My Updated Horror RA Program is Happening Today

This afternoon I am presenting my updated program on how to help Horror readers for PCI. Many libraries across the country have access to PCI's webinars either live or on demand. Please look into you system or state's niche academy or similar access points for continuing education.

I work very hard to update this program every single year so that it has everything you need to help Horror readers from the most hard core to new fans and even the Horror curious who always come out each Spooky Season. 

Please note, whether you have access to my live presentation or not, I have made the slides so that they are an excellent resource even without me talking. There is a baseline of expertly crafted information here for anyone to use. 

Please see the excerpts from my post from 7/31/26 entitled, Updated Horror RA Program for 2026 and my 2026 Appearance Schedule Page is Now Live, for more information below. See some of you later today or sometime in the future when you catch the replay.

Believe it or not, but I am in full Spooky Season prep mode even though it is still July. Besides the Horror Genre Preview that went live earlier this month, I also have my annual update to my program-- Horror Readers Advisory: How to Help Your Scariest Patrons.

The first time I am giving this talk is for PCI for a national audience-- some live, some on demand. You can access the slides for yourself here or at the end of this post.

This presentation is updated every year around this time. It is THE standard for everything you need to know about Horror from appeal to themes, how to handle the Horror RA conversation, what titles you need to know about. And all of this is presented so that you can use the information to serve your patrons whether you are a hard core horror fan, a complete fraidy cat, or anything in between.

This means everyone reading this should be looking at these slides now, before you are slammed with more Horror readers. Remember, horror is hot right now and people always want to give it a try in October, even those who have never read it. These slides can help you help them and every level of Horror reader. 

FYI, you can always find my upcoming and immediately past programs and RA training appearances on this page, always in the right gutter BELOW the RA for All logo. That page lists my fees, my most popular programs and their descriptions, links to slides, and a direct link to my book specific appearance page.  

Updated Horror RA Program for 2026 and my 2026 Appearance Schedule Page is Now Live

Believe it or not, but I am in full Spooky Season prep mode even though it is still July. Besides the Horror Genre Preview that went live earlier this month, I also have my annual update to my program-- Horror Readers Advisory: How to Help Your Scariest Patrons.

The first time I am giving this talk is for PCI for a national audience-- some live, some on demand. You can access the slides for yourself here or at the end of this post.

This presentation is updated every year around this time. It is THE standard for everything you need to know about Horror from appeal to themes, how to handle the Horror RA conversation, what titles you need to know about. And all of this is presented so that you can use the information to serve your patrons whether you are a hard core horror fan, a complete fraidy cat, or anything in between.

This means everyone reading this should be looking at these slides now, before you are slammed with more Horror readers. Remember, horror is hot right now and people always want to give it a try in October, even those who have never read it. These slides can help you help them and every level of Horror reader.

FYI, you can always find my upcoming and immediately past programs and RA training appearances on this page, always in the right gutter BELOW the RA for All logo. That page lists my fees, my most popular programs and their descriptions, links to slides, and a direct link to my book specific appearance page.

I have also set up the 2026 Fall WHY I LOVE HORROR appearance page, beginning with my visit to Gibson's Books in 2 days. Click here for that page. You can also find it in the right gutter ABOVE the RA for All Logo. There is already a lot there and I am confirming more every day.

And don't forget, I do a #HorrorForLibrraies giveaway every Thursday. And today, it is a big one-- up coming titles from Eric LaRocca and Alma Katsu; two titles for 1 winner! Click here for details on the titles and how to enter. Even if you aren't a huge horror fan, someone at your library is. These are ARCs so you cannot add them to your collections after staff read them, but you can use them for Horror themed giveaways of your own.

As August approaches (in 2 more days), I am here to help you be ready for Spooky Season. Those slides are filled with lists, links, and more. Get ready NOW. 

Becky Live at Gibson's Bookstore in Concord, NH This Friday!!!

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I am in NH for personal reasons and figured, hey Ryan, who does events for Gibson's is THE BEST, let's see if the two of us can work something out, and well, we did!

Come see me and John Langan, in conversation, on Friday, July 31st at Gibson's Bookstore in Concord New Hampshire at 6:30pm. I will be doing a signing as well. Click here for details and to register so they know you are coming, and so they have enough books on hand. John will sign his essay in the book too. From their site:

Join us for a celebration of Horror with two award-winning authors!

