversations. And each year, the vanguard of those conversations are the brave and brilliant individuals—readers, scholars, librarians, educators, publishing professionals, authors, and more—who share their thoughts and wisdom as part of our programming.

Unlike many conferences, Sirens does not assemble its own programming. Instead, we invite our attendees—all of our attendees, regardless of vocation, level of experience, or years at Sirens—to propose the papers, lectures, panels, roundtable discussions, workshops, and afternoon classes that make up our programming. That means that every year our programming schedule reflects what the impressively accomplished Sirens community is working on, thinking through, interrogating—and finds important.

With a small number of exceptions, the programming that you’ll attend at Sirens was proposed by attendees and reviewed and selected by our independent vetting board, which represents experience and achievement in the various areas in which we receive a majority of our proposals. This is a rigorous process, demanding thoughtfulness, scholarship, relevance—and courage! We hope you’ll take the time to both attend programming this weekend and thank the presenters for their work.

We also hope you’ll remember that Sirens is deliberately interdisciplinary in its approach. At Sirens, readers present alongside librarians, educators and booksellers collaborate on course curricula, and authors learn from scholars. We think that our method of programming selection highlights the importance of this interdisciplinary discussion and helps ensure that our programming represents the true breadth of diverse perspectives, experiences, and identities of the Sirens community.

Sirens Conference: Types of Presentations

When we created Sirens, we did so with an active experience in mind. That means that, unlike many conferences you may know, our programming is not always a passive listening experience, perhaps with an opportunity to ask a question or two. Some of our programming takes that format, but other presentations will rely on audience discussion or engagement, and we’re sure you’ll want to know which is which before you attend.

You may notice that each presentation at Sirens is classified as a paper/lecture, panel discussion, roundtable discussion, workshop, or afternoon class. This gives you some idea of what the presentation format will be—and how involved you, the audience, will be expected to be. Here are the most common types of presentations, including what the presenter will be seeking in terms of audience participation.

Papers and Lectures

Presenters may read papers or deliver lectures or talks on a topic and may or may not take audience questions during or after the presentation. Occasionally, papers and lectures will be delivered as a pre-empaneled set of presentations on related topics. These presentations are meant to be largely informational and often have a rather passive audience experience.

Panel Discussions

Panels, led by a moderator, generally discuss and debate a topic before an audience and may or may not take audience questions during or after the discussion. While these presentations include a number of presenters discussing a topic, like papers and lectures, they tend to have a rather passive audience experience.

Roundtable Discussions

Roundtable discussions are limited to a smaller audience—typically, one that reflects the discussion section that would be paired with a college lecture course—and depend on audience participation. These sessions will be led by a moderator seeking to explore open-ended questions with the audience and who will encourage everyone attending to take part. Seating in these presentations is limited to allow for a discussion that includes all attendees.

Workshops

Workshop sessions are led by an instructor and focus on the application and practice of a skill. Generally, attendees should expect to get their hands dirty, at least figuratively. The opportunity for the audience to gain or expand upon a particular skill, including the opportunity for participation or leaving with material for later use, marks this style of presentation. Seating in these presentations is limited to allow for hands-on instruction.

Afternoon Classes

Afternoon classes are an opportunity for instruction or exploration of practical topics related to fantasy literature, such as historical dress or music, martial arts, weaponry, battle strategy, costume construction, and so forth. Afternoon classes may be less formal than other types of programming in their presentation. Afternoon classes may be similar to workshops or be more demonstration-based, depending on the topic.


Please note that we have not yet released a programming schedule for Sirens, as we would normally have done by now, due to the number of shifting pandemic issues. We will have that schedule available for you at the conference itself.

Nevertheless, we hope that you’ll attend many presentations at Sirens. This is the core of both the conference itself and the conference’s educational mission, and we think you’ll find that the opportunities to both learn from and engage with other Sirens attendees are extraordinary and not to be missed.

We Asked Sirens

Sirens, at its very heart, is about community. As we gear up for our in-person conference this October after two years physically apart, we thought we’d ask our community a series of questions about their impressions, memories, and favorite conference programs. In this case, we thought we’d turn your responses into a paper doll set. Please feel free to print, cut it out, and share on social media!

Our attendees are comprised of incredible readers, scholars, librarians, educators, publishing professionals, authors, and fans—but they also identify as veterans, graphic designers, lawyers, immigrants, cat-lovers, superheroines, and even the occasional Aquarius. We hope to count you among us!

