Filtering by: Horror

Workshop: Writing Ghost Stories with Helen Grant
Jun
2
12:15 PM12:15

Workshop: Writing Ghost Stories with Helen Grant

This workshop invites you to delve into the perennially-popular ghost story. What defines the ghost story? Are there "rules" for ghost story writing? How do we create a genuinely chilling tale? What are the particular challenges when approaching either a short ghost story or a novel length work? And where can you get your ghost story published? Helen Grant examines these and other topics. The session will include hints and tips, discussions and some writing exercises with prompts. Please bring something to write with/on.  

 

Your Workshop Leader 

Helen Grant writes Gothic novels and short ghost stories. Joyce Carol Oates has described her as "a brilliant chronicler of the uncanny as only those who dwell in places of dripping, graylit beauty can be." A lifelong fan of the ghost story writer M.R.James, she has spoken at two M.R.James conferences and appeared at the Dublin Ghost Story Festival. Helen's most recent books are Too Near The Dead (2021) and Jump Cut (2023). She lives in Perthshire with her family, and when not writing, she likes to explore abandoned country houses and swim in freezing lochs.


About the event:

 Running time: 105 minutes including breaks

Venue: Braid Room

 Tickets: £18 / £15 (plus 50p booking fee)

 The event will be take place in person. Workshops are not recorded.

 

Our workshops are supported by Write Gear, creators of the Page One Writer’s Notebook and the Page One Podcast.

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Many Shades of Darkness with Elle Nash, Kaaron Warren and Johanna Van Veen
Jun
1
8:45 PM20:45

Many Shades of Darkness with Elle Nash, Kaaron Warren and Johanna Van Veen

Horror is often considered the most diverse genre to read and write. From body horror to ghost stories, join us on this Saturday night to explore the many shades of darkness with authors Elle Nash, Kaaron Warren and Johanna Van Veen.

 

Elle Nash is the author of the novel Animals Eat Each Other (Dzanc Books), which was featured in O Magazine and hailed by Publishers Weekly as a “complex, impressive exploration of obsession and desire.” Upon publication of her novel in the UK, she appeared at the Edinburgh International Book Festival to present the work of under-represented voices with Amnesty International, and to speak about sex, death and feminism in literature. Her work appears in GuernicaAdroitThe Creative IndependentHazlittLiterary HubCosmopolitanNew York Tyrant and elsewhere. She is a founding editor of Witch Craft Magazine. She currently lives in Glasgow, Scotland.

Kaaron Warren is the author of the novels Slights, Walking the Tree, Mistification, Tide of Stone and The Grief Hole and the short story collections Through Splintered Walls, The Grinding House, and Dead Sea Fruit. Her short stories have won her a Shirley Jackson Award, as well as multiple Australian Shadows Awards, Ditmar Awards and Aurealis Awards. She lives in Canberra, Australia.

Johanna grew up in the Netherlands together with her two sisters. The three of them are triplets, though her sisters are identical to each other and she’s different, a fact she didn’t discover until she was five years old; at least, unlike most people, she can pinpoint the exact moment she became self-aware.

She has received an MA in English Literature with a specialisation in early modern literature, as well as an MA Book and Digital Media with a specialisation in early modern book history, both of them at Leiden University. She currently works as an editor for a big company that sends a lot of reports and letters out every day, all of them requiring a lot of love and attention to make sure that every comma is where it should be. This job gives her enough time to write (mostly queer gothic) novels. When she isn’t doing any of those things, she enjoys spending time with her girlfriend, her sisters, and her dog, though not necessarily all at the same time. My Darling Dreadful Thing is her debut novel.

This event will be chaired by Rhiannon Grist.



About the event

Running time: 55 minutes followed by a book signing

Venue: Upper Hall

Price: £11/£8 concession - In Person - or £5.50 Live Stream - (plus 50p booking fee)

This event takes place in person and is broadcast via live stream.

A recording of this event will be available to catch-up on our YouTube until Sunday 14th July 2024. Ticket holders and weekend pass owners will receive the catch-up link automatically after the festival. Please keep an eye on your SPAM.

 

Find out more about ACCESS to our events here, and for information about TICKETS, click here.

Any other questions? Check out our FAQ.

