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Imaginarium 2027 proudly welcomes award-winning author and poet Rita S. Spalding as an Official Panelist! Rita will be participating in our extensive Panel and Workshop Programming at Imaginarium 2027! Learn more about Rita below! About Rita S. Spalding: Kentucky poet Rita S. Spalding, a 2025 Pushcart Prize nominee, received the internationally recognized 2026 Imadjinn Award for Best Collection of Poetry for her book, The Eighth. She has received awards for poetry from Jefferson Community and Technical College, Elizabethtown Community College, the National Library of Poetry, Kentucky Monthly Magazine, and the Kentucky State Poetry Society. She has had her poetry exhibited at the Main Branch ofRead More →

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Imaginarium 2027 proudly welcomes award-winning author and screenwriter Ryan David Jahn as a Spotlighted Guest! Ryan is the author of several novels, including Good Neighbors, which won the Crime Writers’ Association John Creasey Dagger; The Dispatcher, which was adapted for television as Apple TV’s Last Seen; The Breakout; and The Strangers, a sequel to The Dispatcher. He also wrote “All This Distant Beauty,” a short story selected for inclusion in the prestigious The Best American Mystery Stories anthology for 2020. He lives in Louisville, Kentucky, with his wife Jessica and two children, Fran and Matilda. We are honored to have Ryan join us for ourRead More →

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Imaginarium 2027 proudly welcomes award-winning author, editor, and poet Carma Haley Shoemaker as an Official Panelist! Carma will be participating in our extensive Panel and Workshop Programming at Imaginarium 2027! Learn more about Carma below! About Carma: Just off I-71 between the cornfields in North Central Ohio lives a tea-drinking, football-loving ginger named Carma Haley Shoemaker and mini panther, Mystic. Mother to three grown sons, Carma loves people watching, Dean Winchester, and Honeycrisp apples. She believes in dragons, fairies, and that one day the Cleveland Browns will again be world-champions. After hanging up her stethoscope, Carma began her writing career as a NF magazine writer.Read More →

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Imaginarium 2027 proudly welcomes screenwriter Michael Maultsby as an Official Panelist! Michael will be participating in our extensive Panel and Workshop Programming at Imaginarium 2027! Learn more about Micharel below! About Michael: As a screenwriter, Michael is a three-time finalist in the Imaginarium Convention Independent Film Festival for Short Format Screenplays. He’s a fan of using AI responsibly, as a sparring partner. He studied logic until he realized that people are more emotional than thoughtful, and began years of self-study in persuasion and behavioral engineering. An avid board gamer, he may occasionally be found in the game room.Read More →

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In: Actor Guests, Artist Guests, Author Guests, Filmmaker Guests, Imaginarium, Music Guest, Official Guests, Podcaster Guest, Poet Guest, Spotlighted Guest

Imaginarium 2027 proudly welcomes award-winning artist, poet, filmmaker, actor, musician, and podcaster Jayson William Allen as a Spotlighted Guest! A professional musician for over 25 years, Jayson has founded and performed as the front-man for several bands such as Poetry of the Dead, releasing 8 albums, with new projects currently in development that are expected to be released under ARC Music Group. Jayson has also been a working actor since 2011 and participated in many capacities with independent film and music video projects, several of them garnering awards. Jayson is one of the founders of the award-winning Hallowed Hills Entertainment, a media production company basedRead More →

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Imaginarium 2027 proudly welcomes author Melody K. Smith as an Official Panelist! Melody will be participating in our extensive Panel and Workshop Programming at Imaginarium 2027! Learn more about Melody below! About Melody K. Smtih: A lifelong creative, Melody K. Smith channels her passion for storytelling into fiction that stirs the soul and sparks the imagination. She is the author of the Emerdeen Trilogy—Stirred & Spellbound, Rooted & Remembered, and Echoes & Embers—where magic, self-discovery, and the strength of women intertwine. Her women’s fiction novel, Responsible Party, explores empowerment beyond the enchanted world. When she isn’t writing, she’s elbows-deep in crafts, mixed media, and curatedRead More →

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Imaginarium 2027 proudly welcomes author, book blogger, poet, and podcaster Morgan Hazelwood as an Official Panelist! Morgan will be participating in our extensive Panel and Workshop Programming at Imaginarium 2027! Learn more about Morgan below! About Morgan Hazelwood: Morgan Hazelwood (she/her) writes from her lair in Northern Virginia. She’s been sharing “Writing Tips & Writerly Musings” with writing tips from the pros and her own writerly musings since 2015, first as a blogger, and now as a vlogger and podcaster. An actively querying fantasy author, her short story, “Just a Hike In The Woods” was published by the Dark Recesses webzine in January 2022. WhenRead More →

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Imaginarium 2027 proudly welcomes author, editor, and publisher James O. Barnes as an Official Panelist! James will be participating in our extensive Panel and Workshop Programming at Imaginarium 2027! Learn more about James below! About James O. Barnes: James O. Barnes writes mystery, supernatural, fantasy, and speculative fiction, often blending ordinary people and familiar places with circumstances that are anything but ordinary. His stories are shaped by a lifelong interest in history, human nature, small towns, and the connections between people and place. James previously ran a small press for nearly a decade and is published through Peltonville Press. He lives in Northern Ohio andRead More →

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Imaginarium 2027 proudly welcomes award-winning author Carissa Turpin as an Official Panelist! Carissa will be participating in our extensive Panel and Workshop Programming at Imaginarium 2027! Learn more about Carissa below! About Carissa Turpin: Carissa Turpin was born and raised in Appalachia where she listened to her relatives weave fanciful (and sometimes scary) tales. She currently lives in Louisville, Kentucky where she teaches fifth and seventh grade language arts. Her first book, Doomsday Dani, won gold in the Moonbeam Children’s Book Awards in 2023. Her second book, a classroom-friendly cryptid short story collection titled A Mess of Monsters, was released in September 2026Read More →