New York Times bestselling author Stephen Graham Jones will discuss the social roles of horror on Oct. 29

Luther College’s Center for Ethics and Public Engagement invites the public to “An Evening with Stephen Graham Jones on the Social Roles of Horror” at 7 p.m. on Thursday, Oct. 29, in the Center for Faith and Life Recital Hall. The lecture is a free event, but tickets are required.

“Stephen Graham Jones is one of the most prolific, award-winning and admired horror writers working today,” said Andy Hageman, director of the Center for Ethics and Public Engagement and professor of English at Luther.

New York Times bestselling author Jones is an enrolled member of the Blackfeet Tribe of Montana. He has written more than 30 novels and collections, and he is best known for “The Only Good Indians” (2020), the Indian Lake Trilogy novels and “The Buffalo Hunter Hunter” (2025). His companion novel to “The Only Good Indians,” titled “Off the Reservation,” is scheduled to be released Oct. 13.

The L.A. Times awarded the 2021 Ray Bradbury Prize for Science Fiction, Fantasy and Speculative Fiction to Jones’ “The Only Good Indians,” calling it “a novel that is equal parts psychological horror and cutting social commentary on identity politics and the American Indian experience.” Jones also won the 2021 Mark Twain American Voice in Literature Award.

In a review of “The Only Good Indians” for NPR in 2020, Gabino Iglesias said, “Jones is one of the best writers working today regardless of genre, and this gritty, heartbreaking novel might just be his best yet.”

Jones lives and teaches in Boulder, Colorado. “An Evening with Stephen Graham Jones on the Social Roles of Horror” is a rare opportunity to meet Jones in the Midwest. Hageman will facilitate a conversation with Jones on Oct. 29 at Luther.

“Jones will discuss the roles that horror fiction can play in disinterring history, returning the repressed, facing fears, and having a weird kind of fun in the process,” Hageman said. “He will explore horror fiction through his own work as well as other horror classics, obscure gems, and future hauntings.”

Following an audience Q&A session, Jones is planning to sign books. Three of his books, “The Only Good Indians,” “The Buffalo Hunter Hunter” and “Off the Reservation,” will be available for purchase at the event. The Book Shop at Luther College currently has “The Only Good Indians” and “The Buffalo Hunter Hunter” in stock and area residents are encouraged to stop by and buy their copies on campus.

Reserve your seat for the Oct. 29 lecture at tickets.luther.edu or at the Luther Ticket Office in the Center for Faith and Life. Contact the ticket office at tickets@luther.edu or 563-387-1357 for more information. For those who can’t attend in person, the lecture will be livestreamed.