The Horror Writers Association Announces Horror University 2025

  The HWA is pleased to announce this year's course lineup for StokerCon 2025. Course Pricing: $55 per course (to register see Eventbrite for details). Michael Arnzen: The Uncanny and the Abject This two-hour online workshop will involve short writing activities that will allow you to explore and practice the different techniques writers summon when triggering revulsion or conjuring dread. Amityville-born horror writer Michael Arnzen holds four Bram Stoker Awards and an International Horror Guild Award for his often funny, always disturbing fiction and poetry. In addition to his creative books -- like the novel, Grave Markings, or the short story collection, Proverbs for Monsters--he's…

2025 HWA Specialty Award Winners Announced

  The Horror Writers Association announces its 2025 Specialty Award Recipients! These awards will be presented during the Bram Stoker Awards Ceremony in Stamford, Connecticut this June.   Specialty Press Award The recipient of the Specialty Press Award is Mocha Memoirs Press. The HWA Specialty Press Award is presented periodically to a specialty publisher whose work has substantially contributed to the horror genre, whose publications display general excellence, and whose dealings with authors have been fair and exemplary. The award was instituted in 1997, largely due to the efforts of long-time HWA member and specialty press aficionado, Peter Crowther. Congratulations,…

HWA Poetry Showcase Volume XII Now Open for Submissions

The HWA is proud to announce that it will call for submissions from its members for the HWA Poetry Showcase Volume XII beginning April 1, 2025. Maxwell I. Gold will be the editor for the volume. This year’s judges, along with Maxwell, will include Jewelle Gomez, Jonathan Maberry, Cynthia Pelayo, and Bryan Thao Worra. Maxwell I. Gold has agreed to take over as the editor for the next two volumes to follow HWA Poetry Showcase volumes XIII and XIV. The cover for Showcase Volume XII will be designed and illustrated by Dan V. Sauer. Only HWA members (of any status)…

Call for submissions for Poetry Showcase Volume XI: Poems Now $35!

The HWA is proud to announce that it will call for submissions from its members for the HWA Poetry Showcase Volume XI beginning April 1st, 2024. Maxwell I. Gold will be the editor for the volume. This year’s judges, along with Maxwell, will include L.E. Daniels, Sumiko Saulson, Pedro Iniguez, and Ngô Bình Anh Khoa. Maxwell I. Gold has agreed to take over as the editor for the next two volumes to follow, HWA Poetry Showcase volumes XI and XII. Only HWA members (of any status) may submit. Non-members may also submit, but if their poem is accepted, they must become members of the HWA (of any status) prior to publication.

HWA Announces Maxwell I. Gold as Executive Director

HWA ANNOUNCES MAXWELL I. GOLD AS EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR For Immediate Release: Columbus, Ohio — The Board of Trustees of the Horror Writers Association (HWA) is pleased to announce that Maxwell I. Gold has been installed as Executive Director, replacing Brad Hodson who served the HWA with distinction for ten years as Administrator. Gold brings a wealth of expertise and over a decade of combined experience in corporate banking, philanthropy and fundraising as well as project management. He’s worked with small to medium non-profits as well as large marketing enterprises, and he is excited to lead the HWA. As an accomplished…

Point of Pride Intro: Always Keep Your Pride, Shatter the Closets by Maxwell I. Gold

By: Maxwell I. Gold A few weeks ago, men dressed in black and red clothes, carrying flags of an evil undeserving to be named. Their chants and slogans—there will be blood—chorused against the backdrop of a cold, Midwestern morning. It was an awful reminder of a time when evil men dared to reshape the world in their hideous image. This wasn’t some fiction, or fatalistic hyperbole, but individuals protesting. Dressed in swastikas and combat gear outside a drag brunch in downtown Columbus, Ohio. No, this wasn’t a protest, but a deliberate display of hatred for members of our community and…
Coming to a Shelf Near You: Poetry Showcase Volume X

Coming to a Shelf Near You: Poetry Showcase Volume X

Submit your poem here from April 15-May 15. A decade ago, Peter Adam Salomon had an excellent idea. He wanted to recognize horror and dark poetry as a genre. He brought his idea to then president Rocky Woods and the first HWA Poetry Showcase was born. The response from our membership was excellent and the Showcase has been published every year since. Many of us can credit the Showcase with boosting our careers. I'm one of those—my first professional sale as a poet was to Peter for Volume II. Were it not for his encouragement, I wouldn't be here now.…

The Horror Writers Association (HWA) Announces The Release of its Next Publication: The HWA Poetry Showcase, Volume IX

PRESS RELEASE The Horror Writers Association presents its ninth annual poetry showcase featuring a selection of the best original dark poetry from the past year. Edited by Angela Yuriko Smith with judges Lee Murray, Maxwell I. Gold and Frances Lu Pai Ippolito, this year features Stephanie M. Wytovich, Geneve Flynn, and Naomi Simone Borwein as our featured poets. Cover artwork by Kyra Starr. Appreciation to HWA President John Palisano for doubling the payment to poets and awarding poets both payment and a contributor copy instead of poets choosing between two options. The artwork for this year’s cover pays tribute to…

A Point of Pride: Interview with Maxwell I. Gold

Maxwell I. Gold is a multiple award-nominated author who writes prose poetry and short stories in weird and cosmic fiction. His work has appeared in numerous anthologies and magazines including Weirdbook Magazine, Space and Time Magazine, Startling Stories, Strange Horizons, Tales from OmniPArk Anthology, Shadow Atlas: Dark Landscapes of the Americas and more. He’s the author of Oblivion in Flux: A Collection of Cyber Prose from Crystal Lake Publishing. He’s a proud Columbus, Ohio native and currently serves on the Board of Trustees for the Horror Writers Association as the organization’s Treasurer. What was it about the horror genre that…

Jewish Heritage in Horror Introduction by Maxwell I. Gold

Maxwell I. Gold is a multiple award nominated author who writes prose poetry and short stories in weird and cosmic fiction. His work has appeared in numerous anthologies and magazines including Weirdbook Magazine, Space and Time Magazine, Startling Stories, Strange Horizons, Tales from OmniPArk Anthology, Shadow Atlas: Dark Landscapes of the Americas and more. He’s the author of Oblivion in Flux: A Collection of Cyber Prose from Crystal Lake Publishing. He's a proud Columbus, Ohio native and currently serves on the Board of Trustees for the Horror Writers Association as the organization's Treasurer. My Kehilla, My Community Not everyone has…