Our Committee

Chair, Logistics

Karen Fishwick

Karen has a professional background in volunteer management and community projects having worked in this area for over 15 years.

She is currently writing education modules for Mindful Business Services.

She loves to read genre books, does a little proof reading and writes an occasional review.

She is on the British Fantasy Society (BFS) committee as the Archivist.

Karen is a disabled woman who is passionate about access and supporting marginalised voices.

Co Vice-Chair, Programme

Allen Stroud

Allen Stroud is a university lecturer, researcher and Science Fiction and Fantasy Writer from Bedfordshire, England.

He the is Chair of the British Science Fiction Association (BSFA).

Stroud’s Fractal Series (Fearless, Resilient, Europa, Ceres, Lagrange Point, Luna, Terra and Jezero) is published by Flame Tree Press.

Co Vice-Chair

Stuart Maher

Biography coming soon.

Programme

Anna Smith Spark

Anna Smith Spark is the author of the Empires of Dust grimdark epic fantasy series The Court of Broken Knives, The Tower of Living and Dying and The House of Sacrifice; the standalone A Woman of the Sword; and A Sword of Bronze and Ashes, book one of her folk horror high fantasy series The Remaking of This World Ruined.; as well as a number of short stories and novellas.

She has a BA (Hon.) in Ancient World Studies, an MA (Distinction) in modern cultural and social history and a PhD in English Literature/Victorian Studies.

Programme

Russell Smith

Biography coming soon.

Programme

Ann Landmann

Growing up in East Germany on a steady diet of Grimms and Russian Fairy Tales until falling under the thrall of Tolkien and Pratchett in her teens, it is little surprising that Ann Landmann is now the founder and director of Cymera: Scotland’s Festival of Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror Writing. Some might say it’s a cunning ploy to feed her addiction to those genres. In her spare time she sells books for one of Scotland’s publishers and moonlights at other people’s book festivals.

Art Show

Jenni Coutts

Jenni Coutts is a British Fantasy Award winning artist, speculative fiction writer and NHS doctor based in Glasgow, Scotland. She is the art editor for BFS Horizons and is also WFC’s art show lead. She has had artwork featured on the covers of both UK and international publications, and was nominated for a best of the net award in 2022. In her free time, she enjoys boxing and weight lifting.

Find her on instagram @jennicouttsart or twitter @jenni_coutts.

Website

Beth Faulds

Beth Faulds is the webmaster for the British Fantasy Society and founder of Bibliotta.com, which offers writers services and e-learning on how to build an author website.

She also writes as E.M. Faulds.

Operations

Pat Maher

Pat is a con junkie. He has been involved in them for over 30 years, starting as an attendee, then a volunteer, then an organiser. He specialises in Operations and other back-of-house areas. He generally keeps a con ticking over by solving all its little problems.

This will, however, be his first World Fantasy Convention, although he has done several UK Fantasycons, several World Science Fiction Cons, and a plethora of sci-fi, gaming and anime cons over the years.

Social Media

Farah Mendlesohn

Farah Mendlesohn is a con-runner, a retired History Professor, a charity manager, co-editor of the Hugo Award Winning Cambridge Companion to Science Fiction, author of the Hugo nominated The Pleasant Profession of Robert A. Heinlein and is currently working on a short book about Joanna Russ’s The Female Man. Farah has chaired three Eastercons, has served in various capacities in Worldcons and Eastercons, and is part of the World Fantasy 2025 team. 

Brighton Liaison

Ali Baker

Ali Baker is a children’s literature scholar and Education lecturer at University of East London. Has recently completed a PhD on the portrayal of white working-class children and children’s fantasy fiction.

Alison has published on social class and inheritance in Harry Potter, step-parents in Diana Wynne Jones’s novels and the use of comics and graphic novels in reading instruction. She is the host of the children’s fantasy fiction podcast Fantasy Book Swap.

Redcloak Captain

Chloë Yates

Biography coming soon.

WFC Board Advisor

Jo Fletcher

Biography coming soon.

Registration

Babs Neinhuis

Biography coming soon.

Registration

Marleen Welbergen

Marleen is a passionate reader with a deep love for fantasy and horror, always eager to immerse herself in worlds filled with magic, monsters, and mayhem. Her heart truly belongs to North Wales, though, unfortunately, her passport insists she reside in the Netherlands—much to her disappointment.

Since discovering FantasyCon in 2012, she’s been a proud and dedicated Redcloak, happily lending her time and energy to support the event (though some suspect she volunteers mostly as an excuse to expand her ever-growing book collection).

By day, Marleen manages two animal shelters for the Dutch Society for the Protection of Animals—a role that perfectly matches her love for all creatures great and small (even the bitey ones). Most of the time, she’s friendly and approachable, provided she’s properly fed, of course.

Add in some convention-induced sleep deprivation and just enough beer (because who doesn’t love a good pint), and you might even get a taste of sharp Dutch humor—so consider yourself warned!

Streaming and Tech

Grant Woolcott

Biography coming soon.

Streaming and Tech

Simon Woolcott

Biography coming soon.

Website Hosting

John Stabler

Biography coming soon.