I have some very big news to share:

Coding with Knives is going to DjangoCon Europe in Cardiff, Wales!

I will be giving two talks: the first will be on open day, to a wide, diverse audience that includes conference visitors, students, local developers, and folks just getting started with coding. The second will be during talks days, to conference attendees, and will be given in this glorious building:

Cardiff’s magnificent city hall!

You can check out all open day activities here and read about the talks here.

In my talks, I’ll describe how two seemingly disparate subjects – cooking and coding – can inform, illuminate, and challenge one another in compelling ways. My hope is that by comparing something unfamiliar and perhaps intimidating (the experience of learning a programming language) to something universal and everyday (cooking), I’ll make learning to code seem more accessible. My goal, like that of PyLadies and Django Girls, is to inspire women to become contributors and leaders in the Python open source community.

My participation is made possible by the generous grant I received from the Grants Committee on behalf of the Django Software Foundation. Without their significant support, I would not be able to attend. I’m so, so thankful.

Thanks to Ian C. for the picture!

My grandmother is also making a significant contribution to my travel. If you heard my PyTennessee talk you already know a little about this amazing woman I call Nanny. Blue ribbons hanging above her kitchen stove, and Linux on her cozy living room desktop, she is my advocate, my inspiration, my comfort, and my strength.

I feel incredibly humbled by this extraordinary opportunity and thankful to everyone who is making it possible. The next six weeks will be very busy ones, as I work on my talks and prepare to travel internationally, solo, for the first time! I aim to make the folks who funded me feel made a good call, and I want to bring the lessons learned back to Atlanta for the benefit of our community, especially as I work on organizing events (including Django Girls!) for PyLadiesATL.

This is huge for me and I already feel the weight of everything I need to do to prepare. But with your support, I know I can do it! Thanks for believing in me.