User:Kovar/WSFA etc. page merge - 9 June 2007

The Washington Science Fiction Association (WSFA) is the oldest science fiction club in the Washington, D.C. area [ Warner Jr, Harry - _All Our Yesterdays_ by Harry Warner Advent Publishers, ISBN 0-911682-11-2, pg 229

It was founded in 1947 by seven fans who met at that year's Worldcon in Philadelphia. Since 1960 it has met on the evenings of the first and third Fridays of each month in the homes of members. All meetings are open (and along the way have included a Polish student and a Cuban author). There are often informal meetings on fifth Fridays.

It hosted the annual Disclave science fiction convention in or near Washington, D.C. from 1950 through 1997. After a four year hiatus WSFA began a new convention, Capclave. WSFA has also hosted Worldcons, SMOFcons, World Fantasy Conventions, and many other events both casual and otherwise.

Since 1965 WSFA has published the monthly WSFA Journal. WSFA Press has published five books: The Father of Stones by Lucius Shepard in 1989, Through Darkest Resnick With Gun and Camera by Mike Resnick in 1990, The Edges of Things by Lewis Shiner in 1991, Home By The Sea by Pat Cadigan in 1992, and Future Washington, an anthology edited by Ernest Lilley, in 2005.

WSFA is incorporated as a 501(c)(4) non-profit organization.

Disclave
Disclave was a science fiction convention run by the Washington Science Fiction Association (WSFA) in or near Washington D.C. in the springtime of nearly every year from 1950 through 1997. By most counts it was the fourth-oldest science fiction convention. [citation needed]

At first it was intermittent and small, with an attendance as low as 22 people (in 1953). From 1965 on it happened every year. From 1971 on it always lasted three days, was always on Memorial Day weekend, and for a notable section of the SF community that weekend was considered Disclave's, so much so that it was only after several years of there being no Disclave that another local organization [] asked if they could use that weekend and are now on Memorial Day.

The highest attendance was 1485 (in 1979), 85 more members than in 1981 when Isaac Asimov was the Guest of Honor. Some of the other Guests of Honor included Lois McMaster Bujold, Gene Wolfe, George R. R. Martin, Connie Willis and William Gibson. Notable chairs were Jay Haldeman, Alexis A. Gilliland and Jack Chalker.

In the early 90's more and more people who were not members of Disclave came to the hotel in conjunction with the convention. This hit critical mass in 1997 when a fire sprinkler was broken, flooding much of the hotel. The 1998 Disclave, scheduled for a different hotel on a different weekend, was canceled six weeks before the convention by the hotel. Finding a hotel to hold the 1999 or 2000 Disclave was tried but as happens with volunteer organizations the committee members who were going to find a hotel needed to focus their attention on other things instead. 1997 was the last Disclave.

WSFA took four years off to consider what sort of convention they wanted to hold. The first Capclave [] was held in 2001.

Capclave
Capclave is a science fiction convention that has been run by the Washington Science Fiction Association (WSFA) near Washington, D.C., in the autumn of every year starting in 2001.

Disclave
Disclave was a science fiction convention run by the Washington Science Fiction Association (WSFA) in or near Washington D.C. in the springtime of nearly every year from 1950 through 1997. By many counts it was the third-oldest science fiction convention. [citation needed]

At first it was intermittent and small, with an attendance as low as 22 people (in 1953). From 1965 on it happened every year. From 1971 on it always lasted three days, was always on Memorial Day weekend, and for a notable section of the SF community that weekend was considered Disclave's, so much so that it was only after several years of there being no Disclave that another local organization [] asked if they could use that weekend and are now on Memorial Day.

The highest attendance was 1485 (in 1979), 85 more members than in 1981 when Isaac Asimov was the Guest of Honor. Some of the other Guests of Honor included Lois McMaster Bujold, Gene Wolfe, George R. R. Martin, Connie Willis and William Gibson. Notable chairs were Jay Haldeman, Alexis A. Gilliland and Jack Chalker.

In the early 90's more and more people who were not members of Disclave came to the hotel in conjunction with the convention. This hit critical mass in 1997 when a fire sprinkler was broken, flooding much of the hotel. The 1998 Disclave, scheduled for a different hotel on a different weekend, was canceled six weeks before the convention by the hotel. Finding a hotel to hold the 1999 or 2000 Disclave was tried but as happens with volunteer organizations the committee members who were going to find a hotel needed to focus their attention on other things instead. 1997 was the last Disclave.

WSFA took four years off to consider what sort of convention they wanted to hold. The first Capclave [] was held in 2001.