Catriona Ward at Leeds Lit Fest

As part of Leeds Lit Fest 2023, running from 25 February to 5 March, internationally bestselling author Catriona Ward talks to Dan Coxon about being the only woman to have won the British Fantasy Awards’ August Derleth Award for Best Horror Novel three times.

Catriona Ward will be talking to Dan Coxon about her next book, Looking Glass Sound, and how life has changed since the publication of her award-winning debut.

“Authentically terrifying” is how Stephen King described her latest novel Sundial, and Catriona Ward has become one of the leading lights in the modern horror and suspense scene. Born in Washington DC, Catriona grew up in the United States, Kenya, Madagascar, Yemen and Morocco, and her Twitter profile reveals that she lives now on Dartmoor, which is a suitably atmospheric backdrop for creating award-winning horror stories.

Having studied English at the University of Oxford followed by a Creative Writing Masters at the University of East Anglia, Catriona Ward won the August Derleth Award for Best Horror Novel for her 2015 debut, Rawblood, and again for Little Eve, which also went on to win the prestigious Shirley Jackson Award. Published in 2021, The Last House on Needless Street got her a third August Derleth Award as well as a World Fantasy Award, and 2022 saw the release of Sundial.

Catriona Ward will be talking to Dan Coxon about her next book, Looking Glass Sound, and how life has changed since the publication of her award-winning debut.

Dan Coxon is an award-winning editor and writer based in London. His non-fiction anthology Writing The Uncanny (published by Liverpool’s Dead Ink Books and co-edited with Richard V Hirst) won the British Fantasy Award for Best Non-Fiction 2022, while his short story collection Only The Broken Remain was shortlisted for two British Fantasy Awards in 2021: Best Collection and Best Newcomer). In 2018 his anthology of British folk-horror, This Dreaming Isle, was shortlisted for a British Fantasy Award and a Shirley Jackson Award. His short stories have appeared in various anthologies, including Nox Pareidolia, Beyond the Veil, Mother: Tales of Love and Terror and Flame Tree’s Terrifying Ghosts. His latest anthology – Isolation – was published by Titan Books in September 2022.

On the same day and also part of the Leeds Lit Fest one-day series exploring the Contemporary Gothic, Dan Coxon is running a workshop called Weirding Your Fiction as well as taking part in a panel discussion called The Language of Fear, alongside expert of uncanny Lucie McKnight Hardy plus Alison Littlewood and Mark Morris. Expect a discussion of everything from Bram Stoker to Stephen King, from the Gothic tradition to contemporary horror fiction, and the lasting appeal of ghost stories.

The rest of the Leeds Lit Fest programme includes a talk by Lemn Sissay, a Northern Alliance showcase, spoken words from Nymphs & Thugs, open mic nights and a Chemistry special featuring Dominic Berry as one of the headliners. There’s a family fun day on Saturday 4 March as well as various workshops that are filling up fast, so be sure to check out the Leeds Lit Fest website for the full line-up and how to book.