Name: This Book is Haunted: Cursed Objects and Texts in Film and Literature
Start: 2025-06-13T14:00:00-0400
End: 2025-06-13T14:50:00-0400

Welcome to the premiere horror literary convention presented by the Horror Writers Association. Registration for StokerCon 2025 is now available! This year the convention is being hosted by the city of Stamford, Connecticut, at the Hilton Stamford Hotel and Executive Meeting Center. We’re taking over from June 12th through the 15th, 2025.

Friday June 13, 2025 2:00pm - 2:50pm EDT

Grand Ballroom 1

An old tome with archaic writing, an unmarked VHS, a doll with an unsettling gaze, a camera through which the viewfinder shows a reality that seems just a bit off…Cursed objects provide not only an intriguing plot device but their uncanny realism can also make the reader or viewer feel complicit in the haunting. Join us as we explore the popularity of cursed objects and media and why these stories are essential for library shelves.

Moderators

Ben Rubin

Horror Studies Collection Coordinator, University of Pittsburgh Library System

Horror Studies Collection Coordinator for Archives & Special Collections at the University of Pittsburgh Library System - responsible for building, managing, and curating archival and rare book resources related to horror studies and serving as subject area expert for reference related... Read More →

Speakers

Eric LaRocca

Eric LaRocca (he/they) is a 3x Bram Stoker Award® finalist and Splatterpunk Award winner. He was named by Esquire as one of the “Writers Shaping Horror’s Next Golden Age” and praised by Locus as “one of the strongest and most unique voices in contemporary horror fiction... Read More →

Carina Stopenski

Teen Librarian, Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh

Carina Stopenski (they/them) is a librarian, author, and scholar based in Pittsburgh, PA. In their day to day, Carina works as a teen librarian at the Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh, as a freelance humanities educator for teens, and as the director of the Pittsburgh Mobile Cartoon... Read More →

Clay McLeod Chapman

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 others.

Emily Vinci

Librarian, Fiction Manager, Schaumburg Township District Library

Adam Nevill

Adam L. G. Nevill was born in Birmingham, England, in 1969 and grew up in England and New Zealand. He is an author of horror fiction. Of his novels, The Ritual, Last Days, No One Gets Out Alive and The Reddening were all winners of The August Derleth Award for Best Horror Novel. He... Read More →

Friday June 13, 2025 2:00pm - 2:50pm EDT
Grand Ballroom 1

Librarians' Day

StokerCon 2025