[Commlist] Folk Horror on Television: Call for Proposals for an Edited Collection

*Folk Horror on Television: Call for Proposals for an Edited Collection*
Editors: Derek Johnston and Diane A. Rodgers
Since the first academic conference on the subject in 2014 to the 
present day, there has been a blossoming interest in the genre or mode 
of folk horror. There has been a particular boom in academic publishing 
on the subject in the past few years, including edited collections 
(Bayman and Donnelly, 2023; Edgar and Johnson, 2024; Bacon, 2023) and 
monographs (Smith, Edgar and Marland, 2023). However, this work has 
tended to focus on folk horror in film and literature, despite there 
being many televisual texts which can be seen as part of or closely 
related to the genre. The shared importance of ideas of identity of 
region and nation form a particular connection between television and 
folk horror.
This collection would seek to address some of this gap, building on 
Diane Rodgers work in Wyrd TV, approaching texts both well known, such 
as /Robin Redbreast/ (UK, 1970), to the less well-known, such as /K-9 
and Company/ (UK, 1981), from the proto-folk horror of /The Owl 
Service/ (UK, 1969) to the knowingly folk horror of /The Red King/ (UK, 
2024) or episodes of /Inside No.9/ (UK, 2014-2024). Authors are 
encouraged to engage with examples from a range of national and 
transnational contexts, from US TV movies like /The Dark Secret of 
Harvest Home/ (USA, 1978) to the Danish /Elves /(Denmark, 2021) or the 
pan-Asian /Folklore /(Indonesia, Japan, Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, 
South Korea, Taiwan, Philippiines, 2018-2022). Contributors are also 
urged to consider the breadth of different definitions of and approaches 
to folk horror, taking into account the concept of genres as cultural 
categories, defined by their usage rather than by particular textual 
characteristics. This can lead to a consideration not just of a wider 
selection of texts, but also to look beyond the text to consider what 
different audiences may be doing by claiming particular productions as 
'folk horror'. We use here the broadest understanding of folk horror as 
that which also embraces the ‘wyrd’: texts which may be considered 
uncanny or unsettling rather than necessarily ‘horrific’. We are also 
keen to include a wide range of approaches to folk horror on television, 
whether textual studies, histories, fan studies, folkloristics, or other 
suitable approaches to broaden and deepen our understanding of the 
connections between folk horror and television.
Indicative topics for coverage include, but are not limited to:

  *
    Folk horror and culture.
  *
    Folk horror and class.
  *
    National histories of television folk horror.
  *
    Television folk horror and connections to folk horror in other media.
  *
    Folk horror and children.
  *
    Folk horror and mass-mediated ostension.
  *
    Folklore and contemporary legend.
  *
    Folk horror and conceptions of the past.
  *
    Folk horror and community.
  *
    Folk horror and genre.
  *
    Folk horror in news/documentary/advertising/public information films.
  *
    Folk horror and gender.
  *
    Folk horror and colonialism / post-colonialism.
  *
    International / National / regional / local.
  *
    The folk of folk horror.
  *
    The horror of folk horror.
  *
    Folk horror and horror culture.
  *
    Fear, trauma and folk horror.
  *
    Folk horror and folk culture.
  *
    Folk horror and popular culture.
  *
    Folk horror and music.
  *
    Folk horror and landscape.
  *
    Folk horror and the urban wyrd.
  *
    Folk horror and hauntology.
  *
    Folk horror and Nigel Kneale.
  *
    Folk horror and Doctor Who.
  *
    TV listings and folk horror.


We are currently seeking proposals of 500 words for an edited collection 
for which we have strong interest for publication from Bloomsbury’s 
/Spectres,////Hauntings and Horrors/ series. Proposals should be emailed 
to (derek.johnston /at/ qub.ac.uk) AND (d.rodgers /at/ shu.ac.uk). Closing date for 
proposals is 15 January 2026, and we intend to respond by 23 February 2026.


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