This week, horror novelists and podcasters discuss their craft. Featuring: Quan Barry, Jeffrey Cranor, Joseph Fink, Scott Hawkins, and moderated by A.V. Bach.

The creators and writers of the fiction podcast Welcome to Night Vale, Jeffrey Cranor and Joseph Fink, come together with novelists Quan Barry (The Unveiling) and Scott Hawkins (The Library at Mount Char) to discuss horror in fiction, and how the writing changes based on the medium. Moderated by fellow writer A.V. Bach.

This program was part of the 2026 American Writers Festival. Co-hosted by the American Writers Museum and Chicago Public Library, the American Writers Festival is a free literary event featuring in-depth conversations with diverse writers from across genres and backgrounds. This conversation took place June 7, 2026 and was recorded live at the Harold Washington Library Center.

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More about the books and podcasts discussed during the episode:

The Library at Mount Char by Scott Hawkins

Populated by an unforgettable cast of characters and propelled by a plot that will shock you again and again, The Library at Mount Char is at once horrifying and hilarious, mind-blowingly alien and heartbreakingly human, sweepingly visionary and nail-bitingly thrilling—and signals the arrival of a major new voice in fantasy.

The Unveiling by Quan Barry

A genre-bending Black literary horror novel exploring abandonment, guilt, and survival in the shadow of America's racial legacy, The Unveiling follows a group of tourists turned disaster survivors on an Antarctica cruise over Christmas Eve. With sharp social satire, Quan Barry questions the limits of human bonds, the masks we wear, and the truths we hide even from ourselves.

Welcome to Night Vale by Jeffrey Cranor and Joseph Fink

Welcome to Night Vale is a twice-monthly podcast in the style of community updates for the small desert town of Night Vale, featuring local weather, news, announcements from the Sheriff's Secret Police, mysterious lights in the night sky, dark hooded figures with unknowable powers, and cultural events.

About the writers:

A.V. BACH is a writer and musician living in Chicago, IL. Born in Minnesota and (mostly) raised outside Chicago, he attended Syracuse University in 2004, studying under several prominent writers such as George Saunders, Mary Gaitskill, and Arthur Flowers. He graduated SU in 2008 with a BA in English and Textual Studies, with a concentration on Film and Creative Writing. In 2008 Bach enrolled in Johns Hopkins University's Writing Program, receiving his MA in Fiction Writing in 2010. His fiction has been published in the US and UK, including Gargoyle, Fogged Clarity, Gone Lawn, Kerouac's Dog Magazine, a...