Confluence will be held July 24-25-26, 2026
Location: Sheraton Pittsburgh Airport Hotel
1160 Thorn Run Road Extension. Coraopolis, PA 15108
REGISTRATION ︱ BOOK HOTEL ROOM ︱ HOTEL MAP ︱PROGRAM SCHEDULE
2026 Guest of Honor Andy Duncan
Andy Duncan is a professor of English at Frostburg State University in the western Maryland mountains; a fiction writer whose honors include a Nebula Award, a Theodore Sturgeon Memorial Award and three World Fantasy Awards; a journalist since age 17; and a lifelong collector of Forteana. https://sites.google.com/view/andy-duncan/home (get photo from here)
https://beluthahatchie.blogspot.com/
Bibliography https://www.angelfire.com/al/andyduncan/
Featured Music Guest: TBA
More great musicians performing Confluence weekend!
With performance ASL for select concerts by Judi Miller
Judi Miller has been active in the filk community since the 1980s. Winner of the Pegasus Award for Best Performer in 2006 and 2017 and admitted to the Filk Hall of Fame in 2017, Judi is best known for her sign-language musical interpretation, which she has done for concerts at our conference and elsewhere for many years. She was our 30th Anniversary Honors Guest in 2019 and we are very glad that she can be with us again.
Featured Artist: TBA
Our featured artists creates the artwork we will use for our program book, badges and t-shirts.
All Tee shirts are pre-order. A link will be made available once pre-orders open.
Shirts are not guaranteed unless you pre-order!
Writing Workshops with TBA
Charles Oberndorf
Workshop Registration:
- Signup is required. Visit the WRITING WORKSHOPS page for more info.
- A Confluence membership is required to attend and register for the workshops. There is no additional cost for the workshops.
- Both workshops are limited to 14 participants! One workshop per person, please!
- Workshops are 2.5-3 hours in length.
- Workshops will be held in the Board Room this year!
BIO
Programming You Don’t Want to Miss!
Friday: Opening Ceremonies
Friday July 27 at 7p.m with our con chair Kevin M. Hayes, W. Randy Hoffman, Andy Duncan and more!
The Parsec Short Story contest* winners will be announced by Jamie Lackey, our coordinator for the 2026 contest.
Someone will lead the singing of “Three Days Away from the Ratrace” with audience participation. Sheet music will be provided.
*The Parsec Short Story Contest winning story is printed in the Confluence program book. For a copy of the program book, contact Karen: publicity@confluence-sff.org. A $5 S/H fee applies.
Saturday Featured Entertainers: TBA
Saturday July 28th in Ballroom 1. Doors open for seating at 6:45. Performance starts at 7pm.
Hello everyone! Individually we are Bren, Christa, Christina, Justin, Morgan, Sara, Sean, Sharief, Stefanie & Steve. Follow us on social media, @selectstartimprov to learn more. We hope to see you in our audience soon! Ba-Ding!
Select Start does fast-paced, short-form improv comedy in the form of games. They love incorporating a theme into their shows and really commit to the bit. As a former student team of Arcade Comedy Theater (downtown Pittsburgh’s only non-profit comedy theater), they have since grown into an independent team of their own. They have won City Paper’s Best Comedian Act two years running (2023 & 2024), have been accepted to State College’s XL Improv Festival two years in a row (2024 & 2025) and have an improv residency two weekends of the year at The Pittsburgh Savoyards.
They offer two monthly shows at their home theater in Pittsburgh, PA (Arcade) the third Sunday of each month (the Short Form Jelly – an open stage event) and the last Friday of each month (our fully produced themed show).
@selectstartimprov.bsky.social
Confluence Book Discussion Groups will one again be offered in 2026!
For several years, Confluence has looked back on the SF and fantasy of 50 years ago. We plan to do that again this year, with a panel discussing the works of 1975. In addition, we plan something new: book discussion groups, where any readers can show up to discuss the work in question. In keeping with the idea of major works of 1975, we plan a discussion group for TBA & TBA If you’ve read one of them and want to talk about it, please check the schedule and join your fellow readers.
Writing “Exercises” will be in the Equinox room this year.
Facilitators: M. Christine Benner Dixon and Schereéya
No signup is required.
Saturday 9-10am
Sunday 9-10am
Attendees should bring a pen and paper or a computing device to write with—whatever suits you.
Pitch Sessions with TBA
Pitch Sessions will open just as soon as we have more information!
- Signup is required.
- There is no additional cost but a Confluence membership is required to attend and register for the pitch sessions.
- Pitch Sessions are limited to ten participants!
Visit the PITCH SESSIONS (coming soon) page for more info.
Hotel Map:
2025 Staff
These are the people that volunteer their time to bring Confluence to you!
Cat herder
Confluence 2025 Masking Policy
😷 Masking is optional and vaccines are not required. 🙂
Please check back for updates or sign up for our NEWSLETTER to receive updates.
For faster updates, join us on our Groups.io Announcement only email list:
https://parsecinc.groups.io/g/ParsecAnnounce
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