Librarian extraordinaire and champion of Horror, Becky Siegel Spratford, visits Gibson's to share her book of essays, Why I Love Horror, which just won the Bram Stoker Award for Superior Achievement in Short Non- Fiction. She will be joined in conversation by John Langan, who just won the Bram Stoker Award for Superior Achievement in a Fiction Collection for his book, Lost in The Dark and Other Excursions.

A captivating anthology and heartfelt tribute to the horror genre featuring essays from several of the most celebrated contemporary horror writers including, Grady Hendrix, Paul Tremblay, Stephen Graham Jones, Josh Malerman, Victor LaValle, Tananarive Due, and Rachel Harrison.

For twenty-five years, Becky Siegel Spratford has worked as a librarianin Reader Advisory, training library workers all over the world on how to engage their patrons and readers, and to use her place as a horror expert and critic to get the word out to others; to bring even more readers into the horror fold.

Why I Love Horror is a love letter to the horror genre from many of the most influential and bestselling authors in the industry.

We are going to talk about horror in general, the book specifically, and our recent Stoker wins (which are connected. Ahh a tease to get you interested in joining us, yes I just did that).

I am excited to meet those of you who can make it. But I am also excited because this event marks the beginning of my 2026 book tour as well.

I will write up a post soon with all the details but I am appearing with Paul Tremblay in Springfield, MO in early September, Grady Hendrix in Danville, IL in late September and have multiple appearances in NYC and Brooklyn with a variety of authors at NYPL and Cass Khaw's book launch at Twisted Spine. Oh and a December appearance in Ann Arbor, MI. In between, I have a bunch of virtual and in person book club visits for Spooky season. And there are a few other podcasts and in person appearances still in the works or recorded and not yet dropped.

I will create a page for all of it for those of you who want to come out and see me. 

But right now, this Friday, July 31st, come out to Gibson's in Concord, NH. We already have a good crowd registered but we have room for more. I am driving an hour to be there, John even further. What is your excuse? We are only 1 hour from Boston folks. And it's a Friday night. Let's celebrate why we all love horror together, and support a great book store in the process.

ALA 2026: Wrap Up Post 1 of 2 (updated 7/1 with Read N Rave Titles)

I usually post in the morning but I needed a moment after being at ALA Annual since Friday and having worked 8 days (and counting without a break)

Today, I am going to focus on the things I did where I can share things you can use. Tomorrow I will write about the Opening and closing sessions and link to a few reports from other outlets.

But I do want to let you know, there are a few resources that will be ready in a week or so and I did have some meetings that will lead to more posts and information coming over the next few weeks.

Let me start on Friday at the Library Insights Preconference. The things said on my panel are all things you have heard before here on RA for All. But I do want to talk about this panel and provide the info from what I am calling the most useful handout of the conference-- Tell me What to Publish: What Librarians Wish Publishers Knew:

What are readers asking for—and what aren’t they finding? In our closing conversation, librarians from across the country share insights from their circulation data, collection development priorities, and daily patron requests. We’ll look at what the metadata is revealing about genre trends and where publishers may be missing opportunities. From urban systems to rural branches, these experts will identify gaps in the marketplace, shifts in reading habits, and emerging categories ready for attention. Designed for publishers seeking actionable direction, this session delivers a rare, unfiltered look at what librarians truly wish you’d publish next.

Ann Lehue, Director, Collection and Metadata Development, Ingram

Christina Chatel, School Library Media Specialist, Boulan Park and Smith Middle Schools

Dr. Corinthia Price, President, International Association of School Librarianship

Stephen Sposato, Collection Development Manager, Chicago Public Library 

Click here for more info on the panelists.  

Ann from Ingram Content Group's Library Services made a two sided handout. One side was a great resource for the publishers. It's on how to  maximize sales to libraries and gives them lots of advice on what we like to see and the resources we use. On the bottom, says, "Libraries rely heavily on reviews for their push casing decisions." After that heading it has the link to all of the journals with their age conus and the link to where they submit for review.

The other side is a document entitled, "Publishing Trends and Gaps" and this is what the panel focused on. I have recreated that bulleted list here for all to see for free, with attribution to Ingram.

THIS HANDOUT IS RA AND COLLECTION DEVELOPMENT GOLD!!!!!

