Nine Worlds Geek Fest 2016

Written by Seb Reid on 06 Sep 2016

Introduction: What is Nine Worlds?

I personally consider myself to be a bit of a geek. I have been into science fiction, fantasy, gaming and anime for well over two decades now, and some of my fondest memories growing up revolved around the Christmas showings of the original Star Trek films. In my early teens I found myself frequenting the dusty basement of UMIST’s Reynolds Building to attend the monthly Star Trek gatherings to acquire new VHS copies of various Star Trek series before they aired in the UK. In more recent years, I have found myself going to MCM Comic Cons as well as any residential anime convention that I could actually get tickets to.

I sort of stumbled onto the existence of Nine Worlds via some very good friends of mine who gave this “geekfest” glowing recommendations. I took a punt, not knowing what to expect - in fact, I tried to limit my research into the convention so that it would be a complete surprise. I expected to be welcomed, to be entertained; to learn, discuss, debate and consider other opinions, and for it to be inclusive and fun. I was not disappointed. 

Nine Worlds Geek Fest

Nine Worlds is now in its third, going on fourth, year in existence. Having moved from a venue at Heathrow to the huge Novotel in Hammersmith, London, Nine Worlds attracted over 1,500 fans and guests to its annual festival of everything geeky. Unlike a lot of events I tend to attend, Nine Worlds caters for everyone… and I do mean that. One of the main aims of the event is to be inclusive, and this shows in the efforts made by the organisers by ensuring that events are well thought out and well timed, with rooms planned to ensure full accessibility and everyone made to feel welcome.

Nine Worlds has a huge spread of special interest streams to try and cater for as many creative groups and fandoms as possible. This year’s programme was divided into ten distinct streams, within which events were organised including:

• Academia and Humanities – This included history talks, detailed discussions on time travel, mythology, astronomy and historical fiction.
• Crafting and Creating, provided events from geeky biscuit making to cosplay and crochet.
• The entertainment and moving pictures streams gave us late night movie marathons, steampunk concerts, singalongs and raves.
• The Fanworks and Living Words streams gave all of us who are artists, writers and devourers of fan fiction an outlet to express opinions, pick up tips and have a good chat.
• Gaming was a major element of the convention and provided the attendees an all-day gaming room, RPG and LARP events, talks and the joys of Doctor Magnethands. This stream tied in well with the discussions on technology in our lives and sessions on VR, rocketry and game design.
• The convention also provided space for discussions on identity, sexuality and a place for the exploration and discussion of myriad cultures and fandoms.
• Nine Worlds prided itself on providing a forum for people from every walk of life and various fandoms to collide, discuss, mingle and have fun in a friendly and harassment-free environment.
• For those who wanted to hide and get away from the masses, Nine Worlds also hosted an Expo with 30 stalls from both large and small vendors including publishing houses, cosplay accessories and board games to try and win some hard-earned money.

Its safe to say there was a little of something for everyone.