Unshelve Your Collection Using a Writers Conference - StokerCon 2026 Wrap Up

StokerCon is the premier horror and dark literature writers conference in the United States. Part of the convention is the presentation of the Bram Stoker Awards with categories including superior achievement in a novel and superior achievement in long non-fiction. The Horror Writers Association presents the conference but you don't have to be a member to attend. 

One of the highlights of the conference is Librarians Day which anyone with a ticket to the convention can attend. For more details and resources from Librarians Day, please visit Becky Spratford's blog. She is the co-chair of Librarians Day and secretary of the Horror Writers Association. 

The panels this year, just like very year, are very helpful and planned by librarians who work in libraries. The skills and information learned could be transferred to many genres and subject areas. Attendees learned about programming and upcoming titles while also attending a brainstorm session. Every year, I have the honor of interviewing the Guests of Honor, introducing library workers to authors who are shaping the future as well as those who have created works vital to the history of horror. This year the Guests of Honor included : 

Rachel Harrison (Author of Play Nice and Cackle)

Linda D. Addison (Award Winning Poet and author)

Billy Martin (Author of Exquisite Corpse)

John Shirley (Acclaimed cyberpunk/horror author)

James Tynion IV (Eisner Award-winning horror comic writer)

Ann VanderMeer (Editor and anthologist)

The librarians who purchased a ticket for Librarians Day were also able to attend the Mass Author Signing which grants you time to purchase book and get them signed from a huge number of authors. This is a great way to discover horror works that you may not have known about. They also could browse the dealers room which included small press publishers. If your library doesn't allow you to purchase titles directly from publishers, this is a good time to start that conversation. With the shake up of library purchasing, many of us are processing items in house. Finally, they were able to attend one of the highlights of the convention, the Final Frame short film festival. The winner this year, Scissors, was amazing. 

I've attended librarians day events for romance and mystery writers, The HWA's is the best of them, with programming and speakers who are focused on libraries and library workers. 

StokerCon is a great weekend with the Halloween People and I hope to see all of you there next year!