As many of you know, I travel with our business, Alicia’s Anime to a bunch of conventions and festivals (normally around 35 or so per year). It’s a great opportunity to sell books and meet and talk with readers and I really enjoy it!

Unfortunately with the Covid-19 pandemic happening, many of the shows we were scheduled have had to cancel. Of the 27 shows we had scheduled so far for 2020, we were able to attend 5 before the pandemic. Out of the remaining 22 shows, 17 have canceled (or officially postponed to next year). This leaves us with 5 remaining shows for 2020, but realistically it’s not likely that many of those will happen.

It’s sad – many volunteers spend hundreds of hours putting these events together every year, and of course it’s rough on small businesses as well as artists and writers who make a living on sales from the events. Despite that, however, I agree that those who run the events are definitely doing the right thing in keeping the safety of everyone involved first. They have my full support, and I look forward to working with them all again as soon as it’s safe to do so. In the meantime, lets all do our best to get through this safely together by heeding the advice given by health officials. Practice social distancing. Wear a mask (and remember that you wearing a mask is just as important for those around you as it is yourself – even if you are asymptomatic). Be considerate. Love your neighbor. Choose kindness in everything. If we’re lucky we’ll all be able to get back to normal sooner rather than later.

Until then, stay safe!

-Clint

Check out the Conventions page for updates.