Cymera: Edinburgh Launch for Queens of the Crone Age

Attending Cymera Festival in-person in Edinburgh was a long-held ambition - I've previous convened and participated in online panels, but it really didn't prepare me for the festival phenomenon in person. Held amid the historic cobblestones of The Pleasance, Cymera is a literary festival in beautiful, bookish Edinburgh that embraces genres from horror to fantasy. Venues were packed, audiences were cheerful, volunteers were helpful, and it was a really wonderful way to catch up with some familiar faces like Neil Williamson, Jim McLeod, Dan Coxon and the BFS team - as well as finally getting to chat to Shona Kinsella. There wwere so many wonderful events, but a real highlight was seeing the charismatic Stephen Graham Jones interviewed on stage by MK Hardy. His star-power is titanic.

It was a beautiful place to debut Queens of the Crone Age, and to kick off my HAG TOUR 2026. The paperbacks were stocked by Waterstones Edinburgh, and looked stunning - an emotional moment of finally seeing my book in reality. Huge thanks to artist Jacob Stack, book designer Mike Smith, and the good people of DIP for printing. Once I'd swooned over the cover and interior illustrations, it was time to get to work. I ran a workshop on 'Writing Mythological Women,' which was so well attended we had to add chairs - together the participants used prompts and diagrams to create the bones of a new story. Over the course of the weekend I also got to do a reading from one of the stories from Queens of the Crone Age - 'Witchwalking' - and to listen to a range of authors read from their work. Finally, it was time to join my felelow panelists Hester Steel (author of The Faceless Thing We Adore) and Emma Cleary (Our Monstrous Bodies) and discuss our books with moderator Cailean Steed. Together we examined mommy horror, the Gothic and the uncanny, the value of folklore, the nature of research and the ideas of ancestry - I got to mention Neil Williamson's forthcoming book, Hand-Me-Downs.

It was wonderful. I signed books, I discussed Hags, I got to talk to fantastic folk. Thanks so much to Ann Landeman, Director of Cymera and her team, especially the indefatigable Riley Klabunde.

It's a busy summer. Two residencies, one in Greece, one in Ireland. And then there's my HAG TOUR. Stay tuned for details!