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Balmoral Panel Room 1
Balmoral Function room
Room accessibility info:
Accessibility info
Room capacity:
100
Room equipment:
Equipment list
All programme items in this room:
AI and LLMs in our industry: What Can We Do? What Should We Do?
The issues around data scraping, LLM training and human art being replaced by bots. The goalposts change every year as the software gets more advanced. Join the discussion to share the latest advice.
British and Irish Folk
Folk stories fascinate us as much for the way they have been handed down as for the detail. Tales passed down through generations. Local legends reimagined into lingering horror or magical fantasy. Folktales cross genres and remain as sources of inspiration for writers. We will discuss.
Costume, Food, Music: the Senses in Fantasy Writing
World building through prose: what our characters wear, eat, hear, touch can bring a wonderful depth and vividness to their world, immersing the reader in the truly fantastical. Our panel discuss the beauty of descriptive writing.
Through the Wringer
Many stories involve adversity. Characters struggle to achieve their goals; if they don’t, do we care? Readers identify with people who overcome challenges to reach a better place. Suffering has its place in the narrative, but how do we ensure we do just enough? Our panel discusses the tough journeys characters go on in stories […]
Visions of the Future
We cannot know the future, so all of our attempts to picture it are escapes into imagined worlds. Clarke’s Third Law indicates how magic and science can be the same thing expressed in different ways. Our panel discussed the relation between speculative fiction, science fiction, fantasy and horror.
Strong Female Leaders who Don’t Kick Ass
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Paranormal Romance to Romantasy
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Launch: The Slab Press
Hiding Under the Leaves is an anthology of original folk horror short fiction, seeking beyond the boundaries of this fascinating sub-genre. From lonesome moors to dark woods, and the mysterious ocean depths, these stories explore the ghostly and the savage; the monstrous faerie and the beast within; the ritual and the obsession. New stories of […]
Launch: Brigids Gate Press
Ballad of River Bones is the sequel to Alex Beaumont’s Dissonance of Bird Song, which was named Distinguished Favourite in the 2025 Independent Press Awards. Join us for the launch of the sequel and hear a few of the haunting folkloric ballads that inspired the world sung by the author herself.
Landscapes of Fantasy
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Here be Dragons in Fantasy Fiction
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The Agents Panel
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Blending the Genres
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Adaptations in Fantasy and Horror
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Making Worlds
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An Author, an Agent and an Editor walk into a Con
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Launch: Elsewhen Press
Two very different books from two accomplished authors, one set in a near future, the other in a distant future. Both authors will be reading excerpts and answering questions, accompanied by refreshments. Alex Makepeace will be reading from Canaries. Set in a credible near-future Britain where a new government sweeps to power with a radical […]
Queer in Fantasy
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New Frontiers
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Creative Lives
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Launch: Wizard’s Tower Press
Wizard’s Tower Press are launching: The Green Man’s Holiday by Juliet E. McKenna, Of the Emperor’s Kindness by Chaz Brenchley and Wiz Duo Book 3 by Ruthana Emrys & Andrew Knighton.
Launch: Dead Ink Books
Join Dead Ink as they launch two new anthologies: Writing the Magic and Unquiet Guests.
Fantasy and Horror: Playing for Laughs
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Fantasy – Beyond the Binaries of Good/Evil, Law/Chaos
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Gods and Faith in Fantasy
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History Inspired Horror
The past is dead, until it erupts into the present, ripped from our history and made into new flesh by storytellers inspired by lingering memory and legend. Join our panel to discuss the horror history that can inspire new writing.
Horror in the UK
The dark legacy of British Horror is a proud and powerful one. A succession of writers have inspired others who have taken up the mantle. Generation after generation of scary stories, but what makes them quintessentially British?
Writing for that Popular Tabletop Wargame…
with Space Marines and such. Writing for the Black Library is a unique experience. Our panel discuss their work on Warhammer 40,000, Age of Sigmar and how Games Workshop manage to maintain the sprawling and epic narratives of their fictional worlds.