Pittsburgh, PA

Pittsburgh, PA, has been home to at least four "generations" of SF clubs, two "generations" of SF conventions and one Worldcon - Pittcon in 1960. In addition, it had an active comics fandom (Pittsburgh Comix Club), had an early independent media convention (Fantasy Film Celebrity Con), hosted three Nebula Award Weekends and many Anthrocons.

In 1942, Len Moffatt founded the Western Pennsylvania Science Fictioneers, but it collapsed by 1943.

At some point in the 1950s, an informal social club, PSFA (Pittsburgh S-F Association), was formed. Members of the club met for dinner and sometimes went to Worldcon. The 1960 Worldcon emerged from this group. The club collapsed by the mid-1960s but some members continued going to Worldcon after that.

In 1967, Linda Bushyager (then Linda Eyster), Ginjer Buchanan, Suzanne Tompkins and Genie DiModica founded WPSFA and started a convention, PghLANGE, which ran from 1969-1979. The club folded by 1980.

In 1977, Jim Mann was a science teacher at Central Catholic High School in Pittsburgh who started a science fiction club - Central Catholic Science Fiction Society. It lasted until 1979 when Jim left Central Catholic. Several members, including Jim Mann, Kevin Riley and John Schmidt, went on to be active in PARSEC.

In 1978 and 1979, the Fantasy Film Celebrity Convention was held in the area, one in Monroeville and the second one in downtown Pittsburgh at the Hilton.

In the mid-1980s, Ann Cecil, Barbara Carlson and Kevin Riley founded PARSEC, and the club and its convention, Confluence, continue to be active. PARSEC has a publishing arm, PARSEC Ink.

Since 2006, Anthrocon has been held in Pittsburgh.

SFWA held three Nebula Award Weekends in Pittsburgh at the Marriott City Center in 1999, 2017 and 2018.

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