Billy Martin, writing as Poppy Z. Brite, has published several novels and story collections including Lost Souls, Exquisite Corpse, and Liquor. Martin lives in New Orleans with his husband, the artist Grey Cross. He is working on a nonfiction book about religion and spirituality in the fiction of Stephen King. Support him on Patreon at www.patreon.com/docbrite.

What inspired you to start writing?

I don’t really have a memory of a time when I didn’t do it. Even now, though I’m not currently writing/publishing fiction, I’m still making it up in my head. Most of …

Rin Chupeco wrote obscure manuals for complicated computer programs, talked people out of their money at event shows, and did many other terrible things. They now write about ghosts and fairy tales but is still sometimes mistaken for a revenant. They were born and raised in the Philippines and, or so the legend goes, still haunts that place to this very day. They are the author of The Girl from the Well duology, The Bone Witch trilogy, The Never Tilting World duology, and the Hundred Names For Magic series, starting with Wicked As You Wish . Their short stories have …

Craig Laurance Gidney writes both contemporary and genre fiction. He is the author of the collections Sea, Swallow Me & Other Stories (Lethe Press, 2008), Skin Deep Magic (Rebel Satori Press, 2014), Bereft (Tiny Satchel Press, 2013) and A Spectral Hue (Word Horde, 2019). He is a 3-time finalist for the Lamdba Literary Award and a finalist for the Carl Brandon Parallax Award. His website is craiglaurancegidney.com. Instagram and Twitter: ethereallad.

What inspired you to start writing?

I’ve wanted to be a writer ever since I was a child. I remember looking at all of the Newberry Award…

Video Transcript:

Hi, I’m Linda Addison, the Horror Writers Association Diversity Grant Chair.

Hi, I’m Michelle Renee Lane and I write horror.

Hi, I’m Steven Van Patten. I write scary stuff.

Hi, I’m L Marie Wood.

I’m Marc Abbott.

I’m Sumiko Saulson, on the Social Media Team for the Horror Writers Association.

Linda Addison: On behalf of the Horror Writers Association we’d like to congratulate all African Americans on the progress recently made towards making Juneteenth a federally recognized Black Liberation Holiday.

Nikki Woolfolk: On Tuesday, the Senate unanimously passed a resolution establishing June 19 as Juneteenth, a National Black …

Eve Harms is a writer of freaky, fun, dark fiction who currently resides in Los Angeles with her children’s book illustrator wife and two cats. Her work has appeared in publications such as Vastarien Literary Journal, under Rayna Waxhead, and Creepy Catalog, under Kendra Temples. Her forthcoming transsexual body horror novella Transmuted is coming out July 15th, 2021 as a part of Unnerving’s Rewind or Die series. She blogs regularly about occult and esoteric topics on her website at https://eveharms.com

What inspired you to start writing?

I’ve dabbled in just about every artistic medium you can think of throughout …

Christina Delia is a horror writer from New Jersey, and an affiliate member of the Horror Writers Association (HWA). Her stories are included in the anthologies What Monsters Do for Love: Volume 3, Shadowy Natures, and most recently in Dark Dispatch and the LGBTQ+ dark fiction anthology Unburied. Christina has a story forthcoming in Planet Scumm.

What inspired you to start writing?

I was a very quiet child and I learned how to read late, but I always enjoyed hearing my mother read stories aloud to me. So when I learned how to write as a …

Hailey Piper is the author of novellas The Worm and His Kings, winner of the 2020 Lesfic Award for Best Horror; Benny Rose, the Cannibal King, and her collection Unfortunate Elements of My Anatomy. Her debut novel, Queen of Teeth, releases from Strangehouse Books in summer 2021. She’s an active member of the HWA, with short stories appearing in Year’s Best Hardcore Horror, Daily Science Fiction, Flash Fiction Online, The Arcanist, and elsewhere. A trans woman hailing from New York’s haunted woods, she now lives with her wife in Maryland. Find …

Polly Schattel has been a film writer/director, a teacher, a journalist and a videographer. She is proudly and passionately transgender. Her first novel, The Occultists, was published by JournalStone in July 2020. Her next book, Shadowdays, will be released in January, 2022. She loves the American South and doesn’t want to hear your complaints about it. She can be found at www.pollyschattel.com.

What inspired you to start writing?

I’m not sure I can determine what got me started. It just always seemed to be. My first “book” was a story I wrote and drew (and bound together with yarn) …

Robert P. Ottone is an author, teacher, and cigar enthusiast from East Islip, NY. He delights in the creepy. He can be found online at SpookyHousePress.com , or on Instagram / Twitter (@RobertOttone). His collections Her Infernal Name & Other Nightmares and People: A Horror Anthology about Love, Loss, Life & Things That Go Bump in the Night are available now wherever books are sold.

What inspired you to start writing?

Heartache. Writing was one of the few things that has helped me deal with losing my dad two years back. Trying to process and deal with loss and …

Jewelle Gomez, (Cape Verdean/Wampanoag/Ioway) is a novelist, essayist, poet, and playwright. Her eight books include the first Black Lesbian vampire novel, The Gilda Stories (in print more than 30 years); which was recently optioned by Cheryl Dunye for a TV mini-series. Her work has appeared in numerous anthologies including: Luminescent Threads: Tribute to Octavia Butler, Dark Matter: A Century of Speculative Fiction from the African Diaspora, No Police Know Police, and Red Indian Road West. Her plays about James Baldwin and Alberta Hunter have been produced in San Francisco and New York. Her new collection …