Please click through. These are the areas that are in demand at libraries for all ages. Please look through this list and use it to make displays and pass on to your children department and the people who order books. I am also hanging on to this for my end of the year reports. 

I want to link the info on the handout with a few other things I saw at the conference. Publishers (especially Harper Collins) were making sure to mention all of the titles they were now including in Large Print. There are a lot more than previous years. Also, speaking of HarperCollins, they had an entire section at their booth with the covers of audio ARCs available through Net Galley and QR codes to go directly to them. Here is that page. Multiple formats with ease were everywhere at the conference and I know all of that is great for us.

The woman who was one of the co-founders of the Young Teen Lit movement (also in the handout) was on the panel and talked at length about the issue shared their website: https://youngteenlit.com/. Go there to follow them and the authors and books they recommend. After seeing this panel Friday and was primed to notice the books that are being marketed to fill this gap while I was on the show floor. 

You can also read another report from the day here.

Now on to other things.

I want to thank everyone who came to my signing at the S&S Booth. Many of you said you saw it here on the blog. We had 80 books and I had 1 hour to sign them. I never imaged I would have 80 people come, let alone have one of those EPIC ALA links that has to be split by the booth, but I did. I met so many of you and signed those books in 70 minutes. Thank you all. Here are some photos of the line and me signing that Lila Denning took. And thank you to Melissa Croce and her assistant El. who ran the appearance.  They worked hard all conference. I know this because I went back to offer to help them with other things. 

On Sunday, Lila and I had a huddle (mentioned in this post with links to Lila's quick slide show of 5 Tips for Book Displays). Readers of this blog know what I talked about. We had 20+ people show up for a space ment for 6-8, including someone from a display shelving company. The biggest comments were that it should have been a panel. I agree. Maybe next year we will do that. 

Also welcome to my new readers from that event.

I also attended the Booklist/LibraryReads Read N Rave on Sunday. Booklist now has the blog post up with all of the titles here. Please consider voting for them for LibraryReads.

Finally, I got to see Tananarive Due on her LibraryReads panel, Monday. We were able to hug and celebrate our Stoker Award wins and take a selfie for our wonderful editor Joe Monti. I was so proud to see the room so excited for Due's new book--Mazywood. I have turned in my Booklist review and spoiler alert-- it is great and you can read my pre-review thoughts here. But when she spoke about it specifically, she talked about moving from the pain and trauma of writing The Reformatory and how Mazywood leads with joy. It really does, but I will say, joy for Horror people, maybe not everyone's idea of joy, because it both a novel of early Hollywood and the Black experience in it AND a good old-fashioned 1980s survival monster horror story. 

Here are photos from the panel and of me and Due celebrating our joy! Oh and a bonus pic of me and Lila in the audience (early Monday morning.)

That's enough for today. As I mentioned above, I have somethings to say about the Opening and closing ceremony and my overall experience. I will also link to reports from others.

My ALA Schedule Including Booth Signing

As promised here yesterday, today's post is all about my personal schedule at ALA. Please note, this is not complete. I am not including a few panels I hope to make it to, rather I will only include places I KNOW I will be at during specific times. 

Please though, if you see me, stop me. No matter how busy I look. I want to meet you if you want to meet me. I will have RA for All pens and stickers for anyone who asks. And, since I will go home every night, I will not run out!

I have highlighted the 2 events where I am the presenter.

Friday, June 26, 2026:

Library Insights Pre-Conference
McCormick Place West – Room W471A (West Building Level 4)

8:30 am- 3:30 pm

This is a ticketed event which I wrote about in detail in this post. I will be in that room most of the day, but as soon as it is over, I will head to registration.

Opening General Session featuring Rachel Maddow

McCormick Place W375 CDE Skyline

4-5:30pm

I will be outside mingling with people before it begins. I will also be sitting close to the front because my dear friend Carolyn Ciesla is the current President of ILA and she will be on stage to welcome you all.

After the opening session, I will probably skip the exhibit open since I will have been there all day and I have a dinner to get to.

Saturday, June 27, 2026:

HarperCollins Adult Fall/Winter Preview

Location: McCormick Place, W 375 A Skyline

9:00 AM - 10:30 AM

After that I will be in the Exhibit Hall visiting vendors and publishers until MY SIGNING.

