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It is a pleasure to announce the final longlists of all the nominations received for the two IGA book Prizes.

I have always been drawn to the dark side. My parents are not into the Gothic, but they unwittingly provided plenty of paths that led me to a fascination with the weird and the wicked. Like Dr Henry Jekyll, I believe this capacity lies within us all – if (in)appropriately triggered in childhood. For those of us lucky enough to be given this early training in terror, the Gothic can take on a darkly delicious nostalgia later in life; a feeling of being at home, a reassuringly unheimlich home.

I remember quite correctly the first time I saw a goth person. It was on TV. In the west part of Québec, the city where I grew up, non-conventional looking people were — and still are — a rare sight. Plus, my family was never really fond of gothic literature, let alone goth rock or horror movies. The forbidden attracts, I guess.

Greetings all! We have already prepared long lists of all nominations received, and these works will remain. However, on March 19th the team learned that one email, containing two nominations, was sent by the deadline but was not received due to a unique and rare technical obstacle between sender and recipient. Neither the nominator nor the Secretary were at fault; technology, on the other hand, is clearly a fallible ally, but at least it isn’t plotting Skynet calamity. There is no evidence of any other failed email nominations, and we have scrutinised all communications rigorously over many hours. However, just to make *absolutely* sure that no nominations fell afoul of the whims of electronics, we are reopening very briefly for nominations until 12 noon UK time on Tuesday 26th March 2024. The existing long list entries remain: works submitted now will supplement these. Please email any ADDITIONAL (not existing) nominations to the following two addresses: matthew.foley@mmu.ac.uk (Secretary) AND info@globalgoth.org To be particularly meticulous, we ask all nominators to ensure that they receive a confirmation email from the Secretary. If you don’t receive confirmation within 48 hours, please reach out to both the Secretary and info@globalgoth.org. The Co-Presidents have asked me to underline that no further amendments will be made to the submission dates. I want to reiterate my firm commitment to the integrity of these important prizes. Nothing will stop us in carefully facilitating this award process. Only IGA members are eligible to nominate. For date eligibility and further information about the process, please see the original call for nominations. Best wishes Sara, Matt and the Co-Presidents  

An ONLINE conference on 24th and 25th August 2024 marking the 200th anniversary of James Hogg’s Private Memoirs and Confessions of a Justified Sinner REVISED SUBMISSION DATE: 31st MARCH 2024

Edited Collection Title: Rotting Corpses: Ecocritical Approaches to Death and Decomposition Editors: Sara Crosby, Carter Soles, and Ashley Kniss

One of my favourite quotes about Gothic is by David Punter’s legend, from the Literature of Terror. “Gothic was chaotic … ornate and convoluted; where the classics offered a set of cultural models to be followed, Gothic represented excess and exaggeration, the product of the wild and the uncivilised”. What he implies here is what most of us might agree with. What he meant with this quote is that it (Gothic) embraces chaos, complexity, excess, and elements considered wild and uncivilised. This implies that most of our wild and uncivilised dreams lead to encounters with the gothic.

Call for nominations by February 29th

I cannot remember a time when I was not fascinated by the uncanny and the supernatural. Since childhood the macabre has had a strong pull over me. This was most firmly expressed when I was just seven years old and had my first encounter the Gothic.

Throughout October, Open Graves, Open Minds have a series of seasonally spooky events to celebrate Halloween. See the full post for more details.

Join Artist Amy Kingsmill as we explore reinventing and reclaiming the witch with Kirsty Logan, Juno Dawson, Malcolm Gaskill, Shahidha Bari, Marion Gibson, John Callow, Shami Chakrabarti, Marisa Carnesky, Ron Athey, Zoë Howe, the Witches of Scotland, Jenny Runacre, Parma Ham and more.

My first encounter with the Gothic precedes my knowledge of the existence of Gothic itself. As such, it can be quite difficult to pinpoint exactly where that encounter manifested…