Barricades is an online convention dedicated to Victor Hugo’s seminal work, Les Misérables, and its influence. From the book itself to the stage musical and every adaptation in between, Les Misérables has had a powerful and lasting impact on the world.
Barricades is a volunteer-run, online-only convention that will take place on 12-14 July 2024 in its third year. It will include academic and fan tracks, featuring panels on history, literature, adaptations, and even the fandom itself, which has endured from the release of the novel in 1862 to the present day. Guests of Honours for this year’s convention are yet to be announced.
Barricades: A Les Mis Convention is, at its core, an exploration of the themes set forth by Hugo in his work. As such, proceeds from the 2024 event will support Black and Pink, a US-based prison abolitionist organization supporting LGBTQ and HIV-positive prisoners. Les Misérables is a study in the difference individual people can make on the lives of others and it is our goal to continue this legacy.
If you are interested in getting involved with the planning and operation of Barricades, feel free to contact the planning team. Any questions can be directed to info@barricadescon.com. All updates can be found on our Home in Latest News and our social media:
Meet the Team
Ellen Fremedon
- she/her
- Con Chair
Ellen Fremedon has been in fandom for twenty years and has loved Les Misérables for ten years longer than that, ever since she first saw the musical on the Third National U.S. tour. She picked up the Brick for her ninth readthrough early in pandemic lockdown and things escalated from there. Barricades is largely her fault.
Located in the Washington, DC metro area, Ellen has been on the concom for CON.TXT, her local transformative media con, since the 2016 con cycle. When she’s not organizing conventions or writing fanfic, Ellen works as an editor for a government department, sculpts, and plays piano.
As con chair, Ellen has been involved with almost every aspect of the con, but her main focus is the programming committee, particularly the fan track.
Imagines
- she/her
- ConCom Treasurer
Having grown up seeing posters for the musical around London tube stations, Imagines’ first proper introduction to Les Mis came with the 2012 musical – which she enjoyed, but didn’t consider to be anything special. A couple of years later, a friend introduced her to the online fandom and encouraged her to read the book, unknowingly sparking an obsession. These days Imagines can be found writing parody self-insert fanfiction (‘badlesmisimagines’) and posting the occasional Gritty meme. In addition to her role as Treasurer, she designed the Barricades logo and is on the social media teams for the convention’s Twitter and Instagram accounts.
Born in the UK, she grew up in London and will begin studying for a Literature PhD in September 2021. Her interests outside of Les Mis include knitting, ice hockey and trivia quizzes.
Amelia/Juxta
- she/her or they/them
- ConCom Secretary
Amelia grew up listening to her parents’ CD of the original London cast recording of the musical and has been hooked on everything Les Mis ever since.
Based in Brighton in the UK, she’s currently a final-year creative and critical writing PhD candidate, researching same-sex desire and intimacy in Victor Hugo’s Les Misérables and its adaptations, including fanwork. Along the way, she’s been shortlisted for several creative writing awards, had a few short stories published, and, after graduating, hopes to focus on turning her thesis into a book and submitting her first novel to literary agents. She also works as a senior editor of academic writing, a doctoral tutor, and a jewellery maker. In her spare time, she’s all about practising ballet and piano, making things (art, cakes, anything!), and attempting to wrangle her dogs, Ollie and Dora, into becoming respectable members of society.
As part of the Barricades ConCom, she works primarily with the Communications and Programming Committees, and is thoroughly enjoying reading academic track submissions for the con.
Kaprime
- she/her
- ConCom
Being French, Kaprime had always known about Les Miserables, but only peripherally. Then she watched the 2012 musical on a plane and became fascinated with it. Only then did she manage to complete the book – she had tried once as a child, but had stopped reading when reaching 100 pages. And only after she finished high school did she fully take in that she had been lucky to study at Victor Hugo’s high school.
Born and raised in Paris, she studied IT and Computer Science, recently graduated with a double Master degree and currently works as a consultant.
As part of the tech committee, she helped develop the website and drafted the website policies. She also works with the programming committee, both interested in the fan and academic tracks.
Megab
- she/her
- ConCom
Megab is Theatre Kid™ in the United States. She grew up listening to Les Mis with her mom, but found the fandom after watching the 2012 movie and discovered that while she is a lesbian, she is straight for Aaron Tveit. She strongly believes in the power of fandom to make positive change in the world, and not just because she applied to her current full-time job with Good Omens fanfiction. On the Barricades ConCom, she has worked primarily in safety, accessibility, and fan track programming. She can usually be found listening to audio dramas, attempting to walk her cat, and riding public transportation for fun.
MagicFishHook
- Any pronouns
- ConCom
Illustrator and comic artist focused on Les Misérables. Fish first fell in love with Les Mis after watching 2012 film with a friend. Has been in and out of the fandom since then and is currently working on two graphic novels following the relationship between Jean Valjean and Javert after the events of the book.
Currently located in Auckland, New Zealand, Fish was born in Spain and has studied History of Arts and a degree in Graphic Design.
On the Barricades ConCom, Fish is part of the amazing team in working on tech and design for the website.
Synteis
- they/them
- ConCom
Synteis first watched Les Mis as a small child when the 10th anniversary production aired on their local television station. They loved it so much that their parents for the first and only time ordered the VHS tape. Since then they’ve listened to the various recordings of the musical, watched other adaptations, read the novel and of course watched that old VHS tape many times.
Born and raised in Toronto, Canada and fluent in French and English, Syn’s passion for Les Mis turned into a double major in history and genetics. They’re currently writing their PhD thesis in genetics and hope to be a Doctor of Philosophy by the time the con starts. Other than Les Mis, Syn’s current fandom interests are focused on Chinese BL novels and dramas. Outside of work they love to garden, cook and spend time with their wife.
On the Barricades ConCom, Syn helped to build the website and the Discord server.
Autumn
- she/her
- ConCom
Born and raised in Estonia, Autumn’s first introduction to Les Miserables was through the classic Soviet picture books telling the story of Cosette and Gavroche. She first became involved in online fandom in 2015, through the cyclical Les Mis readalong group called BrickClub. Since then, Autumn makes her online home at Tumblr and Discord, where she loves discussing Les Mis, French Romanticism and other fannish interests with likeminded friends. Her other hobbies include art, writing, photography and trying to recreate the experiences of 19th century flaneur in modern cityscape.
Autumn is part of the ConCom and helps run the Barricades Tumblr account
