LitFest: Southern Gothic Vibes and Writing with Lee Mandelo

Horror author Lee Mandelo (Summer Sons) is leading a discussion about southern gothic novels--what makes them, what breaks them, and what vibes make a memorable story. Lee will lead a brief craft talk, followed by "vibes" and affect in writing, and then open up to audience questions.
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This is one of many events happening for LitFest 2022, which runs Aug 20 - Sept 24. For a full list of programs, visit: www.metrolibrary.org/litfest

About the author:
Lee Mandelo: Their short fiction has been featured in multiple magazines and anthologies, as well as being reprinted in collections such as Transcendent 2: The Year's Best Transgender Speculative Fiction, ed. Bogi Takacs, winner of the 2018 Lambda Award for Transgender Fiction. In terms of criticism and nonfiction, Lee is a regular contributor to Tor.com as well—not just the QSFF series, but also book reviews, essay cycles like "Safe as Life: A Four-Part Essay on Maggie Stiefvater’s Raven Cycle," and more. Once in a blue moon, they appear as a speaker for events such as for the lecture series Out to Lunch at the University of Connecticut. As for their academic career, Lee has pursued degrees in English and Contemporary Literature, including on a Master’s granted on fellowship to the University of Liverpool in 2014. After a five-year stint holding traditional jobs ranging from distance education to law, they recently returned to the world of scholarship to pursue a Ph.D. in Gender & Women’s Studies at the University of Kentucky with research focused on queer theory, sexuality, and transgender masculinities. During the course of the program, they’ve also been awarded the Wimberly C. Royster Graduate Excellence Awards in Arts and Sciences grant.