[SKRIVA] Baltcon-intervju

From: "ahrvid@xxxxxxxxxxxx" <ahrvid@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
To: skriva@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Date: Tue, 5 Aug 2008 21:12:15 +0200 (CEST)
Arrangörerna för nästa års Baltcon, Inyterpresscon i S:t Petersburg, har E-
ledes intervjuat mig, en intervju tänkt för deras hemsida. Nedan mina 
preliminära svar (markerat AE: nedan; frågorna är från kongressen). Notera att 
det KAN ändras - jag sade att de fick korta, redigera, rätta, och gärna fråga 
om det är något oklart.
  Men här i alla fall det första utkastet till intervju, exklusivt för SKRIVA.

--AE

1. Could you tell a bit more about the Baltcon history? How had arisen
the idea itself of the organization of the separate regional
convention, considering that Eurocons were already being organized for
more than 20 years at that time (1993)? Who was among the authors of
the idea and of the constitution?

AE: I began having contacts with the Eastern part of Europe in the early 80's,
eg in Poland and later USSR. Later I also came in contact with Lithuania and
their fandom and we began corresponding (by paper mail at that time; and these
were times of Glasnost and Perestroika so correspondence and contacts was no
problem). We had earlier had a regional Scandinavian sf con, the Scancon,
which
haad failed sometime in the early 80's. I thought why not start a new regional
sf con and this time for all the countries around the Baltic see and take
advantage of the New Openess which had come. We wrote some letters back and
forth and the idea took root. The first (it has now - in Copenhagen last year)
constitution was in fact written by me and passed on the "pre-Baltcon",
Conscience
93, in Stockholm that year (attended by perhaps 100 fanns from a dozen
countries).
The main people behind the Baltcon start were me and Jörgen Städje of
Sweden, and Gediminas Beresnevicius and Romas Buivydas of Vilnius and
Rolandas Maskoliunas of Kaunas. Eurocon is fine, but has at times had
organisational
problems - and isn't a *regional* convention. We wanted a regional con
for important parts of Northern Europe. Baltcon is no competitor to Eurocon.
(Look at the US, where they have both regional and national cons, ie the
Worldcon
when in America or the NASFIC, otherwise.)

2. What distinguishes this convention from others, besides the
participating countries geography?

AE: The attempt (sometimes that doesn't succeed, but we try) to make it more
international, at least for our part of the world. But it has also been a
vehicle to kick-start (if it has succeeded may others judge) the new East-
West contacts in Northern Europe. The Eurocon has also done that, but one
an all-European scale. For instance, many of the early Baltcons were in
Lithuania, where they made greats efforts to provide internationalism (like
offering interpretors in case there was programming in Lithuanian). And
on Swedish Baltcons a majority of the programming has been in English.

3. Are there any Baltcon awards?

AE: No. But anyone who feels like it may start such awards. One should make
efforts to keep the awards goind, though, so they won't just become a
one-shot affair. MOst Baltcons of course have their national awards of the
hosting country.

4. Could you remember the most unusual Baltcon guests?

AE: I think I should only speak for the ones I have been involved in. We had
Jerry Pournell as GoH at the "pre-Baltcon" in 1993. He's considered by some to
be controversial (political views somewhere to the right of Ghengis Khan), but
apart from being a writer sf hard sf also a well-known computer journalist. He
was actually very socialble and nice. He's also an old US Army artillery
officer, and one guy in the committe with Swedish Army connections managed to
give in a tour to a Swedish Army base where they let him shot of a grenade
with
the famous Swedish Carl Gustaf grenade launcher (one shot shots something like
a thousand dollars, or two) which he enjoyed a much. In 1995 we had Norman
Spinrad and his wife N Lee Wood as GoHs, Norman being famous as somewhat of an
enfant terrible, but also very nice. (But he blew off a bit when he came to
learn
of a Swedish publisher who had done one of his books, but any payment hadn't
reached him. I don't know how that was solved - I think he got some money in
the
end.) Spinrad later wrote a half-famous novel called Russian
Spring - about happenings in Russia after the end of the so called Cold War.
I have also myself been Fan-GoH of a couple of non-Swedish Baltcons, but
I'm not that unusual - I think.

5. Who are the most known (in your opinion) SF-authors living in the
Baltic sea countries? Do they have some particular motives in their
works, specific for Baltic residents?

