Zeno client Lavie Tidhar has long been actively involved with promotion for the World SF Travel Fund, a program set up to help industry folks from far-flung places to attend major genre events – WorldCon, World Fantasy Convention, etc.

This year the fund will be helping authors Csilla Kleinheincz from Hungary and Rochita Loenen-Ruiz from the Philippines to attend the World Fantasy Convention in Brighton in the UK.

Lavie has given an interview to SF Signal, conducted by the first recipient of the prize, Charles Tan. In the interview, Tidhar explains the mission and history of the World SF Travel Fund, as well as how and why he’s involved:

‘helping to foster a global conversation on SF/F is important for both sides, and we’re trying, in our small way, to help foster that. For many people, travel to the US or those big conventions is vastly expensive, and I think there is a danger of SF becoming insular if it does not open itself up to new voices, outsider voices.’

Lavie Tidhar is the author of the award-winning OSAMA (PS Publishing) and fan-favourite THE BOOKMAN HISTORIES (Angry Robot).  His web site is at lavietidhar.wordpress.com and he is known to tweet occasionally from @lavietidhar.