Why Chimera Con? The story behind Canberra’s writer and artist convention

Posted on 23 October, 2026

From navigating comic book conventions as an avid fan to leading one of Canberra’s longest-running literary organisations, finding community has always been at the heart of the creative process.

In the personal reflection below, the President of the Canberra Speculative Fiction Guild Americo Alvarenga, shares how his own journey as a screenwriter led him to found Chimera Con 2026 –  an upcoming gathering celebrating prose, comics, games, and art.

Americo Alvarenga.

I had no idea what to expect from my first writing convention as a writer. It wasn’t like comic book conventions; I was a pro at those. I had my list of comics I was missing from my collection at the ready. I had a suitcase prepared for any purchases that needed to be kept in mint condition, or rather, I had an old backgammon case that I converted to hold comic books snuggly without too much jostling. And of course, I had the schedule of all the artists and writers that I wanted to meet. As a fan of all things nerdy, I was a kid on a mission at those cons. But walking into a writers’ convention as a writer of things that weren’t necessarily prose or poetry had my imposter syndrome rising to a level that I assume is only reserved for ‘80s lip-syncing pop bands or politicians hanging onto their last thread of morality.

I was a screenwriter from California –  I didn’t think I would get much out of a writing convention. Writers tend to be introverts on the best of days; writing is a very solitary process for a lot of us. Screenwriters are a special type of introvert who’ve dared themselves to acquire “people skills” because of how often we have to pitch our stories. So, you can imagine my genuine pleasure to meet so many welcoming authors and having them embrace me into this community was an absolute treat. By my second writing convention, I was on a panel as a writer. I found my tribe.

It’s been almost five years since my first writing convention. I’m now the president of the Canberra Speculative Fiction Guild, a guild that’s been helping writers at all levels here in Canberra for the last twenty-six years. We help foster growth and opportunities for writers in their journeys. And just like the writing convention that opened my world to all kinds of opportunities that inspired me to write more than just screenplays, The CSFG has decided to put on a convention of our very own called, Chimera Con.

Why Chimera Con 2026?

Chimera Con started with an idea very similar to the way that the Canberra Speculative Fiction Guild first began twenty-six years ago: What if we got a bunch of writers and artists together to celebrate the love of our craft? That idea grew and we wanted to truly explore the concept of speculative fiction and what it means to us? There’s not a part of our lives that isn’t influenced by spec-fic. From the biggest blockbuster to the novel novella; horror, sci-fi, and fantasy are at the core of most fiction. We want Chimera Con to showcase the many aspects of speculative fiction with prose, comics, manga, games (both video and the dice-y kind), and the art that binds them all. Like our mascot, Gubbin, the fusion of art and writing is a delicate balance of disciplines, adding spec-fic is the lightning that sparks it to life!

We hope that our panels, workshops, kaffeeklatsches with professionals and creatives, (and so much more) can offer writers and artists in our community a chance to find or strengthen their voices against the cacophony of noise that is social media, industries intent on eating themselves with generative AI use, and a society that seems dead-set on suffering from a slight case of annihilation.

Writers and artists have always been the first and last bastions of a people. They look to us for when they wish their precious moments to be celebrated, they turn to us to find “the words” when they are at a loss. And inevitably, they ask us “why” the world has been set aflame as they stand in front of the burning libraries and art galleries that housed all the answers they could’ve ever needed.

You cannot kill the narrative, you can only add to it in the hopes of reaching others and in turn hearing their stories, seeing their art. Weaving it into the tapestry that is at the end of the day, uniquely human.

My hope is that Chimera Con does for a writer or an artist out there, what that first writing convention did for me, help find their tribe.