Home is Where the Horror Is: Contemporary Gothic Novels

Room: Lecture Hall

Building: Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh - Main (Oakland)

Time: 11:30 AM - 12:30 PM

Books: After the presentation, attendees are welcome to purchase a book and/or get their book signed at the tent outside.

Pre-registration: Closes on Thursday, 5/28, at 12 PM. Pre-registered attendees will receive priority seating. Walk-ins are welcome if capacity allows.

Moderator: Gwendolyn Kiste

Description

Houses hold our histories and our secrets. What happens when it's no longer safe to go home? From a family home inhabited by a demon, a writers' retreat in an eerie colonial mansion, the shores of Lake Geneva in a strange villa, and a samurai's house in Japan with a portal to the past, enter the stories of these homes...if you dare.

Author Biographies

Vincent Tirado is a nonbinary Dominican born and raised in the Bronx. Their first novel, Burn Down, Rise Up (2022) was recognized with the Pura Belpré Award, and is a Bram Stoker and Lambda Literary award finalist. Since then, they’ve written We Don’t Swim Here (2023), and We Came to Welcome You (2024).

Kylie Lee Baker is the Sunday Times bestselling author of dark fantasy and horror novels such as The Keeper of Night, The Scarlet Alchemist, and Bat Eater and Other Names for Cora Zeng. Her writing is informed by her heritage (Japanese, Chinese, and Irish), as well as her experiences living abroad as both a student and teacher.

Leila Siddiqui is a Chicago-born Texan who calls New York home. She is currently works in publishing in the marketing department. Leila spent a childhood fascinated by history and horror, and how intricately both can be entwined, and now wants to write the kind of fantastical and strange fiction that sheds light on pieces of history the rest of the world tends to forget.

Tlotlo Tsamaase is a Motswana author of House of Margins and The Silence of Wilting Skin. Her novel, Womb City, is a Nommo-Award winner, an Ignyte and Locus Award finalist. Her novel, The Bloodwinds, is forthcoming from Knopf. A Caine Prize finalist, she received support from the Rolex Mentor and Protégé Arts Initiative. She is a PhD student in English at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.

Moderator Biography

Gwendolyn Kiste is the author of Reluctant Immortals, The Haunted Houses She Calls Her Own, The Rust Maidens, Pretty Marys All in a Row, and The Haunting of Velkwood. She’s a Lambda Literary Award winner and a four-time Bram Stoker Award winner, and her work has been nominated for the Shirley Jackson, Dragon, and Ohio Book Awards.

For more information about the Pgh Book Festival, check out the website here.

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