Worldcon GoHs: How Long in the Saddle?
Sep. 4th, 2007 07:14 pmIt has become interesting to ask the age of Professional Guests of Honor at the World Science Fiction Convention. And how long they were working in the field before the Worldcon honored them.

Birth year vs. year of Worldcon for Professional Guests of Honor
Sources:
Wikipedia entries on individual World Science Fiction Conventions (Worldcons) and Guests of Honor and Internet Science Fiction Database (ISFDB) bibliographies of authors and editors.
Rules:
Science fiction, fantasy, and horror count.
From my graphs, I eliminated Pro GoHs not known as authors or editors (e.g. artists, an essayist (Ley), GoHs from TV and motion pictures). In the case of some artists, it was difficult to learn the date of their first work in the field.
I eliminated the Ballantines because I'm not sure of the date of their first SF or fantasy work.
Most GoHs primarily known as editors have also written stories; I used date of first sale to mark their entry into the field.
I'm not sure I have accurate figures on the first sales of Wolfgang Jeschke, Josef Nesvadaba, or Sakyo Komatsu. I did the best I could.
Ages are calculated hastily as the difference between birth year and Worldcon year, rather than scrupulously by looking at the calendar date of each. Think of them as estimates.
Goofs:
I left Elisabeth Vonarburg out when I made the graphs. Born 1947, GoH in 2009, first sale 1979. Sorry.

Years Since First Contribution to SF vs. Worldcon Year

Birth Year minus Year of First Contribution to SF vs. Worldcon Year
( Ugly text lists behind cut )

Birth year vs. year of Worldcon for Professional Guests of Honor
Sources:
Wikipedia entries on individual World Science Fiction Conventions (Worldcons) and Guests of Honor and Internet Science Fiction Database (ISFDB) bibliographies of authors and editors.
Rules:
Science fiction, fantasy, and horror count.
From my graphs, I eliminated Pro GoHs not known as authors or editors (e.g. artists, an essayist (Ley), GoHs from TV and motion pictures). In the case of some artists, it was difficult to learn the date of their first work in the field.
I eliminated the Ballantines because I'm not sure of the date of their first SF or fantasy work.
Most GoHs primarily known as editors have also written stories; I used date of first sale to mark their entry into the field.
I'm not sure I have accurate figures on the first sales of Wolfgang Jeschke, Josef Nesvadaba, or Sakyo Komatsu. I did the best I could.
Ages are calculated hastily as the difference between birth year and Worldcon year, rather than scrupulously by looking at the calendar date of each. Think of them as estimates.
Goofs:
I left Elisabeth Vonarburg out when I made the graphs. Born 1947, GoH in 2009, first sale 1979. Sorry.

Years Since First Contribution to SF vs. Worldcon Year

Birth Year minus Year of First Contribution to SF vs. Worldcon Year
( Ugly text lists behind cut )