Becky Siegel Spratford: Why I Love Horror

Location: Booth 3112

11:30 AM - 12:30 PM 

Becky will be signing copies of her Bram Stoker award-winning horror anthology, "Why I Love Horror". Come grab a complimentary copy, get it signed, and meet Becky!

Also I will have the QR code to buy my shirt (which I will be wearing for the signing) from Greg's Threads of Dread. 

Please note: this is your only chance to get a free copy of WHY I LOVE HORROR but it is not your only chance to get your copy signed. If you have your copy, I will sign it at any time. I have different stickers for that.

After the signing, I am heading a few blocks away to do to the celebration of the Life and Legacy of Fobazi Ettarh. I wrote about that event here including all the location and time details. I hope to see many of you there. 

When I return from the memorial, I will be around for a few more hours. I am keeping my options open though, especially because I don't know who I will be catching up with from that event.

But later that night I will be at the off site ticketed event--

2026 Andrew Carnegie Medals for Excellence in Fiction and Nonfiction Award Ceremony and Reception

Location: Off Site, American Writers Museum, 180 N. Michigan Ave., 2nd Fl

8:00 PM - 10:00 PM

The Andrew Carnegie Medals for Excellence in Fiction and Nonfiction are celebrated every year at ALA's Annual Conference, this year held in Chicago. Join us for a literary night on Saturday, June 27 from 8:00 p.m. - 10:00 p.m. CT at the American Writers Museum as we honor this year's winners: A Guardian and a Thief by Megha Majumdar and Things in Nature Merely Grow by Yiyun Li. The award ceremony will conclude with a light reception and book signing.

I will be there as a former committee members for this award to celebrate the work of my colleagues.

Sunday, June 28, 2026:

Love Stories: A Romance Author Panel

Location: McCormick Place, W 193 A

9:00 AM - 10:00 AM

9:00 AM - 10:00 AM

Isn't it romantic? Meet bestselling authors of romance and other love stories at this popular program moderated by Melissa DeWild, Reviews Director, Library Journal. A panel of four writers from a variety of publishers will discuss their writing lives, their inspirations and processes, and their forthcoming titles. Advance copies will be provided to attendees (subject to availability). A book signing will follow. Authors include Emily Rath ("Devour Me" | Avon/HarperCollins), Cara Tanamachi ("Kiss, Marry, Kill" | Forever/Hachette), Iman Hariri-Kia ("Once in a Timeline" | Cosmo Reads/Sourcebooks), and Lauren Rowe ("Chasing the Rush" | Kensington Publishing).

This panel is moderated by my editor at LJ, Melissa DeWild. I will be there to support her. 

Connect Lounge Huddle: To facilitate discovery and circulation, how can libraries make their reading collection displays more engaging?

Location: McCormick Place, ALA Connect Lounge, Hall F2 Lobby

11:00 AM - 11:20 AM

The humble book display is often not used to its fullest as the discovery tool it can be. And we often forget how much it can drive increased circulation. But in a world where patrons use the library as both a physical and digital space, and with an understanding that patrons crave interactive experiences, discussion leaders Becky Spratford and Lila Denning will share their decades of experience as librarians and trainers to help huddle participants break down how to create displays that spark conversation, bring patrons of all ages into the library, and have them leave not only with a few good books to read but also a plan to return soon to get some more.

My colleague (and house guest for ALA Annual) Lila Denning and I will be hosting this conversation about how to make your book displays more effective and we don't mean by adding decorations. Come chat with us. We can even stick around for a bit after if you want to keep chatting, but we do have to get to the next panel before it ends at Noon...

Thrills & Chills: An Author Panel

Location: McCormick Place, W 193 B

11:00 AM - 12:00 PM

This program will present bestselling authors of mysteries and thrillers moderated by Susan Maguire, Senior Editor, Collection Management and Library Outreach, Booklist. A panel of four writers from a variety of publishers will discuss their writing lives, their inspirations and processes, and their forthcoming titles. Advance copies will be provided to attendees (subject to availability). A book signing will follow. Authors include Daniel Kraus ("The Sixth Nik" | Saga Press/Simon & Schuster), Nina Simon ("My Sister Is Going to Kill Me" | William Morrow/HarperCollins), Cynthia Pelayo ("Something Followed Us Home: Tales of Latiné Horror" | Primero Sueno Press/Simon & Schuster), and Sara Paretsky ("Bad Company" | Minotaur Books/Macmillan Publishers).

