A recent recipient of a Bram Stoker Legacy Award from Horror Writers of America, Jewelle Gomez (Cabo Verdean/Wampanoag/Ioway; she/her) is a novelist, poet, essayist, playwright, and lesbian/feminist activist. She is the author of the first Black Lesbian vampire novel, The Gilda Stories, in print for more than 30 years.

Irish writer Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu was a popular author of gothic tales--mysteries, horror, ghost stories--in the Victorian era.