That cool announcement I trailed a couple of weeks ago has been announced. If you’re going to be in London on the 8th of May mark your calendars and claim your tickets: Blackwell’s on Charing Cross Road hosts the Women in Sci Fi Panel!  It’ll run from 18:30-19.30 and I’ll be one of the panellists, along with Karen Lord, Naomi Foyle, Janet Edwards and Jaine Fenn. Our moderator will be Edward James, and we’ll be discussing the debate surrounding the representation of female authors in genre fiction. The evening will also feature the launch of a new display of books at Blackwell’s featuring female authors of science fiction and fantasy – we’ll be on it of course, along with many other wonderful writers. The event is free but spaces are limited, so reserve yours now! (And if you reserve but find you can’t make it after all, please remember to cancel so someone else can take your place.)

I’d like to say a personal thanks to Jo Fletcher Books for thinking up and organising this in partnership with Blackwell’s. They’re one of the few publishers whose SF list has equal numbers of men and women authors – the ratio we all say we want, but tend not to notice when we get! And I like the idea of doing something a bit more unusual and potentially impactful than a traditional launch party – so this stands in lieu of that for Binary. But there’ll definitely be a chance to grab a drink afterwards, and I’ll be very happy to sign for anyone who wants. Do please come along!