February is approaching with faster-than-light speed, which means it’s nearly time for International Fanworks Day (IFD) once again! On February 15, we’ll gather for our 12th annual observance of IFD to celebrate all aspects of fandom, fan-communities and fanworks—fics, art, podfic, zines, filk, research and more—together!

As we’re gearing up towards IFD, we at the OTW would love to hear from you about what you associate with this year’s theme: Alternate Universes! An Alternate Universe (AU) in fandom can mean a departure from canon, exploring diverging events and character choices, a themed AU like the cozy and popular Coffee Shop AU, or a fundamental change in worldbuilding, like Omegaverse fanworks. We are curious: Which AUs do you like best? Have you encountered an idea for an AU that changed your whole perspective on a piece of canon? What are your most treasured headcanons in your fandom(s)?

We’ll be keeping an eye out for any posts about AUs shared by fans, so tag your posts with #IFD2026, and we’ll signal-boost them on our OTW social media accounts!

In the next couple of weeks we’ll announce what we’re doing to celebrate IFD 2026. But we also want to know how you’ll spend the festivities! Back in December, we asked you to let us know about any events you’ll be running in your community for this IFD. You can still submit those events through our form until January 28.

Also in February, we’ll be running our annual Feedback Fest! Spend the time until February 13 keeping an eye out for any AU-related recs!

We can’t wait to hear from you about your fandom experiences and events for this IFD!