AE: I don't like to talk too much about old books and authors, because I often
don't
remember them, at least if some years have passed since I read them. And to
this comes the fact that I - as many others - am to a great extent brought
up on Anglo-Saxon sf & fantasy. Finally, I'm not much of a "litteraturvetare"
(the Swedish term refering to Academic Studies of literature) so I would like
to leave motifs and literary analysis for another day...
  In Fantastic literature I'd say the most important Baltic Sea countries
would
be Russia, Finland, Germany and too some extent Poland.
  For Russia I know of course about the Strugatskij brothers and perhaps
1-2 names more (Zamyatin with the classic dystopian tale We, for instance).
  In Finland we have Johanna Sinisalo, who in the year 2000 won the main
Finnish
literary award, the Finlandia Prize, for her fantastic book Not Before
Sundown.
And of course Tove Jansson, with her world-famous Moomin stories. The Finnish
sf movement is unproportionally active, compared to it's population - with
huge yearly Finncons and several, fine sf magazines. They have many local
authors.
  In Germany there are several. For no particular reason except that I met him
and
he was translated to Swedish, I could mention Erich Simon, who I had a long
talk
with during the 1990 Worldcon, just around the time of the Berlin Wall
collapse.
He was from the soon not to be DDR. Just one name out of my hat - there are
many,
many more.
  Poland, it seems, has been dominated by the overwhelming figure of Stanislaw
Lem. (But when I visited the Tricity Con, also Baltcon, a few years back I
learned
that he was controversial in Poland. He was isolated and many though Lem sat
there
bitter in an Ivory tower. Many Polish sf fans had "turned against" him.)
  If I must mention Sweden, the most wellknown name is Sam J Lundwall, though
he doesn't write much these days. He still does his Jules Verne Magasinet,
though.
He has also been active in international sf (groups like World SF) and as a
publisher.
He was early (already in the 70's) with trying to open East-West connections
in
sf & fantasy.

6. In 2009 Baltcon will take place in Russia. Do Europeans know
Russian SF? Whom of the Russian SF-authors have you read? If so,
please tell some words about the authors you remember and their works.

AE: I have only read the Strugatskys. I do have 2-3 collections of Russian
short stories in the genre, some published in the US or Britain (edited by
people like Brian Aldiss or Fredrik Pohl), and some actually published in
Moscow by an international publbishing house that used to exist there during
the USSR era (to promote Soviet culture, they'd do books in foreign
languages).
But I can't remember any stories from those collections - it was a long time
ago I read them (see above)
  But what I remember from the Strugatskys is of course their
novel, I thing the English title is Snail by the Roadside, which later
inspired Andreij Tarkovskijs world-famous film Stalker - a very hypnotic
and "arty" film. Did you know that Tarkovsky did his last film in Sweden? On
the beautiful Baltic island of Gotland (the title is "The Offering", or
something like that), which is actually also an sf filme, since it it set
in days of a threatening World War III. BTW, I met the Strugatskys and
interviewed them, through an interpretor, when they were GoHs at the
British Worldcon Conspiracy, in Brighton, in 1987. My interview was then
broadcasted by Radio Sweden International and a short section in the
national Swedish Radio's "Cultural News" (I had a freelance deal with Swedish
Radio then, and borrowed a tape recorder from them).
  Basically, I don't like to talk too much about "stories I have read",
because I have a very lousy memory...

7. This Baltcon will celebrate its 15th anniversary. How do you
appreciate all that was done during 15 years? What, in your opinion,
had Baltcon given to the fandom?

AE: Baltcon has at least *helped* with gettin closer East-West connections
within sf and its fandom. The development after the so called Cold War (which
of course wasn't a war - but cold it was, deep-frozen at times) has been so
fast in the
90's and up to now, that perhaps a lot of these openings wowuld have happened
without the Baltcon. But I like to think it has helped. For instance, my
friend Jörgen met his Lithuanian wife Audrone through Baltcon. I wouldn't have
visited Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia and Poland without the Baltcon (and now
finally, hoping visa troubles don't interfere, Russia). On the Swedish
Baltcons
alone we have had over the years 40-50 different people from scores of Baltic
Sea nations as visitors,
who wouldn't have cocme without the Baltcon.

8. During its 15 years, Baltcon took place twice or thrice in some of
ten participating countries (even four times in Lithuania!), and never
did only in Norway and Russia. What do you think about why did it
happen so?

AE: Lithuanian fandom was one of the founders, so that was natural. Norway
has always been a little "to the side" - it's not actually a Baltic Sea
nation, but is included because of cultural ties. Russia has always for many
in the West been both an enigma and a "threat". Such a huge country, the
dominant part in one side of the cold war. Maybe many are a bit
"afraid" of Russia? But there has always been small circumstances, and no
bit if huge planning or plotting, behind which country the Baltcon is in.
Basically, the Baltcon will be offered to any country who hears about it in
time of a bid and has a decent offering.

9. The Russian Baltcon will be combined with the St. Petersburg
Interpresscon, which will also have its anniversary, the 20th. What do
you know about this convention? When and how did you learn about it?
Could you share some of your preliminary opinions about Interpresscon?

AE: All I know about Interpresson is from my friend Kirill Pleshkow
(who I met on several other cons, and who has also visited me in
Stockholm). I understand it is Russia's second biggest con, with a
few hundred attendees, and that a famous thing with it is that Boris
Strugatskij hands out the Golden Snail Award on it. Kirill says it is
well organised, a bit more "pro" (professional) than "fan", and that you
can expect many of the attendees to understand English, but most of the
program will be in Russian. (My advice would be to get some interpreters
into English for at least some of the programming!) It may be a bit difficult
with having to apply for a visa (I have no experience of that), so I would
like Russia and the EU to strike a deal or something about visa free entrance
(otherwise the hassle of getting a visa will stop some people). Do good
advertising for the con, try to help with visas and try to offer some
programming and/or interpreters in English, and that will help.
  But I also understand that S:t Petersburg is a beautiful city. It
should be, because it was founded on lands one belonging to Sweden...and that
helps!
-----
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[SKRIVA] Baltcon-intervju

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