Why Sirens Conference

Madeline Miller’s Circe is a luminous, feminist retelling of self-love

Circe Madeline Miller

Her name is Circe, and she is the golden-eyed daughter of a god.

But in Madeline Miller’s lyrically written Circe, she is also the most mocked and least cherished member of her family. As the unwanted daughter of the sun god Helios, throughout millennia her story has been told in pieces scattered in other myths and legends. When Jason and Medea steal the Golden Fleece, it is Circe who provides them with aid. Pasiphaë, mother to the Minotaur who lives in a labyrinth, is her sister. When Odysseus’s men turn into pigs, she is the witch who transformed them.

Circe has been part of all of these stories, but she has never been considered important. Now her story is finally told for a new audience. But she begins powerless and almost voiceless. Her father treats her with indifference. Her mother is ashamed of Circe’s lack of beauty. Circe’s sister says, “A thousand times I saw you squashed. I squashed you myself.” Despite all of this, Circe is humble, kind, and considerate. For that, she is despised. Ultimately, she is banished to live alone and lonely on the island of Aeaea.

Shipwrecked sailors come, covetously eying her body and her belongings when she welcomes them, eager for company. In one particular scene, they ask to thank her husband for the hospitality she provides. Then, because there is no husband nor father, a sailor asks:

“‘Then perhaps there is some other host we should thank? An uncle, a brother?’

‘If you would thank a host,’ I said, ‘thank me. This house is mine alone.’

At the word, the air changed in the room.”

To fend for herself, she slowly transforms from humble girl to powerful enchantress—and it is gloriously satisfying. At one point, she says of the men she turns into pigs:

“They moan and squealed, and pressed their snouts to the earth. We are sorry, we are sorry. Sorry you were caught, I said. Sorry that you thought I was weak, but you were wrong.”

But this isn’t just the story of an icy goddess who comes into her full powers. Above all, this is a story about love—of everything people and gods are willing to do for it, and all of the blessings that life can contain if it is attained.

Circe learns to love others, she learns what it is like when they truly love her back, and most importantly of all, she learns to realize that she is worthy of love and she learns to love herself.

It is also the story of a woman who is trying to find herself, chart her own path, and decide what it is, exactly, that she wants despite other people’s ideas of her. At one point she asks, “Would I be skimmed milk or a harpy? A foolish gull or a villainous monster? Those could not still be the only choices.” Circe, a peripheral character, has been doomed to live as the cruel witch or undeserving daughter of a god across thousands of years and thousands of stories. But in Circe, Madeline Miller has created a new kind of Greek myth.

Miller trots out a pantheon of familiar characters: Ariadne, Odysseus, Jason and Medea, Daedalus, and more. But this is not the world of Greek myths from before, where it was an honor to be used by a god—and so the gods did, fruitfully and joyfully. Where women were calm helpmeets and good wives, until they became villains if they reacted with anger as their husbands impregnated other women or killed their daughters.

We see all of Circe’s stories, but this time, from a woman’s point of view—a view that has been neglected for far too long. In this beautifully written, feminist retelling, Odysseus is not the hero for cheating on his wife. Forgotten women discover their power. Past wrongs are righted. And finally, Circe has the agency to choose her own story and her own life to create the future she has always wanted. Madeline Miller has created a new kind of luminous story that I love, and will read again and again.


During the day, S.K. Tiao can most often be found dreaming up new ways to tell people what to buy. She has lived in every major metropolitan area on the West Coast although she hopes to end up back in Washington State. For fun, she loves to read more than almost anything, but also cooks her friends seven-course, themed meals. She can’t draw, but she makes quilts, wool rugs, and knitted lace shawls.

A Siren’s Voyage, Part 5: Joining the Community

A Siren's Voyage

After a very unusual year, in which we transformed Sirens into an online gathering, we are again planning for an in-person event this fall. We are readying the programming schedule, collecting newly released books, searching for amazing auction items, and discussing how we can make Sirens—after a year away—feel as warm and welcoming as ever. We confess: This all feels a bit strange.

And we suspect that coming—or coming back—to Sirens might feel a bit strange to you, too. So we thought we’d offer a series of posts about what Sirens is (or isn’t), some travel tips and tricks, and how you might choose to engage with the conference and community. If you’re considering attending, we very much hope you do. And if you’re returning, we can’t wait to see you again.

