An evening of chilling ghostly tales after dark followed by Ghosthunter academy, and a real-life haunted bookshop ghost hunt!

Join some of Scotland’s finest horror authors for a unique evening of terrifying and chilling tales, followed by a ghost hunt run by the International Ghost Society in the bookshop, where sightings of at least three ghosts have been reported…

The evening will begin with readings of dark tales from our guest authors MK Hardy, Claire Schultz, Rhiannon Grist, and Alex Howard (and from host Lyndsey Croal), followed by the opportunity to buy books, meet the authors, and get your books signed. After that, we will dim the lights, and the ghosthunting will begin: become a certified ghosthunter with the International Ghost Society, Edinburgh’s largest ghost hunting society. They’ll take you through a short course on ghosthunting, including its history, practices, and equipment, before finishing up with a real live ghost hunt in Blackwell’s!

We hope you will join us for this exciting and unique event!

Meet our guest authors:

LYNDSEY CROAL (Host): Lyndsey is a Scottish author of strange and speculative fiction published in 100+ magazines and anthologies, including Apex, ElectricLit, Weird Tales, Best of British Science Fiction, and Mslexia’s Best Women’s Short Fiction. She’s a Scottish Book Trust New Writers Awardee, Shirley Jackson Award and four-times British Fantasy Award Finalist, and former Hawthornden Fellow. Her longer works include Limelight and Other Stories (Shortwave) and Dark Crescent (Luna Press). She lives in Edinburgh with her giant cat Pippin (who may be able to see ghosts...).

RHIANNON GRIST: Rhiannon Grist is an award-winning Welsh writer of weird, dark and speculative fiction. Her Welsh folk horror novella THE QUEEN OF THE HIGH FIELDS won Best Novella at the 2023 British Fantasy Awards. And her debut horror novel HOME SICK was a Buzz Books official pick for 2026. She lives in Edinburgh with her husband and far too many plants.

MK Hardy: Morag Hannah and Erin Hardee are two geeky women writing under the penname MK Hardy. With backgrounds ranging from museum interpretation to web design, and from science communication to ghost tours, they are devoted to storytelling in almost every aspect of their lives and work. They are also organisers and facilitators for CYMERA, Scotland’s Festival of Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror Writing. Their debut sapphic gothic horror The Needfire released from Solaris in July 2025, followed by The Haunting of Avis Lovelock (Solaris 2026), Splasher (as Billie Host, Penguin 2026).

ALEX HOWARD: Alex is the internationally bestselling author of The Ghost Cat, The Library Cat and The Ship’s Cat. A theatre professional as well as a writer, he works with Edinburgh’s dementia community at Capital Theatres and has nearly 300,000 TikTok followers at @housedoctoralex. His books have been translated into 12 languages.

CLAIRE SCHULTZ: Claire Schultz was born and raised in New Jersey, moved to the UK to study children's literature, and now happily calls Scotland home. Her adult debut novel Even Your Bones Would Do will be released by Daphne Press in January 2027. As Claire Rose, she is the author of the young adult horror novel The Cove. A PhD student by day, she lives in Edinburgh with her haunted cats.

About the International Ghost Society: The International Ghost Society are an Edinburgh-based creative studio who design immersive events, including Ghosthunter Academy, Ghosted: the gameshow, and sell-out Fringe show Robot Vacuum Fight Club. www.ghostsociety.co.uk

Description supplied by the event organiser.