GUESTS OF HONOR

Linda D. Addison grew up in Philadelphia and began weaving stories at an early age. Ms Addison is the first African-American recipient of the world renowned HWA Bram Stoker Award\u00ae and has received five awards for collections: The Place of Broken Things written with Alessandro Manzetti; Four Elements written with Charlee Jacob, Marge Simon and Rain Graves; How To Recognize A Demon Has Become Your Friend short stories and poetry; Being Full of Light, Insubstantial; Consumed, Reduced to Beautiful Grey Ashes. In 2018, she received the HWA Lifetime Achievement Award. In 2020, Addison was designated SFPA Grand Master of Fantastic Poetry.She co-edited Sycorax's Daughters anthology of horror fiction & poetry by African-American women with Kinitra Brooks PhD and Susana Morris PhD, which was a HWA Bram Stoker finalist in the Anthology category. She currently lives in Arizona and has published over 400 poems, stories and articles. Look for her story in the Black Panther: Tales of Wakanda anthology (Titan/Marvel).

Poppy Z. Brite is the longtime pen name of Billy Martin. Since beginning his career in the small-press magazine The Horror Show in 1985, he has published eight novels including Lost Souls, Exquisite Corpse, and the Liquor series, as well as several short story collections and assorted nonfiction work. His most recent original works have appeared in the anthologies Elemental Forces, Horror Library Vol. 9, The Rack II, and The End of the World As We Know It: New Tales of Stephen King’s The Stand. His nonfiction book Water If God Wills It: Religion and Spirituality in the Work of Stephen King is being published by Cemetery Dance in 2026. In addition to writing, he runs the online curio shop PZBaubles New Orleans, specializing in vintage Tarot cards, quirky jewelry, religious objects, and more. He lives in New Orleans with his husband, the artist Grey Cross, and their cats. ​

John Shirley has written novels, short stories, TV scripts, screenplays, song lyrics, poetry, and various forms of nonfiction. His books number more than eighty, including numerous novels of sf, dark fantasy, horror, thrillers, and westerns, and twelve short story collections. He has won the Bram Stoker Award for his collection: Black Butterflies: A Flock on the Dark Side, and the Spur Award for his Western Gunmetal Mountain. He has also written one non-fiction book, Gurdjieff: An Introduction to His Life and Ideas. As a musician, Shirley has fronted his own bands and written lyrics for Blue Öyster Cult and others.

John Shirley currently lives in Vancouver, Washington, with his wife, Micky Shirley. He has three adult sons: twins Byron and Perry and their younger brother Julian. Byron is a yacht captain and yacht broker; Perry is a journalist, teacher, and artist. Julian is a Bay Area-based underground rapper and producer of hip-hop, trap, chiptune, and various other electronic music genres as well as a professional computer technician. He is also known as Juji or Young Bios.

James Tynion IV is an Eisner Award-winning, New York Times bestselling writer and publisher of comic books. He is best known for co-creating hit horror comics series like Something is Killing the Children, The Nice House on the Lake, The Department of Truth, and Exquisite Corpses. He is also the writer of Young Adult adventure series, like multiple GLAAD Media Award-nominated Wynd, and the 2017 GLAAD Media Award winner The Woods. He spent ten years writing various Batman titles at DC Comics, where he co-created exciting new characters like Punchline and Ghost-Maker. He lives and works in Brooklyn, and is represented by United Talent Agency.

Over a 30-year career, Ann VanderMeer has won numerous awards for her editing work, including the Hugo Award and World Fantasy Award. Whether as editor-in-chief for Weird Tales for five years or in her current role as an acquiring editor for Tor.com, Ann has built her reputation on acquiring fiction from diverse and interesting new talents. As co-founder of Cheeky Frawg Books, she has helped develop a wide-ranging line of mostly translated fiction. Featuring a who’s who of world literature, Ann VanderMeer’s anthologies include the critically acclaimed Best American Fantasy series, The Weird, The Time Traveler’s Almanac, Sisters of the Revolution, and the forthcoming Big Book of SF (Vintage).

To be revealed soon!