Here are the first four posts in our Siren’s Voyage series, about whether Sirens might be the right conference for you, making travel arrangements, what to pack, and pandemic protocols. This week, let’s talk about meeting new people and joining the Sirens community.

Sirens: Meeting New People

People, for many of us, are a source of stress. We don’t know who they are, we don’t know what to say, we worry if they’ll like us or think we’re smart. For many, the hardest part about Sirens, especially if you’re attending for the first time, is figuring out how to navigate all those strangers. We expect that this will be especially true this year, given the pandemic. People are a new source of stress for all of us, in ways they haven’t been before. You check to see if they’re wearing their masks properly, you’re hyper-conscious of your personal space, and every touch is an awkward, often unwelcome uncertainty. Even if you’re a Sirens veteran, this year may be different: fraught and uncertain in ways that perhaps it hasn’t been in the past.

But here’s the thing: No matter how expert, talented, or intimidating Sirens attendees might be—no matter if they are an accomplished scholar or experienced librarian or capable parent-of-five, a brand-new agent, a first-year teacher, a part-time bookseller, a newly published author, or a small-town farrier—every single person at Sirens has one thing in common: They love speculative literature. Especially speculative literature that interrogates societal marginal identities and oppressions.

There’s no easier place to meet people than at Sirens because at Sirens, all you need is a single question:

What are you reading?

There are follow-on questions, of course, if you like: What are some of your favorite fantasy works? What have you read this year that you loved? Have you tried [fill in your favorite book here]? Maybe they’ll have that in the bookstore? Let’s go find out!

While there are a lot of intersections at Sirens—vocations, experiences, interests—the common ground will always be our collective love of the revolutions, aspirations, and necessities that we find in speculative literature.

And we hope that that makes everyone at Sirens a lot less scary—and a lot more welcoming, even in this off-kilter year.

Sirens: Joining the Community

The possibly quite unhelpful answer to that question is, frankly, whatever you want. We deliberately create community spaces as part of Sirens, because while our programming forms the foundation of the conversations we have, those formal presentations and discussions are only a jumping off point for another thousand conversations that folks will have over the weekend. So, we’ve built in both time and physical space for those conversations to happen:

  • In the welcoming lobby of the hotel, which features comfy chairs and outlets for our ever-present electronics
  • Over a cup of tea as you arrive and check into Sirens
  • In the bookstore, which will feature over 1,500 speculative titles by authors of marginalized genders
  • As you browse our geektastic auction items
  • In passing between programming sessions
  • In the sun-filled community room that we’ve set aside this year just for social-distanced conversations
  • Early in the morning over our Books and (Nope, Not This Year) Breakfast discussion
  • At the Sirens Ball, where you’ll wear whatever you want—a ballgown, a costume, or your jeans because you should feel as casual or as fancy as you wish
  • In the evening in or near one of the hotel’s many alcoves and fireplaces
  • At the rollicking spectacle that is the Sirens live auction on Sunday morning

We hope that you’ll feel comfortable(ish) using these times and spaces to strike up these conversations, no matter how awkward they might feel at first. With a little bit of courage and books as your always-at-hand icebreaker, you’ll be a full-fledged member of the Sirens community in no time at all.

And the Sirens community wouldn’t have it any other way.

New Fantasy Books: October 2021

We’re excited to bring you a roundup of October 2021 fantasy book releases by and about women and nonbinary folk. Let us know what you’re looking forward to, or any titles that we’ve missed, in the comments!
 

Sirens Newsletter—Volume 13, Issue 7: September 2021

This month:

It’s now less than a month until Sirens 2021! If you’ll be joining us in Denver, have you prepped your packing list? Assembled your masquerade outfit? Practiced your auction-bidding voice? If we won’t be seeing you this year, we hope to keep you involved with your Sirens community online and, as ever, through the exploration of the amazing work of women, nonbinary, and transgender people in fantasy literature and other speculative spaces!

COVID-19 Updates

With the pandemic ongoing, we’ve made some changes and instituted some protocols to ensure that Sirens 2021 can take place in person. Most notably, we’ve canceled Sirens Studio for this year and are folding some Studio programming into the conference schedule. We are also requiring that all attendees show proof of full vaccination and a negative viral test for COVID-19 taken less than 72 hours before the start of the conference. Attendees will also be required to wear masks in conference spaces.

