Science Fiction and Fantasy Association of New Zealand

The SFFANZ Committee 2013 - 2014

President: Norman Cates

Ever since I joined the Science Fiction Modellers Club Of New Zealand in the mid '80s and attended my first science fiction convention in 1989 I've been constitutionally incapable of not being involved in fandom. The sheer creativity of fans keeps me excited to see what comes next. I hope that I can contribute, and encourage other fans to let loose their creativity in all aspects of fandom.

I've been chairman of two successful science fiction conventions, ConQuest and ConQuest 2, and I've been involved with helping run a number more. It was my privilege to be closely involved with the creation of SFFANZ, and I was president of SFFANZ for 5 years.

Secretary And Publicity: Jan Butterworth

The Secretary takes care of stuff.  I am also part of the sub-committee that administers the Sir Julius Vogel awards, checking and verifying the details of nominations, and as the Auckland administrator for the Hatchette/SFFANZ book review scheme.

I first got interested in the Fantasy genre after reading The Chronicles of Narnia while in primary school. I was introduced to the Auckland based SF/F group Stella Nova in 2002 and found a group of interesting people who shared some of the same interests I had. They also didn’t think I was weird for liking to read about elves, vampires, werewolves, and magic.

I live in Auckland, where I share a house with two people and five cats.

Treasurer:

John Toon

Committee Members:

Lorain Clark

Lynelle Howell

Jo Toon

Harry Musgrave

Stephen Minchin

Alan Robson

I look after the SFFANZ web site and make sure the information on it is as up to date as I can manage.

I've been an SF fan for more than 50 years. There's a brief discussion of how I got interested in it on my web site. I came to live in New Zealand in 1981 and I got involved with New Zealand science fiction and fandom almost as soon as I arrived. I've helped to organise four conventions and I've twice been a fan guest of honour (though not, I hasten to add, at conventions I helped to organise!). Over the years I've written heaps of essays about SF and other things. You'll find those essays on my web site as well. I've won various awards for my writing -- you can find details here and here.