Not only is this panel being moderated by my Booklist Editor Susan Maguire, but it features two of my real life friends, Cynthia Pelayo and Daniel Kraus. I will be there before it ends.

Booklist and LibraryReads Read 'N' Rave

Location: McCormick Place, W 195

1:00 PM - 2:00 PM

Collection development and readers' advisory specialists from across the country will RAVE about their favorite forthcoming READS in this lively presentation brought to you by LibraryReads and Booklist. Join us and find your patrons' next favorite reads or add to that ever-growing TBR pile. List of books will be available on booklistonline.com after the event.

This is a NOT TO MISS event every single year. Also Susan again! I have done this more than once myself. It is a gauntlet, but super fun. I am very excited to be in the audience these days. Please note, it used to always be on Monday but it was moved to Sunday this year. Please mark your schedules. 

I will also be stopping by the booth signings of friends Maurice Broaddus (Booth 2521 between 12 and 1) and Grace Daly (booth 3226E between 2:30 and 3). 

Like the other days, I have some panels marked to attend, but I cannot 100% promise I will be at those and I don't want to disappoint someone who make a point to go there to see me. 

Monday, June 29, 2026:

Last day!!! And again, one of the primer events for the conference in my opinion...

Your Morning is Booked: ALMA/LibraryReads Adult Author Panel

Location: McCormick Place, W 181 A B C

8:30 AM - 10:00 AM

Join the Adult Library Marketing Association and LibraryReads for their annual adult author panel. You'll hear 5 top authors talk about their upcoming releases, and get print galleys. Please find the RSVP link on our website at at LibraryReads.org/events, so we can make sure we have galleys and swag on hand.

Featured Authors:

• Meg Anderson,  The Memory of Borrowed Books, Sourcebooks 
• Bonnie Jo Campbell, The Spirits, W. W. Norton & Company
• Tananarive Due, Mazywood, Simon & Schuster
• Laleh Khadivi, Female Life on Planet Earth, HarperCollins
• Jeneva Rose, Sometimes I Scare Myself , Blackstone Publishing

You do not want to miss this early morning start as Tananarive Due and I are reunited after we both won the Bram Stoker Award for my book. We will have a mini celebratory victory dance. But seriously, this is always great panel and you can get ARCs for all of the authors. And I am not just saying this because I am a LibraryReads Ambassador. Hosted by Rebecca Vnuk, LibraryReds Executive Director. 

After this, I will be around. I will probably be spending the time after this panel in the exhibit hall before it closes. And after that, panels.

Finally, yesterday, it was announced that Wayne Brady had to cancel for the closing session, but they did add this (which I will be at):

Closing General Session: 250/150: Intellectual Freedom, Public Engagement, and the Infrastructure of Democracy

Location: McCormick Place, W 375 C D E Skyline

4:00 PM- 5:00 PM

As the United States celebrates 250 years of democracy, ALA leadership – current President Sam Helmick, President Elect Maria McCauley, Director of the Office of Intellectual Freedom Sarah Lamdan, and Executive Director Dan Montgomery – will discuss the issues at the heart of the profession: librarians as vanguards of intellectual freedom, information literacy and civic engagement, and libraries as welcoming spaces that provide a sense of community and belonging for patrons.

I am intrigued by what they plan to talk about. With the awful former director of OIF finally retired (she was never strong enough fighting against censorship in my opinion and I have not hidden that opinion from her), I am hoping to hear some stronger language. I have no hopes though. I will come with an open mind, but know that FOR SURE, I will report on this one.

Okay so that is the bare bones schedule of where I will be over the next few days. Again, come say hello and I will give you a pen and a sticker. Put a copy of my book in your face and I will sign it. Just find me and say hi.

And those of you not attending...I've got you. Reports will follow. In fact, here is a reminder of my upcoming blogging schedule:

• 6/26 and 29: Blog is off while I attend ALA but check bluesky for updates
• 6/30 (later in the day though, not AM) and 7/1: Detailed recaps of what I saw and learned plus links to reports others on things I missed.
• 7/2: Come back before the July 4th holiday because I will be linking to my LJ Horror Genre Preview in the July issue and I will have a giveaway of the upcoming second Never Whistle at Night anthology (on both blogs).
• 7/3: That is the July 4th Holiday observed so RA for All is off
• 7/6: This one is exciting-- I will be posting and writing about NoveList's brand new RA Competencies. They were released last week, but I want to give it the eyes it deserves and that means waiting until AFTER ALA Annual and the July 4th Holiday.

