Barricades is an all-online virtual convention, held annually since 2022, for fans and scholars of Victor Hugo’s Les Misérables and its adaptations. Our 2024 convention will take place July 12-14 via Zoom and Discord. Admission is £12 and scholarships are available; this year’s profits will be donated to Black & Pink National, supporting incarcerated people who are LGBTQIA2S+ or living with HIV/AIDS.
Our 2024 guests of honor are American children’s writer Christina Soontornvat, discussing her Les Misérables–inspired middle-grade fantasy A Wish in the Dark; Spanish playwright Luciano Muriel, discussing his musical Grantaire; and French photographer (and Hugo descendent) Jean-Baptiste Hugo, sharing his photographs of Hugo’s home in exile Hauteville House.
The rest of Barricades’ programming comes from its members, and we’re very pleased to showcase presentations, panel discussions, workshops, performances, and games submitted to our academic and fan programming tracks. We’re interested in programming on all aspects of Hugo’s novel; its many adaptations for stage, screen, comics, and other media; its reception, criticism, and fandoms and fan works; Hugo’s life and literary circle; and the political and social history of 19th-century France, including the arts, fashion, medicine, and daily life. Previous programming has covered everything from the 1832 cholera pandemic to the racial coding of modern Les Mis fan art to how to make your own tricolor cockade.
To learn more, visit https://www.barricadescon.com, where you’ll find links to submit programming proposals, register or request a scholarship, find out more about our guests of honor and charity partners, join our planning server, and volunteer to help out. You’ll also find links to our social media for more updates and highlights of past and upcoming programming.
Come check us out, and help us spread the word to your friends, colleagues, teachers, and students. We hope to see you on the barricades!
Evelyn Browne, 2024 convention chair