The UK Ghost Story Festival is back once again, and 2026 will see its sixth spooky season of interviews, writing workshops, panels, talks and more with some of the UK’s leading writers and experts in the field! Returning to its ‘spiritual’ home of QUAD, this year’s event runs from the 27th Feb to the 1st March, with three days of loaded activity perfect for aspiring authors, rapacious readers and fans of all things ghoulish and ghostly!
As always, we have full event and Saturday passes available, offering great value for anyone looking to take in the full array of events, with individual tickets available to each of the 38 events over the weekend.
See an at-a-glance list of what’s on at the festival by clicking here.
Join us in Britain’s most haunted city for three days of author interviews, talks, workshops, panels and more
27th Feb 2026 - 01st Mar 2026
Uncover the full extent of the varied animals to be found in the magical menagerie.
27th Feb 2026
Uncover the full extent of the varied animals to be found in the magical menagerie.
27th Feb 2026
Conjuring and interrogating spectres to build the bones of a contemporary ghost story.
27th Feb 2026
How the LGBTQ+ community have embraced horror and its icons.
27th Feb 2026
How the LGBTQ+ community have embraced horror and its icons.
27th Feb 2026
Malcolm Schofield explores his relationship with the paranormal, and the journey from sceptic to parapsychologist.
27th Feb 2026
Exploring the fine art of the twist, and how it can be applied to your supernatural tale.
27th Feb 2026
Workshops for Adults
Discover how to distil your novel into a short and punchy pitch.
27th Feb 2026
An in depth look at the spirits of nature. Where did they come from? Who are they?
27th Feb 2026
How to write about ghost characters hiding their identity and their motivations.
27th Feb 2026
Festival regulars Mark and Tracey discuss their fascination with folklore, their work in the field, their ongoing res...
27th Feb 2026
A 90-walk full of tortured spirits who met a grisly end, including both the murderers and their victims
27th Feb 2026
What horrors haunt Derbyshire’s moors, caves, and villages
27th Feb 2026
Exploring some of the challenges and opportunities presented by pacing in ghost stories.
27th Feb 2026
A darkly humorous collection of tales with modern takes on classic supernatural traditions.
27th Feb 2026
An in-depth interview with bestselling ghost story and Gothic fiction author Catriona Ward.
27th Feb 2026
A panel exploring the full spectrum of spectres.
28th Feb 2026
The latest patented cure-all from award-nominated author and horror editor Daniel Carpenter.
28th Feb 2026
How the “spectral feminine” has evolved from literary Gothic heroines into the haunted women of modern cinema.
28th Feb 2026
As horror continues its revival in 2026, where does the ghost story fit in that space?
28th Feb 2026
The importance of balancing characters, plot, and world building in our writing.
28th Feb 2026
Free Event
Featuring over 30 traders and free to visit.
27th Feb 2026 - 01st Mar 2026
Workshops for Adults
Understanding the cultural meanings and social-historical baggage of the ghosts and monsters
28th Feb 2026
Dive into the many ways traditional beliefs and traditions can impact horror fiction.
28th Feb 2026
How to make your ghost stories unambiguously ambiguous for your readers.
28th Feb 2026
Workshops for Adults
Exploring ways (from self publishing to big anthologies) to get your writing in front of readers.
28th Feb 2026
What different approaches can we take when telling a ghost story?
28th Feb 2026
Exploring how the motion of spectres can evoke different responses in the minds of readers.
28th Feb 2026
Workshops for Adults
Ways to use the weird and the uncanny to unsettle readers before your ghost even appears.
28th Feb 2026
Free Event
A team of professional body-painting artists transform the human form into living canvases.
28th Feb 2026
A 90 minute walk full of weird occurrences from Derby’s history.
28th Feb 2026
A house is more than just a place to lay your head at night. Sometimes, the walls remember…
28th Feb 2026
Wrestling with that draft book?
28th Feb 2026
Jon Dear discusses his new release exploring the history and legacy of the BBC’s spooky festive tradition.
28th Feb 2026
A lone traveller befriends a railway signalman who has a terrifying tale to tell.
28th Feb 2026
Who was Lady Mary Howard, and how did she become part of Dartmoor’s creepiest ghost stories?
01st Mar 2026
Workshops for Adults
The key elements of ghost stories and how these themes can be used or inverted.
01st Mar 2026
A journey through the history of spooky cowboy movies.
01st Mar 2026
Dracula‘s connections to fears around real-life survival cannibalism.
01st Mar 2026
Are there ways to bring ghosts into the worlds of science-fiction?
01st Mar 2026
Dare you pry into the secrets of the Screaming Skulls of British folklore…?
01st Mar 2026
30 Apr 2026
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Read More17 Apr 2026
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Read More23 Mar 2026
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