We’re continuing to work on other ways to make the conference as safe as possible, including encouraging social distancing and sanitization practices. We hope that all attendees will take the appropriate measures while traveling to and from Sirens in order to protect yourselves and others.

For more information on these policies, please see our detailed post. If you have questions, contact (help at sirensconference.org).

A Siren’s Voyage

As the Sirens adventure draws nearer, we know that many of you may be feeling a little… weird about the prospect of traveling, staying in a hotel, socializing with a group, and otherwise recovering aspects of pre-pandemic life. To that end, we’ve been taking you through A Siren’s Voyage, a series designed to help familiarize or re-familiarize yourself with who we are, what we do, and what kind of experience you can expect at this conference.

Feeling Safer

Part Four: Feeling Safer addresses the concerns unique to attending a conference in the middle of a pandemic. What is Sirens doing to reduce risk? What can you do to protect yourself and others? In this post, we review our policies and protocols and make some suggestions to help everyone travel safely and smoothly.

Books

Book Recommendations and Reviews:

  • Our final installment of this year’s Reading Challenge feature series focuses on the theme of “Finding Home.” Characters in speculative fiction may travel far and wide, among the stars or through portals or across continents, but every hero needs a home: a place or a person where they can find safety, comfort, and a respite from the trials of the world.
  • In celebration of National Hispanic Heritage Month in the US, we’ve assembled a list of 10 new speculative books from Latinx authors, an update to last year’s list of fifty Latinx authors and books.
  • Getting ready for Halloween and want some books to get you in the mood? We’ve got two lists to fit the season! Catherine Lundoff has assembled a list of books celebrating queer monsters and magic featuring lesbian vampires, ghost dogs, gay werecockroaches, and more, and J Koyanagi presents six tales of speculative horror that will have you wanting to leave the lights on!/li>
  • We also have a list of 5 Queer YA Novels that bring escape and comfort, gathered for us by Julia Ember.
  • This month’s Read with Amy feature explores Helen Oyeyemi’s newest novel, Peaces. This story of strangers on a train will make many readers think of Agatha Christie, but Amy warns us to recalibrate our brains for Oyeyemi’s thought-experiment-cum-adventure story that explores the question: “What does it mean when the person you most want to perceive you…simply doesn’t?”
  • Need more new reads? Our September Roundup gathers all the speculative fiction new releases by and about women and nonbinary folk that we could find!

That’s it for September! The Sirens team hopes to see you in Denver next month, but whether we do or not, we hope you’re set for a wonderful, book-filled fall!

This newsletter is brought to you by:

 


Questions? Concerns? Please email general queries to (help at sirensconference.org) and questions about programming to (programming at sirensconference.org).

 

We Asked Sirens: What’s a Sirens programming session you still think about?

Sirens, at its very heart, is about community. As we gear up for our in-person conference this October after two years physically apart, we thought we’d ask our community a series of questions about their impressions, memories, and favorite conference programs.

Our attendees are comprised of incredible readers, scholars, librarians, educators, publishing professionals, authors, and fans—but they also identify as veterans, graphic designers, lawyers, immigrants, cat-lovers, superheroines, and even the occasional Aquarius. We hope to count you among us!

Sirens programming

5 Queer YA Fantasy Novels I Couldn’t Put Down

5 Queer YA Fantasy Novels I Couldn’t Put Down

As a reader surviving the pandemic, I have devoured escapist reads. For me, that has always entailed diving into fantasy novels, being transported to new worlds, and finding space to breathe, imagine and dream. Here are five queer young adult fantasies that helped me escape this past year, and I hope that other Sirens will enjoy them as much as I did!

Beyond the Ruby Veil by Mara Fitzgerald
1. Beyond the Ruby Veil by Mara Fitzgerald

Emanuela is in the midst of many plans when the omen summoning her to death in the city’s water tower appears on her skin—like marrying her childhood best friend so that both of them can live their best gay lives outside of their society’s scrutiny. But when the watercrea, the priestess in charge of creating water from blood, captures Emanuela at her wedding, she has to fight back, mostly for herself, but if she ends up saving the other residents of her city, Emanuela considers that a bonus.

