The delight of fright: Writing scary books for young people

Join us for a talk exploring the art of writing scary topics for children and young adults. Join us for a talk exploring the art of writing scary topics for children and young adults. Author Sam Fern will discuss his work across fiction and non-fiction, from literary monsters to ancient afterlife mythologies. Sam will cover the cultural influences, creative motivations, and social considerations behind making scary books fun. He will be in conversation with children's author Justin Davies. The event will be followed by an audience Q&A. About the speakers Sam Fern is the author of ‘Escape Castle Dracula’, an immersive Young Adult gothic puzzle adventure, and ‘Where the Dead Live’, a non-fiction journey through cultural imaginations around death and the afterlife. ‘Where the Dead Live’ was shortlisted for Children's Non-Fiction Book of the Year 2026. He lives in Edinburgh. Justin Davies is a children's author and will be facilitating the event. When you book an event, your personal information will be held and used by the National Library of Scotland and our third-party suppliers for the purposes of allowing you to attend the event and for audience research. For more information, visit the National Library of Scotland privacy pages, in particular the events notice and feedback and complaints notice. We expect attendees to behave respectfully towards presenters, guests and other audience members.