OKORAFOR, LAW SELECTED AS 2022 LITERARY AND ARTIST GUESTS OF HONOR

Dragon Con Selects Open Hand Atlanta as its Official 2022 Charity

ATLANTA – June 16, 2021 – Dragon Con, Atlanta’s internationally known pop culture, fantasy, sci-fi, and gaming convention, has named Nigerian-American science fiction writer Nnedimma “Nnedi” Okorafor and American fantasy artist Stephanie Law as its 2022 Literary and Artist Guests of Honor.

The convention also announced that Open Hand Atlanta has been selected as the convention’s 2022 official charity.

Dragon Con’s 2022 convention runs from Thursday, Sept. 1 to Monday, Sept. 5 with events and activities across five host hotels – Hyatt Regency Atlanta, Marriott Marquis, Hilton Atlanta, Westin Peachtree, and Sheraton Atlanta – and AmericasMart Buildings #2 and #3.

Since 2013, the convention has consistently raised more than $100,000 for each of its annual official charities, including a dollar-for-dollar match from the convention up to an additional $100,000.  Funds are raised through convention-based auctions, special merchandise sales, special events, and the convention match.

Open Hand’s mission is to help underserved individuals prevent or better manage chronic disease through tailored nutrition interventions, which include a variety of therapeutic meal plans as well as nutrition counseling and coaching delivered by an experienced team of Registered Dietitian Nutritionists.  With the dedicated support of over 14,000 volunteers, they currently prepare, pack, and deliver over 5,500 meals per day in Metro Atlanta and rural Georgia.

“Dragon Con has partnered with Open Hand for years, dedicating one of our annual Superheroes community service projects to helping sort pantry items, pack meals, and even create Valentine cards for Open Hand’s clients,” said Rachel Reeves, convention co-chair.  “We are delighted to build an even stronger bond with Open Hand as our official charity this year.”

Beginning with its first convention in 1987, Dragon Con has recognized an author and an artist whose creative contributions to the realms of fantasy and science fiction are widely recognized as among the very best as Literary and Artist Guests of Honor. Both Okorafor and Law will be recognized throughout the event for their contributions to their individual fields, and will be on hand to meet fans and participate in panels to provide insight into their success and love of fandom.

Okorafor is an international award-winning New York Times bestselling novelist of science fiction and fantasy for children, young adults, and adults. Born in the United States to Nigerian immigrant parents, she describes her writing as Africanfuturism and draws from African cultures to create captivating stories with unforgettable characters and evocative settings. She has received the World Fantasy, Nebula, Eisner, and Lodestar Awards and multiple Hugo Awards, amongst others, for her books, which include Who Fears Death (in development at HBO into a TV series), the Binti novella trilogy (optioned and in development with Media Res), The Book of Phoenix, the Nsibidi Scripts Series, and Lagoon. Her debut novel Zahrah the Windseeker won the prestigious Wole Soyinka Prize for Literature. She has also written the Africanfuturist comic series LaGuardia as well as comics for Marvel, including Black Panther: Long Live the King and Wakanda Forever (featuring the Dora Milaje) and the Shuri series. https://nnedi.com/

Relying on the universal appeal of mythological concepts mingled with the movement of dance, Law’s images trace the boundary between dream and reality. She delves into the pictorial language of allegory, explores mythology in new contexts, chases tiny worlds of wonder from an insect’s viewpoint, and highlights the beauty of growth and decay found in nature. She interweaves texture, watercolor, gold and silver leaf, ink, and creates intricate layered pieces with resin and custom designed frames. In a meld of organic patterns and familiar archetypes, her paintings pose a question on the nature of perception and beauty, and it is against this backdrop that the ephemeral guides and strange creatures dance and beckon the viewer to follow through her various series. Early on, her career moved through the illustration and gaming world, but in recent decades she has focused more on her own body of work, gallery shows, and publications. https://www.shadowscapes.com/index.php

About Dragon Con

Dragon Con is the internationally known pop culture convention held each Labor Day Weekend (Sept. 1 -Sept. 5, 2022) in Atlanta. Organized for fans, Dragon Con features more than 3,500 hours of comics, film, television, costuming, art, music, and gaming over four days. For more information, please visit www.dragoncon.org and follow us on Facebook and Twitter.