When Words Collide 2026

Join us for the fantastic close of When Words Colide 2026! What?? It can't be over yet! And yet it can.

To close out the festival, we'll have some thanks and acknowledgements, a salute to this year's winners of War of the Words, and some other wee surprises.

Taking us home are Andrew Buckley and Gemma Files, with some words to power your way through the year until When Words Collide 2027!

Gemma Files: Monster Pride!
...or "How neurodivergence has helped me become my fullest self as a horror writer (and writer in general)."

Andrew Buckley: The Things We Don't Talk About
The stories that make us hesitate are often the ones that matter most. As storytellers, we have a responsibility to tell the truth of our experience: the good, the bad, and the complicated. Our stories carry weight. Our emotions are evidence. And sometimes the most rebellious act in art is simply refusing to stay silent.