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Monster Building: Monsters come in all shapes, sizes and forms, but how do you build the perfect one? What characteristics make them pop out of the page? Why do they stay in our consciousness long after we’ve closed the book?
Join moderator Eleanor Pender and panellists M F Alfrey, Sarah Maria Griffin, and Catherine Yu as they discuss the best/worst monsters and their own Dr Frankenstein process.
M F Alfrey (he/him): M F Alfrey has always been fascinated by creatures – especially the strange and the overlooked, from peculiar dinosaurs to bizarre insects. A lifelong love of wildlife and monsters had him dreaming of a career in special creature FX, but with no clear path at the time, he turned to art. Eventually, that passion evolved into writing, where he now brings his own monsters to life on the page. From the horrific to the inexplicable, his creatures are more than just threats – they’re the wildlife of his worlds, serving as antagonists, protagonists, or mirrors of humanity in all its beauty and brutality. Find out more on his website. Get his book here.
Sarah Maria Griffin (she/her): Sarah Maria Griffin is from Dublin, Ireland. She is the author of the novels Eat the Ones You Love, Spare & Found Parts, and Other Words For Smoke, which won an Irish Book Award in 2019. She writes about video games for The Guardian, and her nonfiction has appeared in The Irish Times, The Winter Papers, and The Stinging Fly, amongst other places. Connect with Sarah on Instagram, Bluesky, and TikTok. Or find out more on her website. Books: Eat the Ones You Love; Spare & Found Parts; Other Words For Smoke.
Catherine Yu (she/her): Catherine Yu writes dark speculative fiction. She was born in Nanjing and is now based in New York. She is the author of Direwood, Helga, and The Devil’s in the Dancers (Page Street). Her short fiction has appeared in Baffling Magazine and Fantasy Magazine. Find out more on Catherine’s website or connect with her on Instagram. Books: The Devil’s in the Dancers; Helga.
Eleanor Pender (she/her): Eleanor has worked in the creative industries for over 10 years. Her first event chairing on a stage was with Patrick Ness at the Edinburgh International Book Festival in 2015. Since then she has gone on to host in-person and online events at events across the country, at the Young Adult Literature Convention (YALC), Cymera Festival, Bath Children’s Literature Festival, Bristol Women’s Literature Festival, Forbidden Planet and Waterstones Bristol bookshop events and more. Highlights include chairing V.E. Schwab at Cymera Festival in 2019 and interviewing V.V. James over Instagram Live from her back garden. When not chairing, Eleanor lectures at The University of the West of England, Bristol. As a writer, Eleanor has had stories published by Jurassic London and other anthologies, and she is currently working on her second novel. Follow Eleanor on Twitter or Instagram.