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Small Town Problems with Tori Bovalino and Max Turner
Jun
1
7:00 PM19:00

Small Town Problems with Tori Bovalino and Max Turner

Nosy neighbours and a lack of amenities are the least of the problems the main protagonists of Tori Bovalino’s and Max Turner’s books face. Expect missing children and dark secrets to feature in this folk horror panel.

 

Tori Bovalino (she/her) is the author of three YA horror novels, including My Throat an Open Grave, and edited the Indie-bestselling anthology, The Gathering Dark. Tori also writes adult fantasy as V.L. Bovalino. She is originally from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and now lives in the UK with her partner and their very loud cat. Tori loves scary stories, obscure academic book facts, and impractical, oversized sweaters. She can be found on Instagram as @toribovalino.

Max Turner is a gay transgender fella living in the UK. He is a nerd, Intersectional Feminist, and a retired performer and show producer. He writes speculative fiction, science fiction, fantasy, furry fiction, horror and LGBTQ+ fiction. This includes gay and trans romance and erotica. Max is also the publisher of A Coup of Owls quarterly online anthology and print anthologies. 

Currently undergoing Parenting 101, he can be found hanging on for dear life to the nearest cup of strong coffee. Max has also written under the name L.E. Turner

This event will be chaired by PM Freestone



About the event

Running time: 55 minutes followed by a book signing

Venue: Upper Hall

Price: £11/£8 concession - In Person - or £5.50 Live Stream - (plus 50p booking fee)

This event takes place in person and is broadcast via live stream.

A recording of this event will be available to catch-up on our YouTube until Sunday 14th July 2024. Ticket holders and weekend pass owners will receive the catch-up link automatically after the festival. Please keep an eye on your SPAM.

 

Find out more about ACCESS to our events here, and for information about TICKETS, click here.

Any other questions? Check out our FAQ.

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Arctic Horrors with C.J. Cooke, Tim Lebbon and Ally Wilkes
Jun
1
5:15 PM17:15

Arctic Horrors with C.J. Cooke, Tim Lebbon and Ally Wilkes

Welcome to the far north, where icy winds howl in long dark nights, or across skies where the sun doesn’t set.. This is the perfect setting for a horror, and we are excited to welcome three masters of the genre with C.J. Cooke, Tim Lebbon and Ally Wilkes. Be ready to be chilled to the bone.

 

C J Cooke (Carolyn Jess-Cooke) lives in Glasgow with her husband and four children. C J Cooke's works have been published in 23 languages and have won many awards. She holds a PhD in Literature from the Queen's University of Belfast and is currently Senior Lecturer in Creative Writing at the University of Glasgow, where she researches creative writing interventions for mental health. Two of her books are currently optioned for film.

 

Tim Lebbon is the New York Times bestselling author of Eden, Coldbrook, The Silence, and the Relics trilogy. He has also written many successful movie novelizations and tie-ins for Alien and Firefly. Tim has won a World Fantasy Award, four British Fantasy Awards, a Bram Stoker Award, a Shocker, a Tombstone and been a finalist for the International Horror Guild and World Fantasy Awards. The Silence is now a gripping Netflix movie starring Stanley Tucci and Kiernan Shipka.

Follow Tim on X and Instagram @timlebbon

Ally Wilkes grew up in a succession of isolated—possibly haunted—country houses and boarding schools. After studying law at Oxford, she went on to spend eleven years as a criminal barrister, learning how extreme situations bring out the best (or worst) in human nature. Ally now lives in Greenwich, London, with an anatomical human skeleton and far too many books about Polar exploration. When she isn't writing or reading horror, she's usually to be found hanging upside-down (like a bat) from her aerial silks. 



About the event

Running time: 55 minutes followed by a book signing

Venue: Upper Hall

Price: £11/£8 concession - In Person - or £5.50 Live Stream - (plus 50p booking fee)

This event takes place in person and is broadcast via live stream.

A recording of this event will be available to catch-up on our YouTube until Sunday 14th July 2024. Ticket holders and weekend pass owners will receive the catch-up link automatically after the festival. Please keep an eye on your SPAM.

 

Find out more about ACCESS to our events here, and for information about TICKETS, click here.

Any other questions? Check out our FAQ.

View Event →