Thank you to everyone who donated to the 2026 Festival of Monsters yesterday during Giving Day at UC Santa Cruz. We raised $4155 towards next year, but have a long way to go. Want to help? bit.ly/give2monsters

Bring the 2026 Festival of Monsters to life! It's Giving Day at UC Santa Cruz and Monster Matches turn $1 into $2. bit.ly/monstergive Help the monsters live to lecture another day, #give2ucsc @dsas #monsters

Bribing people to donate to @ucscmonsters.bsky.social . We’re raising money for the 2026 Festival of Monsters and the $ is matched. So, if you would like me to make you an emotional support ghost, donate $30+ and send proof/address to ucscmonsters at gmail and I’ll make you one! bit.ly/monstergive

Know how to do the Monster Match? This Giving Day, every dollar given to make the 2026 Festival of Monsters come to life turns into $2! bit.ly/monstergive #give2ucsc @dsas #monsters

This was a FANTASTIC conference, and if you want to help support it for next year, today is a great day to donate. Make your donation go twice as far!

Bring the 2026 Festival of Monsters to life! It's Giving Day at UC Santa Cruz and monster matches magically turn $1 into $2. bit.ly/monstergive Your support means the monsters live to lecture another day, #give2ucsc @dsas #monsters

It's looking strangely monstrous this week around Saint Mary's University, as the university hosts Nova Scotia’s first #MonsterFest. It's a sister event to the @ucscmonsters.bsky.social Festival of Monsters in California. Read about it in SMU News: loom.ly/KsXIDOI #MonsterFest2025 #artswithimpact

Fun fact about the cover of Monster Theory: I did not realize there was a monster's head embedded within the green and blue swathe until I saw the cover projected behind me at the recent @ucscmonsters.bsky.social conference. The book is almost 30 years old and yes I just realized.

Hoping for some academic help...updating my readings in a Monsters class & would love a book that focuses on different monsters (zombie, vampire...) from histor/cult perspective. I've used (& enjoyed!) Asma's On Monsters and Poole's Monsters in America, but both are a bit dated by now. Thoughts?

Thank you for being part of our Festival of Monsters!! We enjoyed having you and @gretchenmcneil.bsky.social and @natcassidy.bsky.social at @bookshopsantacruz.bsky.social yesterday. Safe flight.

Thank you, @ucscmonsters.bsky.social!

As a cognitive scientist and science journalist, I never expected to attend an academic conference on monsters, and I didn't expect to be blown away by what I learned. (🧵in comments)

Winding down my time in California. Gig at @bookshopsantacruz.bsky.social was wonderful! Monster Symposium at @ucscmonsters.bsky.social was a delight. My brain is bursting w/new ideas, resources. As always, I took too few photos, though

The conference takes accessibility seriously. This means all our conferences are online and they are free to speakers. We offer accessibility training. We provide slides ahead of time with alt-text, encourage written copies of papers, provide a code of conduct and clear guidelines on the day 1/

The Festival of Monsters has begun!!

In genuine cases of dehumanization that person is transformed not into a louse or a rat, but a monstrous demonic human being — paraphrasing David Livingstone Smith at his opening keynote for the 2025 Festival of Monsters.

David Livingstone Smith is giving the keynote speech for the 2025 Festival of Monsters. He is sharing his view that dehumanization is the attitude of conceiving of others as less-than-human creatures.

Review: Pantheon: The Irish by Morgan Daimler #gifted scousedruid.com/2025/10/05/r... @moonbooksci.bsky.social @morgandaimler.bsky.social #Bookreview #Pagan

If you’re in Santa Cruz at 6:30 pm this Wednesday, join Center Director Michael Chemers, Renee Fox and Kim Lau as they talk tales of the dead at the Santa Cruz Public Library’s Downtown Branch. santacruzpl.libnet.info/event/14673822

Another really cool book recommendation for #MythologyMonday is Japandamonium by @hirokoyoda.bsky.social and @mattalt.bsky.social. It's a translation of Toriyama Sekien's 18th century yokai encyclopedias and includes the illustrations with translation and annotations, see the images below. 1/2

My next #MythologyMonday book recommendation is 'The Book of Japanese Folklore' by Thersa Matsuura (@uncannyjapan.bsky.social). It introduces a collection of yokai with Thersa's wonderful storytelling and gorgeous illustrations by Michelle Wang. She's also got a #yokai oracle deck on the way.

My final book recommendations for today's #MythologyMonday are for anyone looking for Japanese folktales. The first book by Yei Theodora Ozaki is a collection of the most well-known Japanese tales and the second book by Keisuke Nishimoto is a larger collection containing many lesser known tales.

If you are a supporter and reader of @contingent-mag.bsky.social one of the biggest things you can do to help us at the moment is get this CFP to the NTT folks in your life. The fracturing of social media has made it very difficult to get the word out esp. to adjuncts and VAPs.

Excited to return to #FestivalOfMonsters at @ucscmonsters.bsky.social in October with @samlangsdale.bsky.social and @passableghost.bsky.social. Our panel, Monstrous Transformations: Bodies, Gender, and the Disruption of the Social Self, is all about body horror, ecological collapse, and St. Vincent.

It's pumpkin month!!

Publication day is October 2nd tomorrow. Launch tonight for the first day of the London Month of the Dead at Highgate Cemetery!

