(upbeat music) - The Utah Book Festival is adding a chilling twist this year with horror day, a full day dedicated to horror fiction.

Kase Johnstun from Utah Humanities is here with more on what fans can expect.

Hi, Kase.

So this is a fun edition just in time for Halloween.

So tell me about this deep dive into horror fiction.

- Yeah, I mean, horror fiction's just really popular right now, and it's growing in popularity.

And so we looked, every year I try to add something new, you know, I try to be ambitious with the book festival.

Last year we restructured it, and this year we said let's have a day devoted to horror fiction, which is gonna be really fun.

- That's great.

And also talk about some of the authors who you'll be exploring and some of the works.

- Yeah, we're really, really lucky.

We're starting with our inaugural horror day with Stephen Graham Jones, who this summer was added to President Obama's summer reading list.

He's amazing.

And every time you talk about Stephen Graham Jones for horror fans, people say, "Are you really bringing Stephen Graham Jones in?"

And I say, "Yes.

Yes, we are."

And Philip.

His keynote will be at 3:00 PM that day, and Philip Fracassi, who's another great horror writer, will be at 11:00 AM that day as our opening keynote.

And we'll have a bunch of Utah horror authors and Utah horror publishers like Steve Capone, who helped me put this together.

And so it's gonna be really, really cool.

- Oh wow.

Okay.

So why are people so fascinated by the horror genre?

- I think the horror genre really, you know, speaks to our human experience.

And I think horror writers, not only today, but in the past, they're speaking about what's happening in the world, but they're doing it through, you know, I mean, there are two things or two emotions that all humans experience and it's love and it's fear.

And so they are the most raw emotions that we have.

And horror authors are able to tap into those two really raw emotions.

And if you do it well, like the authors that we're bringing in, then you get caught up in the story and you get caught up in the fear and you turn the page.

- Wonderful.

- Yeah.

- Okay, well it sounds like great fun and thank you for bringing them in.

Thank you.

- We're excited.

- And if you'd like to know more about that chilling day for part of the Utah Humanities Book Festival, Utah Horror Day, it's October 25th from 10:00 AM to 4:00 PM at the Utah Cultural Celebration Center.

Just go to utahhumanities.org.

I'm Mary Dickson.

Thanks for watching "Contact."

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