F159.
The Happy Family: The Craft of Domestic Horror
Friday, February 9, 2024
10:35 am to 11:50 am
Ghosts. Sacrifices. Monsters. Mothers. What do we hide inside our houses, and what do our houses hide from us? How do we tell the same family stories in new ways? In this panel, five writers of literary horror discuss the domestic as a place of invention, myth-making, and witnessing. Drawing upon examples from their own novels and short stories, the panelists share strategies and tools from graphic novels, manga, films, and other mediums that have helped them bring their hauntings to life.
Participants
Elinam Agbo is a writer, editor, and teacher of creative writing. A graduate of the Clarion Workshop, she has received fellowships from the Kenyon Review, Aspen Words, and the Helen Zell Writers’ Program. Her work has appeared in American Short Fiction, Apogee, Nimrod, and elsewhere.
Pemi Aguda is from Lagos, Nigeria. W.W. Norton will publish her debut short story collection, Ghostroots, in 2024. She was a MacDowell and Miami Book Fair fellow and is a graduate of the Helen Zell Writers' Program. Her work has appeared in Zoetrope, Granta, ZYZZYVA, and One Story, among others.
Gerardo Sámano Córdova is a writer and artist from Mexico City. He's the author of Monstrilio, a novel. His work has appeared in Catapult, The Common, Passages North, Chicago Quarterly Review, and others. He’s also been known to draw little creatures.
Akil Kumarasamy is the author of the novel, Meet Us by the Roaring Sea (FSG, 2022) and the linked story collection, Half Gods (FSG, 2018), which was awarded the Bard Fiction Prize and the Story Prize Spotlight Award. She is an assistant professor in the Rutgers University-Newark MFA program.
Annesha Mitha is a writer based in Chicago, Illinois. She holds an MFA from the Helen Zell Writers' Program at the University of Michigan. Her work has been published in McSweeney's Quarterly Concern, American Short Fiction, Catapult, and more.