Join us on Tues for our next online talk: Fee Greening in conversation about her work, influences, and her illustrated edition of Briggs’s Dictionary of Fairies, published last month. Tues 7 Oct, 19:00 BST on Zoom. Tickets £6.00 (£4 for members with promo code) www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/fee-greeni...

'as a rich and fascinating overview and introduction to British folklore this book is really essential reading for anyone interested in the subject. I know I’ll be returning to my copy again and again' - a lovely review of #Folklore on @shinynewbooks.bsky.social shinynewbooks.co.uk/folklore-a-j...

Here we are in horror month. Are you set to read certain books or watch specific horror movies in the weeks ahead? any you haven't read or seen before? or returning to old classics or personal favourites?

Only 2 weeks before the Festival of Monsters! Keynote 10/15 by David Livingstone Smith, conference 10/16-17, and a day of events including a panel with @almakatsu.bsky.social Nat Cassidy, and @gretchenmcneil.bsky.social at @bookshopsantacruz.bsky.social on 10/18. Details monsterstudies.ucsc.edu

How is the human defined in relation to such things as apes and #zombies ? Join us at 4pm tomorrow, March 11, at @ucsantacruz.bsky.social Cowell Provost House to hear Dr. Surekha Davies talk on her new book Humans: A Monstrous History and perhaps provide an answer. monsterstudies.ucsc.edu/davies

Reminder that the amazing Dr. Surekha Davies comes to UC Santa Cruz next Tuesday for a talk. Join us!

Join us tonight! 👇🏽

My new piece @rtebrainstorm.bsky.social is on banshee beliefs in Ireland. It may not be Halloween, but many will profess that she may make an audible appearance at any time of the year! @atu-ie.bsky.social @oflynnatu.bsky.social www.rte.ie/brainstorm/2...

My Art of the Grimoire is now out in Dutch, Spanish, German, and Japanese! Italian version due in July. Always nice to see one’s work in other languages.

New episode of The Evolution of Horror out now! @daddydisco.bsky.social joins me to discuss Jordan Peele’s epic banger, NOPE! 👽

Join us 4:30 pm Monday, March 3 at for a special screening of the Irish folk horror film Fréwaka. Director Aislinn Clarke will be on hand to talk about her “nightmare fuel” film. www.monsterstudies.ucsc.edu/frewaka-screening. #monsters #film #folklore

I'm very excited about this Saturday's (1st) talk on HAIR HORROR! Come join us ONLINE to hear Dr L. Marie Woods discuss hair's place in horror! 3pm GMT - www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/9645994920... 9pm GMT - www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/9646058310...

We are so excited to have you talk at UC Santa Cruz on March 11! www.monsterstudies.ucsc.edu/davies

REMINDER! Tomorrow (27th Feb) is the our weather-themed hosted #FolkloreThursday! Our hosts will share your weather-themed folklore at the following times (GMT): 9am-2pm 3.30-4.30pm 5.30-7.30pm Don't forget to include the hashtag! (Image: Woodcut c.1489, public domain)

In #JapaneseFolklore jubokko are #yokai trees often found on the sites of old battlefields. It is believed that because they absorbed the blood of slaughtered bodies through their roots, they developed supernatural powers, including a vampiric taste for blood. Considering... #LegendaryWednesday 1/3

Folklore and the Digital online conference: following our ‘Digital Folklore’ conference in June 2024, we're holding a one-day online conference on ‘Folklore and the Digital’ on Saturday 29 March, 09:30-17:30 GMT. Tickets £30 (£20 for FLS members with Promo Code) folklore-society.com/event/folklo...

Our new website is live! Please visit and learn all about the project, the team and what we hope to achieve: www.nationalfolkloresurvey.co.uk

HUMANS: A MONSTROUS HISTORY will be at the Center for Monster Studies @ucscmonsters.bsky.social at UC Santa Cruz! Monday March 11, 4pm. 4pm. Cowell Provost House. 1/2 💙📚 🧪🗃 #ancient #medieval #earlymodern #histsci #histmed #18thCentury #politics #HAMH www.monsterstudies.ucsc.edu/davies

It’s official. We are now accepting papers and proposals for the 2025 Festival of Monsters, Oct. 15-18 in Santa Cruz, Calif. Deadline April 1. Details: www.monsterstudies.ucsc.edu/2025-call-fo... #monsters #academia

MOON DOGS #1 from Horizon Experiment - a series of pilots for genre books transformed by a strong marginalised perspective. In this case, a familial horror story of east-African were-hyena. Codeswitching as lycanthropy, this is atmospheric, disturbing, fascinating, human #WeReadsComics #NewComics

Writing a book is hard! But I'm well underway to completing a first rough draft of WYRD TV: FOLKLORE, FOLK HORROR AND TELEVISION for the BFI. I'm excited that I should be able to deliver my manuscript in a few months' time! Not surprisingly, you can expect all of this type of thing:

Pixar's Pete Docter talks Monsters with Michael Chemers and Mike Halekakis on the latest ep. of our podcast, The Show Where They Talk About Monsters! www.monsterstudies.ucsc.edu/podcast #monsters #podcast #monsterstudies #pixar #monstersinc

With the Monsters’ Ball, our 2024 Festival of Monsters has come to a close. #MonsterFest @ucsantacruz.bsky.social