The Scare-Off: Four Stories Enter, One Story Wins Get ready for a chilling hour of live storytelling as the Delta Literary Arts Society presents a fast‑paced showdown of spooky tales. Four local authors will each share up to eight minutes of their most creepy, haunted, paranormal, or unsettling short fiction. After all four readings, the audience decides the winner.
The author with the most votes earns a coveted spot in DLAS’s October production of Killer Verse, their dramatized narration of dark and haunting short stories — and they’ll receive $50 for their winning piece. Expect a thrilling mix of eerie atmosphere, electrifying performances, and full audience participation.
Location: Sunroom/Gallery, UBC Robson Square
Type: Reading
Sponsored by: Word Vancouver · Delta Literary Arts Society
Moderators: Anna Eastland
Readers: Col Bak, Jason Kurylo, Jacob Davenport, KT Wagner
About The Moderator
Anna Eastland
Anna Eastland is the author of unexpected blossoming: a journey of grief and hope and velvet flame: the poetry in life after loss. Finding solace in nature in the midst of kid chaos is a common theme in her work. She is a contributor to various poetry and prose anthologies, and is the author of a WWII short story in Dutch, the Magazine, based on her step-dad’s youth in Holland. As V.P. of the Delta Literary Arts Society, she leads monthly writing circles and open mic’s for writers. Anna loves helping people find their voices almost as much as she loves going out dancing with her fellow authors. For her latest adventure, she’s working on her first novel, a psychological thriller with Sterling and Stone Studios.
About The Readers
Col Bak
Col Bak is an Indigenous, Autistic and Queer poet, prose writer, and playwright. They specialize in horror and comedy. They began writing short stories and poems as a child and continued their love of writing throughout their life. When they're not writing, they love Improv, junk journaling, and trying new things.
Jason Kurylo
Jason is a writer, educator, and former journalist living in Burnaby. He is currently working on a novel-length noir mystery set in 1984 Vancouver. He buys Canadian, and supports local artists. Jason enjoys cured meats.
Jacob Davenport
Jacob is the author of The Beckoning — a Gothic frontier horror novel — and has an offer from Pulp Literature while he seeks representation. When he isn't writing, Jacob is a reluctant longshoreman living in Tsawwassen, where he lives with his credit card bills, his steel-toed boots, and a very patient family.
KT Wagner
KT Wagner writes Gothic horror and op/ed pieces in the garden of her Maple Ridge home. She helps create literary community including write-ins, an annual writing retreat and co-organizing Golden Ears Writers. KT graduated from Simon Fraser University’s Writers Studio in 2015 (Southbank 2013). She’s a member of the Horror Writers Association of America (HWA), SF Canada (National Association for Speculative Fiction), the Science Fiction & Fantasy Poetry Association (SFPA), and the Federation of BC Writers. Her short stories and poetry are published and podcast in magazines and anthologies. A Key in Her Heart and Other Subversions, KT's debut short story collection, is forthcoming in October from Trepidatio Press.
