The relaunch of the Chicago Steampunk Exposition is now 10 months away!

Inspired by the 1893 Chicago World’s Exposition, we invite you to take a step back in time to an alternative history where technology and magic have accelerated the advancement of Victorian society at a much more rapid rate. Combine your imagination with immersion and experience the exhibits and wonders of the Exposition that neverwas.

Leanna Renee Hieber

Leanna Renee Hieber was a guest of honor at the 2019 Chicago Steampunk Exposition and we are glad to announce that she will returning in April 2023 to delight us with her charms and imagination!

Leanna Renee Hieber is an actress, playwright, ghost tour guide and the award-winning, bestselling author of over fourteen Gothic, Gaslamp Fantasy, Supernatural Suspense and Non-Fiction books for adults and teens with publishers such as Tor, Sourcebooks and Kensington Books. A Haunted History of Invisible Women: True Stories of America’s Ghosts, co-authored with Andrea Janes, marks Leanna’s first foray into non-fiction.

Her Strangely Beautiful saga, beginning with The Strangely Beautiful Tale of Miss Percy Parker, hit Barnes & Noble and Borders Bestseller lists and garnered numerous regional genre awards. Tor Books notes Strangely Beautiful as a “foundational text of Gaslamp Fantasy” and new, revised editions are now available via Tor. Darker Still hit American Bookseller’s Association’s “Indie Next List”, was a Scholastic Book Club “Highly Recommended” title and a Daphne du Maurier award finalist.

The Spectral City was a # 1 bestseller across several genres and digital platforms. A 4-time Prism Award winner for excellence in the genre of Fantasy Romance, Leanna’s short stories have been featured in notable anthologies and her books have been selected for national book club editions as well as translated into many languages. She lectures on Gothic fiction and ghostly themes for prominent institutions such as New York University, Miami University and at conventions, libraries and conferences around the country.

A proud member of Actors Equity and SAG-AFTRA, Mystery Writers of America, SFWA, Historical Novel Society, International Thriller Writers and The Dramatists Guild, she lives in New York where she is a licensed NYC tour guide working with Boroughs of the Dead and has been featured in film and television on shows like Boardwalk Empire and Mysteries at the Museum. She tours a one-woman show as 19th century designer Clara Driscoll and is represented by Paul Stevens of the Donald Maass agency. She tweets often @leannarenee.

Exposition Exhibitors

This coming April, the Exposition will offer a wide array of exhibitors and vendors to entertain, educate, and entice you. Throughout the convention you will find them in our Main Exhibitor Hall, Artists’ Alley, Printers’ Row, Exhibitor Alley, and in our Special Exhibit Gallery; for more information visit our Exhibitor page.

As exhibitors are being confirmed we are adding them to the site and featuring them each week; our latest edition is . . .

If you would like to be an Exposition Exhibitor, please submit an application HERE.

Special Exhibit – Victorian Fae

Each year the Chicago Steampunk Exposition hosts a Special Exhibit that sets the underlying “theme” for that year’s convention; for 2023 our special exhibit will be “Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s Fantastic Discovery of the Fae World.” This exhibit will feature art, relics, and other items of interest collected around the Fae Academia following Doyle and his father establishing diplomatic contact with the Fae territories. The Exposition will celebrate the many cultures, achievements, and art of Faekind, and be joined by ambassadors and representatives of these magical realms as we welcome them to Chicago. In many ways this will be like Carnival Row, but unlike the Republic of the Burgue, Chicago embraces diversity and multicultural exchanges.

Starting in July, we shall be seeking entries from artists and inventors to display pieces in our Special Exhibit, which will be a curated gallery of artworks for admiration and sale. Details to follow (later this month).

Presentations

If you have Steampunk related knowledge and expertise that you would like to share at the Exposition, then we invite you be part of the Program and submit your proposals for presentations.

The Venue

The 2023 Chicago Steampunk Exposition is being hosted at the Hyatt Regency Schaumburg. This upscale hotel is a short drive from O’Hare International Airport with many facilities both in the hotel and surrounding it, plus FREE PARKING.

Visit our Venue Page to learn more about the layout of the show floors and what to expect from the Exposition new home.

Room prices and booking information are all listed on the Book Rooms page.