Beyond the Ruby Veil was an utter delight from cover to cover. The premise of a fantasy world where water could only be made from blood intrigued me. It’s a fast-paced, short read, and it was refreshing to read a protagonist so singularly focused on her own desires. I am eagerly awaiting the sequel in 2022!

A Curse of Roses by Diana Pinguicha
2. A Curse of Roses by Diana Pinguicha

Princess Yzabel is cursed. With one touch, anything she tries to eat turns to roses. She’s slowly starving, a constant reminder of the pain her people face. She longs to reverse her curse and turn flowers into food. And when she meets a beautiful enchantress, it seems like she may have found the answer to her prayers and the secret dreams of her heart.

A Curse of Roses is a unique historical fantasy novel based on Portuguese hagiography, on a legend that has historic roots in the author’s hometown. I was fascinated by the blend of thirteenth-century Catholicism and magic, intricately researched history, and new possibilities as Yzabel struggles to come to terms with her sexuality.

Girl, Serpent, Thorn by Melissa Bashardoust
3. Girl, Serpent, Thorn by Melissa Bashardoust

Hidden from the world and confined due to her poisonous touch, Princess Soraya is desperate for freedom and to be seen as anything other than a monster. So much so that she is willing to free a demon to attain it. But her decisions lead to terrible outcomes, and Soraya starts to question if she was previously monstrous, or if her choices made her who she is.

Melissa Bashardoust has been one of my authors to watch since I read Girls Made of Snow and Glass a few years ago. Her prose is stunning, word-perfect and vivid, and there were twists in this novel I never saw coming. It was honestly everything I wanted in a queer monster fairy tale.

From Darkness by Kate Hazel Hall
4. From Darkness by Kate Hazel Hall

When Ari was a child, her best friend drowned in front of her. Years later, Ari still blames herself for being unable to save Alex. When Ari is bitten by a venomous snake, the shade who comes to escort her to the underworld is none other than her deceased friend. Will the girls be able to navigate the afterlife to save each other and return to the living?

This book is such a sweet sapphic portal fantasy! It’s set in two worlds: a rural town on the Australian coast, and an afterlife inspired by the Greek underworld. The meeting of the two worlds was so fascinating, and I adored both of the generous, witty, and self-sacrificing main characters. From Darkness is a fabulous debut novel that deserves more attention.

The Deathless Girls by Kiran Millwood Hargrave
5. The Deathless Girls by Kiran Millwood Hargrave

A historical fantasy retelling of the legend of Dracula, told from the perspective of two of his brides-to-be. Seventeen-year-old Lil and her twin sister Kizzy are captured by a sadistic boyar and stolen away from their home to serve in his castle. While working in the castle kitchens, Lil meets Mira, an ethereal girl she feels immediately drawn to. But when her sister catches the eye of the notorious Dragon prince, Lil will do whatever she must to save what remains of her family.

The best word I can think of to describe this book is ‘haunting!’ I went into it not knowing it was a Dracula retelling, or a prequel to the Bram Stoker novel. This is not a happy tale, but the writing is beautiful and compelling. It also features a strong sister bond and twisted ending that will leave you reeling!


Julia EmberJulia Ember is the author of The Seafarer duology and Ruinsong. Julia has a lifelong appreciation for history and classic literature, and holds an MLit in medieval literature from the University of St. Andrews. She currently lives in Seattle with her wife, two cats and a very fluffy pony. When she isn’t working on her prose fiction, Julia writes for video and app games.

A Siren’s Voyage, Part 4: Feeling Safer

A Siren's Voyage

After a very unusual year, in which we transformed Sirens into an online gathering, we are again planning for an in-person event this fall. We are readying the programming schedule, collecting newly released books, searching for amazing auction items, and discussing how we can make Sirens—after a year away—feel as warm and welcoming as ever. We confess: This all feels a bit strange.

And we suspect that coming—or coming back—to Sirens might feel a bit strange to you, too. So we thought we’d offer a series of posts about what Sirens is (or isn’t), some travel tips and tricks, and how you might choose to engage with the conference and community. If you’re considering attending, we very much hope you do. And if you’re returning, we can’t wait to see you again.

You can read the first three posts in our Siren’s Voyage series, about whether Sirens might be the right conference for you, making travel arrangements, and what to pack, here, here, and here. This week, let’s talk feeling safer at Sirens during a global pandemic.

