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UK Ghost Story Festival 2026

By Visit Derby

Created November 27, 2024

Last updated December 16, 2025

 6th-8th February 2026, online via Google Meet.

27th February-1st March 2026, in-person at Derby Quad.

UK Ghost Story Festival returns for 2026, with a new weekend and an exciting new home!

Join us in Britain’s most haunted city for three days of author interviews, talks,  workshops, panels and more, with book and merch sales running throughout – the perfect weekend for writers and readers of the spooky and the supernatural!

Passes are now on sale:

Full weekend pass: £80
Saturday event pass: £35
Individual ticket prices vary.

Events are suitable for those aged 18 and over.

See an at-a-glance list of what’s on at the festival by clicking here.

Click here to visit the UK Ghost Story Festival website

X: @ghoststoryfest
Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@ukghoststoryfestival

UK Ghost Story Festival logo

27 February

Close up of hands holding a lit candle Willow Winsham – Talk: Unfamiliar Familiars – The Unusual Companions of the Witch 27 Feb
Ghost in field early evening Tracy Fahey – Workshop: Talking To Your Ghost – Writing a Contemporary Ghost Story 27 Feb
Bats in sky Dan Webber – Talk: ‘Out for the Count’ LGBTQ+ Reflections Of Dracula 27 Feb
Blurred ghostly figure Malcolm Schofield Talk: An Invitation to Understanding 27 Feb
Eerie figure in snowy woods Alex Davis – Workshop: Writing a Twist in the Ghost Story 27 Feb
Close up of book and pencil Ally Wilkes – Workshop: Pitch and synopsis writing for novelists 27 Feb
Anthony Kerrigan event artwork Anthony Kerrigan – Talk: ‘Faerie Bad’ – An Insight into Misconstrued Notions 27 Feb
Black and white photo of ghost amongst trees Corinne Pollard – Workshop: We Are The Ghosts, Mister 27 Feb
Black and white picture of winter trees Mark and Tracey Norman – Interviewed by Alex Davis 27 Feb
Black and white picture of internal abandoned building Derby Uncovered – Walk: Hauntings and Hangings 27 Feb
Foggy landscape Victoria Langford – Talk: Haunted Hills and Hellish Places: Derbyshire in Gothic Imagination 27 Feb
Black and white photo of ghost in front of tree trunk Alex Davis – Workshop: Pacing Your Ghost Story 27 Feb
Steve Nallon's Ghost Stories event artwork Performance: Steve Nallon’s Ghost Stories 27 Feb
Catriona Ward Catriona Ward Interview 27 Feb

28 February

Ghosts at dusk Author Panel – Ghost Clusters: Types of Spirits in Fiction 28 Feb
Shadowy figure in hallway Daniel Carpenter – Workshop: Experimenting with Form in Ghost Stories 28 Feb
Orange moon in night sky Jennifer Brough – Talk: The Spectral Feminine and Modern Gothic 28 Feb
Close up of open books Author Panel – Ghost Stories in the Modern Publishing Climate 28 Feb
Close up of pages on book Kristina Adams – Workshop: Balancing the power of three: plot, character, and world building 28 Feb
Ghost carrying bottle TC Parker – Workshop: Semiotics For (Horror) Storytelling 28 Feb
Close of colourful face masks Author Panel – Folklore in Fiction 28 Feb
Shadow figures holding hands walking the highway James Everington – Workshop: Ghosts and Ambiguity 28 Feb
Close up of spider webb Ally Wilkes – Workshop: Writing and selling short weird fiction 28 Feb
Ghost in woods Author Panel – New Angles on Ghosts 28 Feb
Birds in night sky Richard Farren Barber – Workshop: I Like The Way You Move: Locomotion In The Ghost Story 28 Feb
Black and white drawing of scull and bones Dan Coxon – Workshop: Writing Dissonance: Using the Weird and the Uncanny to Build Atmosphere 28 Feb
Gothic model Gothic Catwalk – The Art of Transformation 28 Feb
Ghostly waterfall landscape Derby Uncovered – Walk: Weird Derby 28 Feb
Exterior haunted house at night Book Launch – Unquiet Guests With Dan Coxon, Will MacLean, Alison Moore & Ally Wilkes 28 Feb
Close up of hand holding pencil to paper. Sophie Draper – Workshop: Editing Your Novel 28 Feb
Scary face with no eyes No Digging: The Story of the BBC’s Ghost Story at Christmas – Jon Dear Interview 28 Feb
Person holding torchlit lamp David Alnwick: Performance – The Signalman 28 Feb

1 March

Hill Landscape Tracey Norman – Talk: Pawn or Penitent? The truth behind the legend of Lady Mary Howard 01 Mar
Ghost in headlights Melanie Atkinson – Workshop: Writing the Modern Ghost Story 01 Mar
Baron landscape Darrell Buxton – Talk: Phantoms of the Horse Opera 01 Mar
Bat in pink sky Emma Probbett – Talk: Dracula and Survival Cannibalism 01 Mar
Ghost by coast Alex Davis – Workshop: Ghosts of the Future 01 Mar
Lit up skull Mark Norman – Talk: Screaming Skulls 01 Mar

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