A Page to Stage Revision Workshop with Author + Editor Desiree S. Evans
In horror, revision is where the real haunting begins. Join us for a spooky session on the art of revising horror fiction. This workshop explores how later drafts become spaces of discovery: places to sharpen atmosphere, tighten pacing, and refine the story’s landscape of fear. Together, we’ll uncover how to heighten tension, deepen emotional resonance, and craft openings that haunt readers long after the final page. Through guided discussion, close reading of examples, and hands-on exercises, including a focused “Opening Scene Autopsy,” participants will leave with practical tools to refine their own haunted worlds.
Bring your first page, your red pen, and your willingness to let the story haunt you!
This event is free. No RSVP necessary.
About Desiree
Desiree S. Evans spins tales for children, teens, and adults. A native of South Louisiana, her stories draw inspiration from the haunted landscapes of the U.S. South and the rich storytelling traditions of her Afro-Creole culture. She is the co-editor of the national bestselling and Locus Award–winning young adult horror anthology The Black Girl Survives in This One. Her creative work, nominated for the Pushcart Prize and Best of the Net, has appeared in Obsidian, Gulf Coast, The Offing, and other literary journals. Desiree was most recently a 2024–2025 Steinbeck Writing Fellow at the Center for Steinbeck Studies at San José State University.
She previously served as the 2021–2022 Gulf South Writer in the Woods at Tulane University and the 2022–2023 Southern Studies Fellow in Arts and Letters Writer-in-Residence with the Hub City Writers Project. She is also a 2020 recipient of the Walter Dean Myers Grant for children’s fiction from We Need Diverse Books. Desiree is a graduate of Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism, Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs, and the Michener Center for Writers at The University of Texas at Austin, where she earned her MFA in fiction.