February is one of our favorite months. It is still cold and the days are short. But our favorite reason is that it is Women in Horror month!! It is a month to celebrate women who are making amazing horror content. This includes movies, TV shows, books, and art. The LOHF has a lot of content planned for the month from AMAZING women authors and articles written to highlight the achievements that women have contributed to the horror community.
Never heard of Women in Horror Month (WIHM) keep reading!
What is WIHM?
Women in Horror Month (WiHM) is an international, grassroots initiative focused on encouraging supporters to learn about and showcase the underrepresented work of women in the horror industries. Whether they are on the screen, behind the scenes, or contributing in their other various artistic ways, it is clear that women love, appreciate, and contribute to the horror genre.
WiHM celebrates these contributions to horror throughout the year via the official WiHM blog, Ax Wound, The Ax Wound Film Festival, and with the official WiHM event/project database in February. This database (http:// womeninhorrormonth.com/events)—in conjunction with the WiHM social media fan base—actively promotes do- it-yourself annual film screenings, blogs/articles, podcasts, and any other form of creative media with the ultimate goal of helping works by and featuring women reach a wider audience.
This inclusive and positive movement is open to everyone, just as we believe the horror genre should be.
10 Ideas on Getting Involved with WIHM
The Women in Horror Month Press release lists the following 10 ideas on how individuals can get celebrate WIHM. If you have any more please comment below.
- Host a panel discussion (in person or video) with local horror artists and fans.You can get local horror artists and fans together and host a panel discussion about women in any and all facets of the horror universe. You can even contact your local college campus and reach out to the film and/or women’s studies departments.
- Put on a horror art show in your community or online. Are you a visual artist or fan of horror artwork? Put out a call for submissions for an art show! You can hold it in your house for friends or talk to people who run public spaces such as libraries, bookstores, or galleries about your idea. Art could even be auctioned with the money going to a charity of your choice.
- Create a skillshare event/workshop/meet up for women in your community. Are you excellent with horror FX/Makeup? Put together a workshop teaching other women your special skill (in person or online). Looking to network and meet local women genre artists? Organize a meet-up and have coffee together.
- Create something! Make a short film, write a short story, learn how to make creepy dolls, or work on that article you’ve been meaning to write. Use your imagination. Have fun!
- Use your blog and/or podcast to participate. You can do one post or even a full series on any aspect of women and horror during the month of February. This may include interviews, write ups on female horror characters, fiction/non fiction writers, there is no limit! Don’t think you will have the ability to blog during February? Help spread the word by sharing other blog posts you enjoy with your friends.
- Make a Massive Blood Drive Public Service Announcement (PSA). Create a short video PSA with a horror twist encouraging people to give blood! This could be a great way to pick up a camera for the first time while sending out an important message. Along side that, DONATE BLOOD! Send us a pic or video of your life saving deed and we will share it with everyone.
- Write letters to media outlets. Write to your local newspaper or relevant media outlets and tell them what WiHM is all about and why covering women artists is so critical to our advancement in the industry.
- Launch a film screening in your community. This can be small like in your living room with friends or as big as finding theater space and inviting the public.
- Host a Reading (at a venue or online) for Female Horror Writers. Are you a female horror fiction writer? Get some friends together and invite local writers to do a reading at a local bookstore or library. You can even have an open mic for the community to take part.
- Think Outside the Box. In 2011, horror fan and festival founder Jennifer Cooper, dyed her hair red and encouraged others to follow suit for February.
What is the LOHF doing for WIHM
We have some amazing guest posts from:
V. Castro is a London based Mexican American author. Originally, from San Antonio, Texas culture is her first inspiration. She has many stories she could tell you, but she’ll save those for the books 😉 Her Instagram is littered with old photos of her early years growing up in Texas. She’s also been fortunate enough to travel the world, which heavily influences her writing. Motherhood has also shaped what she writes and how she writes it.
Besides writing, she loves to cook, travel, try different cuisines, browse grocery stores in foreign countries, binge watch Netflix, watch horror with her sisters and drink wine whenever possible. Life is too damn short.
Kathleen Kaufman is a native Coloradan and long-time resident of Los Angeles. Her prose has been praised by Kirkus Reviews as “crisp, elegant” and “genuinely chilling” by Booklist. She is the author of The Tree Museum, The Lairdbalor, soon to be a feature film with Echo Lake Studios and director Nicholas Verso, Hag, and Diabhal due out in October 2019. Kathleen is a monster enthusiast, Olympic-level insomniac and aficionado of all things unsettling. When not writing, she can be found teaching literature and composition at Santa Monica College or hanging out with a good book. She lives in Los Angeles with her husband, son, terrier and a pack of cats.
Mary Rajotte is a Toronto-native which has a penchant for penning nightmarish tales that haunt and terrify. Sometimes camera-elusive but always coffee-fueled, Mary’s stories explore myths, dreams and nightmares.
Her story Creepy Crawleys is included in Northern Haunts: 100 Terrifying New England Tales by Shroud Publishing while her story Like Flies to Honey is in the Winter 2010 Issue of Shroud Magazine.
Her piece The Lockwood Collection can be found in The Scroll of Anubis anthology from Library of Horror Press. Husks can be found in Group Hex Vol. 2 from the Great Lakes Horror Company.
You can also read her story, The Culling, in Black Buttons Vol. 3: A Family Affair from Magnificent Cowlick media.
She also has a number of self-published stories, and is working on her first novel.
Jennifer Barnes is managing editor of Raw Dog Screaming Press and has been in publishing for more than 15 years. She spent four years as an editor for The Dream People Literary Magazine. Her children’s book, Better Haunted Homes and Gardens, illustrated by Kristen Margiotta, is a seasonal favorite. Jennifer graduated from The University of Maryland with a BA in English and a concentration in poetry. She is also an accomplished graphic designer.
Annie Neugebauer is a two-time Bram Stoker Award-nominated author with work appearing and forthcoming in more than a hundred publications, including magazines such as Cemetery Dance, Apex, and Black Static, as well as anthologies such as Year’s Best Hardcore Horror Volumes 3 & 4 and #1 Amazon bestsellers Killing It Softly and Fire. She’s a member of the Horror Writers Association and a columnist for Writer Unboxed and LitReactor. She lives in Texas with two crazy cute cats and a husband who’s exceptionally well-prepared for the zombie apocalypse. You can visit her at www.AnnieNeugebauer.com for news, poems, organizational tools for writers, and more.
The LOHF will also be hosting a readathon and a Ladiesofhorrorfiction challenge on instagram.
We will also be hosting a Valentine’s giveaway of The Apocalyptic Mannequin signed by the wonderful Stephanie Wytovich.
We’ll also have several articles written by the wonderful team of the Ladies of Horror Fiction.
Check back often and help us celebrate!
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