Speaking of manga-ka guests I would suggest Shintaro Kago since his works aren't very conventional and he seems to be active in art/exhibits outside of strictly that of a manga-ka. If manga-ka are too much trouble this year, maybe an artist/animator would be better? My favorite is Maya Takamura and all the work she did for Konami and continues to do for IIDX and on her own is great. An animator would just be nice in general since I feel they'd provide really good insight into the processes of working for companies and their own freelancing.
Someone mentioned light novel authors as guests a