Back Tuesday afternoon with some recaps.

Booklist's June Issue is the Spotlight on Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Horror (And Becky wins the Stoker)

I returned from StokerCon late last night. And well, I won a Stoker Award for Long Nonfiction and Tananarive Due won for her essay in the book. You can see al the nominees and winners here. You can watch me accept for Tananarive and myself on the video of the live stream here. Short Nonfiction was the first award of the night, after the keynote and Long Nonfiction was only a few awards later. 

Also, here is the link to my acceptance speech.

Now I have to go hide and send a million emails (only a slight exaggeration)

While I get back to it, I wanted to make sure you all know that Booklist Spotlight's SF/F/H every June and there is a lot of great information available for free-- more than just the Top 10 lists. The issue table of contents is here. I have posted the adult links below and added backlist access.

Spotlight on SF/Fantasy & Horror

• Essentials: Body Horror
• Top 10 SF/Fantasy & Horror 2026: 2025, 2024, 2023, 2022
• Top 10 SF/Fantasy & Horror Debuts 2026: 2025, 2024, 2023, 2022
• Writers & Readers: Reviewing Books Made Me a Better Novelist
• Top 10 SF/Fantasy & Horror on Audio 2026: 2025, 2024, 2023,

Features

• Essentials: AI and Its Potential for Good and Bad
• The Booklist Carnegie Interview Yiyun Li
• The Booklist Carnegie Interview Megha Majumdar
• Talking with Tillie Walden
• Trade Secrets: Updates on the National Library Service for the Blind and Physically Disabled
• High-Demand Hot List

WHY I LOVE HORROR the T-Shirt is On Sale NOW!

The wait is over, well at least for the like 5 people who asked, in conjunction with Greg Greene and over on his Greg's Threads of Dread store you can now order a WHY I LOVE HORROR inspired t-shirt.

From his Etsy shop:

Your friends know.
Your loved ones know.
But how do you share your love of horror with total strangers??
Easy - get the "Ask Me Why I Love Horror" tee!

This super-comfy tee is inspired by WHY I LOVE HORROR, a 2025 anthology of essays by many of today's best & brightest genre authors, edited by Becky Siegel Spratford, horror fiction champion for America's libraries!

Developed in collaboration with Becky, designed by artist Orion Zangara, and screen printed by hand at Friendly Arctic Printing & Design in Nashville, Tennessee, this Next Level Apparel shirt is 60% Combed Ring-Spun Cotton, 40% Polyester, and 100% tactile bliss. Comfy enough to sleep in.

Show the world your Halloween spirit all year long!

Yes you can by this shirt alongside your Jade Daniels merch as well.

Here I am modeling the shirt. It is available in Women's and Men's sizes.

I am so proud to say this shirt was made 100% by humans. Not only is Greg an amazing manager of this process but as noted above, we worked with an artist and a local Nashville company to have the shirts screen printed. And we kept the price at $24.99 (plus shipping).

Greg and I have been working on this for months and I am happy to report, we hit our deadline to have them ready for order and delivery so that you can all wear them at StokerCon and/or Librarians Day. 

Click here to order yours now. And let everyone know how much you love horror all year long.

Free Virtual Program with Horror Authors for All Ages Through Anderson County [SC] Library System and a Chance to Get on the HWA Libraries Mailing List

Popping in today with an invitation for every single one o you and your patrons-- all ages of patrons. Join me and best-selling authors Rory Power (YA), Lisa Springer (MG/YA), Andrew Joseph White(YA and Adult), and Nat Cassidy (Adult) as we have a conversation about horror hosted by Anderson County (SC) Library System. And it is 1 week from today! Tuesday, April 15th from 6-7:30pm eastern.

While anytime of year is the perfect time of year to talk about Horror, April does mark Halfway to Halloween making this month a great time to have horror programming.

I want to give a shout out to Cash from the library. She emailed "libraries at horror dot org" asking for help increasing her horror based programming. She was noticing an uptick in horror readers at all age levels in their library system and knew more programming was needed to satisfy demand.

After a phone call and a few more emails back and forth, Cash sent me a "wish list" of authors (see some of those above) and I helped to organize this event for her.

