Israel’s annual science-fiction and fantasy convention runs this year on 3-5 April, in Holon. Jointly managed by the Israeli Tolkien society and the Israeli HDM community, the convention will have several talks of interest to His Dark Materials fans.

“His Borrowed Materials” by Netanela Davidovich: How did Milton inspired Pullman? Why Lewis is turning in his grave, and how does ‘Genesis’ fits in? This lecture describes the inspiration sources of “His Dark Materials”, the trilogy written by the British writer Phillip Pullman. From Adam and Eve’s myth as it appears in “Genesis”, through Milton’s “Paradise lost” and completing with Oxford writers from the last centaury.

“Tell me what your Daemon form is and I would tell you who you are” / Hagit Wienner – In almost every human culture there is a humanization of animals, in many fantasy books talking animals take part, and the idea of humans that become animals is known there as well, but in “His Dark Materials” Philip Pullman has made the animal an inseparable part of humans. What are the human qualities we gave to different animals? And is there a real connection between the Daemon’s form and his human personality?

Read more on the convention’s official website or visit our community member, HDM.co.il