Contemporary Fantasy Panel featuring Stephen Aryan, Annabel Campbell, and Gareth Hanrahan

We are thrilled to welcome three acclaimed names of the fantasy genre - Stephen Aryan, Annabel Campbell, and Gareth Hanrahan - join us to celebrate their latest books, the current landscape of fantasy publishing, and how you make the old tropes feel fresh and exciting.

Stephen Aryan is an award winning fantasy author. He has written two trilogies, the Age of Darkness, and the Age of Dread, plus a prequel novella, Of Gods and Men, set in the world of Mordana. He has also written the Quest for Heroes duology, The Coward and The Warrior. The Coward received a starred review from Publishers Weekly. The Nightingale and the Falcon is a Persian-inspired historical fantasy trilogy which includes The Judas Blossom, The Blood Dimmed Tide and The Sorrow of the Sea.

Annabel Campbell writes fantasy with fierce female characters and disaster wizards, and believes everything is improved by dragons. Her debut novel The Outcast Mage, was published at the start of the year, and is the first in the Shattered Lands series. She lives in tiny village in Scotland, where most of her neighbours are sheep. She has a PhD in cardiovascular science, and when not making things up for a living, she works as a Medical Writer. Her other joys are red wine, playing games, or showing you too many pictures of her dog.

Gareth Hanrahan's three-month break from computer programming to concentrate on writing has now lasted fifteen years and counting. He's written more gaming books than he can readily recall, by virtue of the alchemical transmutation of tea and guilt into words. His first trilogy, The Black Iron Legacy, was published with great success, and was followed swiftly by The Lands of the Firstborn trilogy, which began with The Sword Defiant in 2023. He lives in Ireland with his wife and three children.