This is all part of the work the Horror Writers' Association's Libraries Committee does each and every day. As part of the HWA's 501c3 status, we provide free programming to libraries includingconnecting them to authors.

The HWA Libraries Committee is currently in the midst of a strategic planning process as well. It is going well and we will have more to share with the world by September, but in the meantime, we are gathering names of people who want to be a part of our work. We have a short form where you can share your interest and expertise with us. Click here to access that. You do not have to be a library worker to fill it out. Library supporters are welcome as well. Again, click here.

We are in the process of starting a HWA Libraries newsletter [target Fall 2026], and if you share your info with us now, we will get you on the list ASAP.

Back to next week's program-- any and all are welcome to join us, but you need to register here to get the link.

From the registration page:

Description

It's never too early to celebrate Halloween! Start the countdown by joining us for this exclusive online event, as best-selling authors Rory Power, Lisa Springer, Andrew Joseph White, and Nat Cassidy discuss the horror genre and share insights into their writing processes, moderated by horror advocate and author Becky Spratford! Now, that's something to scream about!  

While we cannot promise that every burning question will be answered, we encourage you to email us your best ones to eccstaff@andersonlibrary.org before the discussion.

I hope to see many of you there.

RA for All Road Show Hits Chicago's Comic & Entertainment Expo (aka C2E2) and a Link to Signup to Get More Involved with HWA Libraries

I will be at C2E2, Chicago's Comic & Entertainment Expo all day today. First, I want to give a shout out Reed Pop for giving us presenters free tickets. 

Okay now on to my schedule.

I am on two panels. The first is as an author. It is entitled "The Thrill of the Chill: Turning Fear Into a Catalyst for Creativity." The description for the panel from their website:

Fear is no mind-killer. In fact, it may be the very thing that can drive you to the next level - at work, creatively, or in personal relationships. Join our panel of educators, librarians, and scientists as they discuss the way they actively master and weaponize fear in their creative and professional lives. This panel will talk about the nature of both harnessing and conquering fear as it is considered in writing, scientific research, and education and recommend titles for all ages.

We are in Room S402-B from 3:15-4. And then we will all be heading to the Andersons Books (Booth 163) for a signing. After that, I will be on the floor until I head to my second panel.

You can buy my book anytime during C2E2 from Andersons but I will only be on site Friday from about 2pm until 9 or 10 pm (see below's panel). I will sign any books and give you a sticker if you find me anywhere on Friday. You have my picture (below), but I don't have yours, so please, interrupt me. I know there will be many library workers and educators there today. I really don't mind if you stop me at any time, well except when I am actually on a panel, but seriously, I would love to meet you.

I should be with Cynthia Pelayo as we wander, making us a hard to miss duo. Cynthia will also sign any books you bring her. Come find us!

Here is the social media graphic (with alt text) for that panel.

Which leads to my second panel which is part of the C2E2 "After Dark" programming. I am appearing as both an author and a librarian for this one. It is entitled, "The Haunting of Daily Life: How the Real World Shapes Horror Fiction." The description of this panel from their website:

Horror isn't just about monsters, ghosts, and things that go bump in the night-it's rooted in the fears, struggles, and daily realities of ordinary life. From family tensions, social expectations to cultural memory and historic plagues, the genre transforms familiar experiences into unforgettable frights.

This panel explores how creators draw inspiration from real-world history and everyday situations to build stories that resonate, unsettle and reflect the world around us. Join authors, librarians, and horror enthusiasts as they discuss why everything from the mundane to historical events shape modern horror and how recognizing these connections can deepen the understanding of both the genre and ourselves

We are in the same room-- Room S402-B but this one is from 8-8:45pm. And here is the link to our slides.

I have a slide with all the panelist information (with alt text) below as well. I hope to see some of you there.

But before you go, on the final slide for our presentation, I also have a QR code leading to this Google Form:

Get Involved with HWA Libraries!

Are you interested in receiving updates from HWA Libraries or being more actively involved in the work we do? Submit the below form to be added to our mailing list and to be considered for our working groups when positions open up.

Please click this link whether you are attending C2E2 or not. If you are a library worker interested in staying up to date on what is going on int he world of Horror, well theh you NEED to add your name. At the very least you will be added to our HWA Libraries newsletter which will begin this Fall.