Heinlein 100

Robert A. Heinlein Centennial

That Was a Helluva Party, Wasn't It!

The weekend of July 6, 7 and 8, 2007 was a busy one in Kansas City. The Heinlein Centennial rocked the Westin Crown Center with programming, keynote addresses, entertainment, academic conferences and a Saturday night bash - the 07/07/07 Gala - that will not soon be forgotten.

Bringing together, for the first time, Heinlein's myriad worlds of influence - fandom, literary studies, government and commercial spaceflight and entertainment - created something whose components have always been around us but never had a focal point. That focus was found in Kansas City, and connections were forged between these worlds that will have lasting effects.

The Kansas City Centennial event was the effort of a group of Heinlein scholars and admirers who rose to fill the void and ensure that the celebration of Robert Heinlein's 100th birthday happened in grand style. The consensus seems to be that we succeeded.

It's important for the community to understand that Heinlein Centennial is a unique entity - brought into being by the need for someone to plan and carry out that event and then manage its legacy - that is not associated, in any form, with any other group or institution. Specifically, we are not connected with the Heinlein Prize Trust, the Heinlein Estate or the Heinlein Society. None of these institutions contributed to the costs or effort of the Kansas City Centennial event.

We Want Your Story!

Did you attend the Centennial? Tell us (and everyone else) about it. We want your anecdote, story, reminiscence, sparkling moment, comment... any length, any style, preferably in early 21st Century North American English. We will archive all such material with the rest of the Kansas City event files, and put suitable extracts - ballpark: 1-200 words or so - on a separate page here in perpetuity (or what passes for it these days). You can use your name or ask that it be posted under a nom de guerre  or 'A. Nonymous.'

Send it now to . Thanks!

Thanks Where Thanks Are Due

We had the support of more than 600 paying attendees... and no one is due more thanks than those folks who committed their registration, hotel and travel dollars to be with us and make the event a success. (That's you - take a bow!)

We had the early endorsement of the Kansas City Science Fiction and Fantasy Society, and their experience and people on the ground in KC are what made the mechanics of the event happen.

We had the publicity support of the Kansas City in 2009 group, which carried our materials and banner to all the places they visited in pursuit of their 2009 Worldcon bid. We can say this much: KC is a helluva place for a big convention, and the KC'09 crowd knows how to do it. Here's wishing them luck in getting the bid this September and telling you that if it's KC in '09, you'll want to be there!

Having the Science Fiction Research Association (SFRA) and Campbell Conference join us, early on, made all the difference in making the event successful and stable at the critical early stages. Thanks to David Mead and Adam Frisch of SFRA, and James Gunn of the Campbell Conference for your trust and support when we needed it!

It does seem like this list should be longer, doesn't it? But nope, the small and overworked event committee, plus the above groups and the people they brought to the effort, are what made that magical weekend happen. Think about that for a bit while you're remembering what a bash it was.

Thanks to Our Sterling Lineup of Guests

There's never been an event that brought together A-list guests from so many different worlds. Thanks to all our guests for making the whole much greater than the sum of its parts!

Volunteers

We said we couldn't do it without volunteers to help... and we did it because of our fabulous crew of volunteers. Most came to us through KaCSFFS and KC'09, but several key people just walked in (paid!) and rolled up their sleeves. The event ran smoothly and was a success because of these folks' hard work:

Rolled-Up Sleeves Crew (incomplete because lots of people pitched in when they saw a need):

Centennial Writing Contest Winners

A writing contest was held as part of the Centennial, and we tried to get the book of winners published in time for the event. There were just too many details to deal with and this one slipped... our apologies to the worthy winners!

The winning stories and authors are:

  • Winner, Amateur Division: "Hammers and Snails" - Christopher J. Howard
  • Honorable Mention, Amateur Division: "A Condition of Intelligence" - Robert Jenkins
  • Special Recognition, Amateur Division: "World Ceres" - Sandy Sandfort
  • Winner, Professional Division: "The Beautiful Accident" - Edward Carmien
  • Honorable Mention, Professional Division: "Refuse" - Marjorie Dieter Keyishian
  • Special Recognition, Professional Division: "B All U Cn B" - Fran Van Cleave

You can download the book of winning stories below. It will only be available for 30 days and is coming down, forever, on 7 August 2007.

You Wanted a Schedule Book?

Well, it's a little late to plan your days but you can see what you missed. Here you go...

How About the Daily Event Updates?

We issued three daily update sheets and had some fun with them.

Some Attendee Stats...

Here's the abstract: Over seven hundred attendees from 43 US states and territories, 2 Canadian provinces, and four continents... Japan, Israel, France, Brazil and Italy, from fandom, academia, spaceflight, government and entertainment. More details as we sort out the at-the-door information.

About Us | ©2005-2007 Heinlein Centennial Inc.