2021 Guests

All Actor Comic Creator Gaming Author Cosplay Artist Screenwriter Youth Contest Winner
See you in 2022! Watch this space for updates!

If you are hoping to become a guest at Hal-Con, please email guests@hal-con.com.
If you would like to suggest a guest for Hal-Con, please fill out our Hal-Con Guest Suggestion Form!

Hirari Ann

Cosplay

Hirari ann is a kawaii cosplay idol and designer in Tokyo with over a quarter-million followers.  She was born and raised in east-coast Canada! Hirari's popularity boomed in 2018 when first attending the Japanese event COMIKET for her resemblance to Japanese CGI game characters. Hirari is known for her famous collaborations with Future Funk Artist Mikazuki Bigwave and video games like NEKOPARA and TEKKEN. Hirari loves Hatsune Miku, design, and making music. 

Nikki Aucoin

Cosplay

Nikki is a Halifax based cosplayer who began dabbling in costuming as a wee youngling. She began attending conventions 10 years ago which sparked her passion for Cosplay and she has been making all of her own costumes from scratch ever since. For her, Cosplay is not only about getting to express herself creatively, but it’s also about the joy of bringing those characters to life. Although her fandoms are plentiful, she is best known for her various Wonder Woman Cosplays. To stay up to date on all her Cosplay adventures check out her Instagram @prideoftheamazons

Rebecca Harrison

Cosplay

Born in Halifax Nova Scotia, Rebecca is 12 years old, enjoys sewing and painting, loves The Hunger Games and Harry Potter (Books>Movies). Dressing up and creating costumes for Halloween is one of her favorite things, and after seeing the contest this year decided to try her first Cosplay. Her favorite thing about making costumes is putting the final details on because it’s when you see your costume come together. Rebecca's Winning Cosplay Entry!

Lee Sawlor

Author

Lee is from Smithfield, NS where they are the guardian of two crazy cats. They have always loved writing and spending time dreaming up new characters; each one always has a grim story to tell!  After self-publishing their first book at ten years of age, Lee is currently working on writing a series of novels which they have spent the last couple of years planning and storyboarding. Future plans include having the book series made into graphic novels and then movies. A few years ago, Lee attended their first Hal-Con and immediately fell in love with the creativity and diversity of it. Since Lee not...
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Luis Brueh

Gaming

Luis Brueh is a Brazilian Game designer and Artist living in Halifax, Canada. During the last 15 years he has worked with many publishers and brands localizing his games to Brazilian territories such as: Charlie Brown, Little lulu, Scooby Doo, and more. More recently he started designing and creating the art for his own games! Games he has published include Dwar7s, Covil The Dark Overlords and Valknut.

Brandon Mitchell

Comic Creator

Brandon Mitchell is Mi’gmaq from Listuguj First Nations in Quebec and currently resides on the unceded Wolastoqiyik territory, in Fredericton, New Brunswick, with his wife Natasha and their two sons Brayden and Bryce.   He carries a Diploma in Animation and Design from the New Brunswick Community College of Miramichi and holds a master’s degree in Education from the University of New Brunswick.   He is the founder of Birch Bark Comics and creator of the Sacred Circles comic series, which explored his Mi’kmaq heritage through a contemporary lens. He has authored six stories for Indigenous...
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Donald Calabrese

Comic Creator

Donald Hinson Calabrese is a writer, illustrator and musician from Sydney, Nova Scotia. He's published in The Dalhousie Review, Broken Pencil, and most recently in Nova Graphica: A Graphic Anthology of Nova Scotia History.

Veronica Post

Comic Creator

Veronica Post grew up in Halifax during the 80s and 90s. She attended one year of NSCAD University before moving to Montreal, where she self-published comics, played drums in punk bands and completed her cabinetmaking diploma before following love to Europe. She is currently teaching furniture-making and drawing comics in Halifax, Nova Scotia.

Sarah Thunder

Comic Creator

Sarah Ziolkowska lives in Dartmouth with her two dogs. Her comics can be found at sarahthunder.tumblr.com

Susan MacLeod

Comic Creator

Susan MacLeod is an artist writing about the world of long-term care. Her illustrations have been published by Kaiser Permanente, Halifax Magazine, and the Globe & Mail, as well as for countless commissions. She holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from NSCAD University and a Master of Fine Arts in Creative Non-Fiction from the University of King’s College. She still misses her mother.

J J Steeves

Comic Creator

JJ Steeves is a Nova Scotia-based artist and arts educator. Treasuring the mundane in order to foster intimacy between art and viewer is especially important as she explores the significance of our daily patterns. Her work is largely influenced by street art, comics and zine culture.

Vanessa Lent

Comic Creator

Vanessa Lent is a writer and language instructor. She lives in Mi’kma’ki, the ancestral and unceded territory of the Mi’kmaq people. Her poetry is found in The Dalhousie Review, PRISM International, Room, and Public Poetics (2015) from WLU Press.

