Women in Horror Month X: StokerCon 2019 Has Some Awesome Women Guests of Honor

Going back to Tuesday's post about supporting living women horror authors [plenty of links to find vetted examples], I thought I would highlight 3 specific ones of note today, and they also happen to be among the StokerCon 2019 Guests of Honor. Below is the official info from the StokerCon website with additional information by me added in italics.

But first a quick note-- StokerCon 2019 will be May 9-12 in Grand Rapids, MI. I will be there the entire time. Library workers are welcome at the entire con, but specifically I have planned a wonderful and affordable Librarians' Day on May 10th. It comes with lunch and free books. And GoH Stephanie Wytovich will be appearing on the final panel too. Click here to see the details and to join us. If you are staying overnight, let me know and I will personally bring you around and introduce you to anyone you want.  Friday night's Final Frame Film competition is always a great time and of course, the Stoker Banquet on Saturday night too.

KATHE KOJA is a novelist, playwright, performer, director and independent producer. Her work crosses and combines genres, from horror to historical to YA. Her novels—including The Cipher, Bad Brains, Skin, Strange Angels, Going Under, The Blue Mirror, the Under the Poppy trilogy, and Christopher Wild—have won awards, been multiply translated, and optioned for film and performance. She creates performative fiction events, both solo and with an ensemble of creative artists, including Drunk on Words, Dracula, The Heights, and Night School. She is based in Detroit USA, along with her husband, artist Rick Lieder, and Dash the cat.

Becky's further comments: Ms Koja is a great example of the breadth of creativity we see from women in horror. Also, her performative fiction events are amazing and she can bring them to libraries. 

Shirley-Jackson Award Winner KAARON WARREN published her first short story in 1993 and has had stories in print every year since. She was Guest of Honour at World Fantasy Convention in 2018 and has been shortlisted for the Stoker Award and the World Fantasy Award. Her stories have appeared in Australia, the US, China, the UK, and elsewhere in Europe, and have been selected for both Ellen Datlow’s and Paula Guran’s Best of the Year Anthologies. Kaaron has lived in Melbourne, Sydney, Canberra and Fiji. She has published five novels (Slights, Walking the Tree, Mistification, The Grief Hole andTide of Stone) and seven short story collections, including the multi-award winning Through Splintered Walls. Her most recent short story collection is A Primer to Kaaron Warren from Dark Moon Books. Kaaron was a Fellow at the Museum for Australian Democracy, where she researched prime ministers, artists and serial killers. In 2018 she was Established Artist in Residence at Katharine Susannah Prichard House in Western Australia. She’s taught workshops in haunted asylums, old morgues and second hand clothing shops and she’s mentored several writers through a number of programs. She will be Guest of Honour at Stokercon and New Zealand’s Geysercon in 2019. You can find her at http://kaaronwarren.wordpress.com/ and she Tweets @KaaronWarren

Becky's further comments: If Ms Warren lived in America I am certain she would be a household horror name. Her work is amazing and universally acclaimed. I have talked about her here on the blog, including this guest post where she explained Why I Love Horror to all of you.

STEPHANIE M. WYTOVICH is an American poet, novelist, and essayist. Her work has been showcased in numerous anthologies such as Gutted: Beautiful Horror Stories, Shadows Over Main Street: An Anthology of Small-Town Lovecraftian Terror, Year’s Best Hardcore Horror: Volume 2, The Best Horror of the Year: Volume 8, as well as many others. Wytovich is the Poetry Editor for Raw Dog Screaming Press, an adjunct at Western Connecticut State University and Point Park University, and a mentor with Crystal Lake Publishing. She is a member of the Science Fiction Poetry Association, an active member of the Horror Writers Association, and a graduate of Seton Hill University’s MFA program for Writing Popular Fiction. Her Bram Stoker Award-winning poetry collection, Brothel, earned a home with Raw Dog Screaming Press alongside Hysteria: A Collection of Madness, Mourning Jewelry, and An Exorcism of Angels. Her debut novel, The Eighth, is published with Dark Regions Press. Follow Wytovich at http://stephaniewytovich.blogspot.com and on twitter @SWytovich

Becky's further comments: Ms Wytovich is a powerhouse. Her words are lyrical, terrifying and heartbreaking, no matter the story's format. But she is also a brilliant historian of the genre. I saw her "Final Girl" presentation at StokerCon last year and it was one of the best things I did at the Con. She also teaches classes on horror as it is written today. She is a name you need to know. On her website, linked above, she is also running her own series of interviews with Women in Horror.