Sirens: Conference Changes

Last month, after much consideration of the current landscape and how to best protect the health of the Sirens community—and by extension, friends, family, hotel staff, and others—we announced that Sirens would take place in person in 2021. We have implemented safety requirements and procedures, and are considering additional measures, but we know that, as the Delta variant continues to spread in a number of areas, no additional safety protocols would be sufficient to permit everyone to feel safe attending an in-person event. Nonetheless, we plan to offer Sirens in person, for the first time since 2019, for whose who are able to attend—and interested in doing so.

Sirens will look different, though, as we work through how best to keep everyone as safe as possible. Most notably, we have canceled this year’s Sirens Studio in order to reduce everyone’s time traveling and everyone’s time around each other. Studio faculty who wish to attend the conference will present as part of the conference schedule, at no additional cost to attendees. We are refunding Studio ticket payments.

The Sirens schedule itself will look somewhat different as well. We are still working through changes as we confirm programming with presenters and incorporate the applicable Studio presentations, but we will separate the keynote meals from the presentations, to keep our Guests of Honor safer, and similarly, breakfast will take place before the auction. We thank you in advance for your patience, as it’s taking us some time to work through these changes.

Sirens: Vaccine and Negative COVID-19 Test Requirements

In order to attend Sirens this year, you must prioritize keeping the Sirens community safe.

You must be fully vaccinated prior to attending Sirens. This means that you must have received your second or single-dose shot by October 7, 2021.

  • We will require that you provide proof of vaccination when you check in for the conference. Please do not send us photos of your vaccination card, as we do not want to have copies of your personal medical data. A photo, paper copy, or app-based verification will also be accepted at check-in.
  • All human vaccines for COVID-19 that are fully approved or approved for emergency use by authorities in your country will be accepted.
  • We are not requiring a vaccination booster shot, as they are not yet widely available. Please follow the advice of your physician and other health officials regarding any boosters.

You must also show a negative viral test for COVID-19, with the test taken after 3:00 p.m. Mountain Time on Monday, October 18 (72 hours prior to the start of Sirens).

  • We will have rapid antigen tests available for free for all attendees to take prior to entry into Sirens.
  • If the rapid test is positive or inconclusive, you will not be able to attend Sirens until you have received a negative viral test, which is available locally at a number of testing sites.
  • You may wish to take a test prior to beginning your travel to Sirens. In the event that you are positive, that means that you may rest and recover in the comfort of your own home rather than at the Hilton Inverness.
  • The testing kit that we will provide all attendees contains a second rapid antigen test, which can be used 36 hours after the first.

You will be required to wear a mask over your nose and mouth in all conference spaces, except when eating, drinking, or making brief adjustments (such as fixing the fit or blowing your nose).

  • We strongly recommend KN95 or similar masks (like KF94 or N95) or two layers of medical masks. You are welcome to layer these options with cloth masks.
  • Single-layer gaiters, bandannas, face shields, and masks with exhalation valves or vents are not acceptable.
  • We’ll provide all attendees with a KN95 mask, as well as one medical mask with a clear panel for optional use such as while presenting.

Sirens: Other Safety Measures

We continue to work through additional safety measures, including actions that attendees can take to make Sirens safer for everyone. We are revising our room layouts to encourage social distancing and presenter safety, to reduce repetitive-touch areas, and to encourage everyone to keep their hands sanitized and their masks on. We will have additional rules regarding eating and drinking in the conference space and we will all wash our hands frequently.

If you are attending Sirens, we hope that you’ll work through additional safety measures as well. If you are using public transportation or flying, we strongly encourage you to put on a KN95 or similar mask before you encounter other travelers and to remove that mask as little as possible while in transit. If you wish to eat, we encourage you to do so away from others, rather than on a crowded airplane, train, or bus. If you wish to drink, we encourage you to consider a straw, which you can use without removing your mask. Practice social distancing and leave extra space between you and people who are not masked or who are wearing their masks incorrectly. Wash or sanitize your hands frequently—and use those wipes that airlines give you to wipe down the surfaces around your seat (including those overhead buttons for the light and the fan). Keeping yourself safe on the way to Sirens is the first step to keeping everyone safe while at Sirens!


We hope that you understand the hard choices the Sirens team had to make in deciding to present this year’s conference—and the compromises that we will all have to make to keep the Sirens community safe. Again, we appreciate your patience and your understanding.

Presented by Narrate Conferences, Inc.

 

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