Patrick Allaby

Comic Creator

Patrick Allaby lives in Sackville NB and has published 2 books with Conundrum Press, The Water Lover (2021) and Martin Peters (2019). Both explore living with type 1 diabetes.

Jordyn Bochon

Comics

Jordyn is an artist and writer living in Halifax. Jordyn's most recent printed work can be found in Nova Graphica by Conundrum Press, as well as exclusive covers for Rick and Morty from Oni Press. Jordyn's work for animation as a painter and designer includes credits across Netflix, Cartoon Network, and Amazon Prime. Previously, they co-wrote the locally flavoured comic Welcome to Hellifax with their partner Tim Carpenter....
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Tim Carpenter

Comics

Tim is an illustrator, comic artist, and storyboard artist from Nova Scotia whose clients include Disney, Cartoon Network, and Nickelodeon. He is one half of the creative team behind Welcome to Hellifax, and is also known for his D&D-themed illustrations as well as his Lovecraft-inspired comic adaptations. Check out more of his work at timdraws.com.

Conundrum Press

Comics

Conundrum Press  was founded by Andy Brown in 1996 in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Being an anglophone press in a francophone city meant maintaining an outsider perspective and strong DIY aesthetic. For the first decade, they focused on chapbooks, short stories, novels, comics and zine collections. However, in the next decade, the press moved to Nova Scotia and focused its mandate on exclusively literary graphic novels. Conundrum has published many award-winning artists, such as Shary Boyle, Jillian Tamaki, Joe Ollmann, Michel Rabagliati, David Collier, Meags Fitzgerald, Dakota McFadzean, Nina Bunjevac, and many more. As READ MORE

Steve Vernon

Author

Steve Vernon is one of Canada's premier storytellers. He has published numerous books and short stories for kids and adults alike, including MARITIME MURDER, HALIFAX HAUNTS, THE LUNENBURG WEREWOLF, SINKING DEEPER, MARITIME MONSTERS, and WHERE THE GHOSTS ARE. He lives in Halifax, Nova Scotia.

Ali House

Author

Ali House is an author and editor, currently residing in Halifax, Nova Scotia. Born and raised in Newfoundland, she loves travelling, good food, and the Oxford comma. A prolific short story writer, her tales have been included in numerous bestselling collections, including Terror Nova. Novels include The Six Elemental, The Fifth Queen, Variety Show, and the Choose Your Own Adventurer ...
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Jo Treggiari

Author

Jo Treggiari was born in London, England, and raised in Canada. She spent many years in Oakland, California and New York, where she trained as a boxer, wrote for a punk magazine, and owned a gangster rap/indie rock record label. Her novel Ashes, Ashes, a YA post-apocalyptic adventure published by Scholastic Press and also Germany’s Ars Edition, was a multiple award nominee and bestseller. Her novella Love You Like Suicide, was released as a limited, collector’s edition of the long-running punk zine Cometbus. Her acclaimed psych-horror Blood Will Out, was published by Penguin Teen in 2018. Her most recent book is the much-praised Governor General’s Literary Award finalist, A...
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Julian Mortimer Smith

Author

Julian Mortimer Smith is an award-winning speculative fiction writer based in Yarmouth, Nova Scotia. His short stories have appeared in some of the world's top sci-fi and fantasy venues, including Asimov's, Terraform, Lightspeed, Daily Science Fiction, and Best American Science Fiction and Fantasy. His first collection, The World of Dew and Other Stories, won the 2020 Blue Light Books Prize. He is also a tabletop gaming enthusiast and has done freelance writing and editing work for Wyrd Miniatures (makers of Malifaux) and Fantasy Flight Games.

Michelle Bryan

Author

Michelle Bryan is a USA Today Bestselling sci-fi/fantasy author.  Formerly from Newfoundland she now calls Nova Scotia home, along with her hubby, son, and two fur babies. Author of The Crimson Legacy Trilogy, Legacy of Light Series, The Bixby Series, and The Power of Fae series. You can find out more about her books by visiting her website at http://www.michellebryanauthor.com or follow her on Goodreads or Facebook.

Nick Morris

Screenwriter

Nick Morris is a screenwriter and a lifelong horror and sci-fi fanatic living in Halifax, Nova Scotia. His first movie, BECKY, is an ultra-violent revenge thriller starring Lulu Wilson (THE HAUNTING OF HILL HOUSE), Joel McHale (COMMUNITY) and in his first villain role, Kevin James (THE KING OF QUEENS).  BECKY was slated to premiere at the Tribeca Film Festival in New York in April 2020 but due to the pandemic the event was cancelled. With most cinemas and multiplexes indefinitely closed, the film was subsequently released on VOD and at drive-in theaters across North America. Thanks to its successful run at the drive-ins, BECKY held the...
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