StoryFest Saturday 2025: Panel Discussions, Book Signings, Live Podcasts, and More!

StoryFest’s busiest day features a full slate of panel discussions, book signings, and more, featuring more than 30 authors across genres — all capped off by a live recording of Clay McLeod Chapman's Fearmongers podcast!

Click here to see the full list of events, authors, and more for StoryFest 2025!

Here's a full breakdown of StoryFest's biggest day:

Panel Discussions and Author Signings

11 am - 5 pm: In the Library's Trefz Forum

11 am: Writing the Self and Others: Turning Lived Experience into Art
How do writers transform personal history, their own and others, into compelling stories? Explore how writers mine the truth and histories of their own lives and the lives of others to create stories as bold as life itself. With Nabil Ayers, Mariah Fredericks, Koren Shadmi, and Bonnie Tsui. Moderator: Sonya Huber.

12 pm: Becky Spratford Presents: ‘Why I Love Horror’
Librarian and horror expert and critic Becky Siegel Spratford gathers some of the most celebrated contemporary horror writers to discuss why they love the genre. With Clay McLeod Chapman, Rachel Harrison, Cassandra Khaw, and Hailey Piper.

1 pm: Coming of Age: Writing Youth, Identity, and the Search for Belonging
Stories of youth are stories of transformation. Hear how children’s and YA writers explore the heartbreak, hopes, hilarities, and horrors of growing up. With Charlie Jane Anders, Derrick Barnes, Lorien Lawrence, Hailey Piper, and Dan Poblocki. Moderator: Charnaie Gordon.

2 pm: Fiction Without Borders: Storytelling Beyond Limits
What happens when writers cross boundaries — cultural, structural, or imaginative. This panel explores fiction that resists categorization, expands perspectives, and reminds us of the limitless power of storytelling. With Martin Cahill, Jordan Castro, Gabi Coatsworth, Nalini Jones, Joan Silber, and Cadwell Turnbull. Moderator: Heather Frimmer.

3 pm: Nevertheless, She Persisted: Writing Strong Women
From trailblazers to everyday heroines, literature has long offered a space to reimagine women’s roles and voices. In this discussion, authors explore the craft of writing complex female characters who reflect resilience, vulnerability, and the full range of human experience. With Sharbari Ahmed, Christina Baker Kline, Anne Burt, Kirsten Miller, and Sarah Stewart Taylor. Moderator: Liz Matthews.

4 pm: Ellen Datlow Presents: Night and Day
Horror’s preeminent editor and StoryFest favorite Ellen Datlow sits down with writers from her new anthology, Night and Day, with one side featuring stories about what haunts the night while the other side showcases the terrors that can exist in the light of day. With Clay McLeod Chapman, Brian Evenson, and Rachel Harrison.

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Live Podcasts: Minorities in Publishing & Fearmongers LIVE!

Working on Both Sides of the Page: Live Minorities in Publishing Podcast Recording
2-3 pm: In Brooks Place at The Westport Library

Welcome to another live MiP recording at StoryFest with The Westport Library! Publishing professionals and dynamic authors Lauren Morrow (Little Movements) and Amber Oliver (When the Music Hits) join host Jennifer Baker for a fun and engaging conversation about their electrifying debut novels — both of which reflect characters experiencing the darker side of ambition — as well as the realities of balancing a writing life while working full-time in the publishing industry. Can having a front-row seat to how the proverbial sausage is made impact the process or better prepare one for publication? How does the work we do inform our artistry and vice versa? How do we make time for our art amidst demanding full-time jobs? And what advice has helped to navigate the terrain?

Fearmongers LIVE! With Clay McLeod Chapman
6-7 pm: In the Trefz Forum

The best StoryFest tradition returns — Fearmongers is back on the main stage! Join Clay for readings, spooky shenanigans, and even a surprise or two — joined by special guests Rachel Harrison, Cassandra Khaw, and Cadwell Turnbull.

Chapman is the author of Wake Up and Open Your Eyes, Kill Your Darling, Stay on the Line, What Kind of Mother, Ghost Eaters, Whisper Down the Lane, The Remaking, and miss corpus; story collections nothing untoward, commencement, and rest area; as well as The Tribe middle-grade series: Homeroom Headhunters, Camp Cannibal, and Academic Assassins. Upcoming books include the short story collection Acquired Taste (September 2025), the YA sci-fi/horror novel Shiny Happy People (November 2025), the novella Bodies of Work (April 2026) and the Harlequin “horrormance” novel Devil Inside (August 2026). Clay has been nominated for the Bram Stoker Award and the Shirley Jackson Award.

Quiet Part Loud, a 12-part horror podcast from Jordan Peele/Monkeypaw Productions, written by Chapman and Mac Rogers, is available on Spotify.