French-born Laetitia Barbier is an independent scholar, as well as a professional tarot reader and teacher. She earned a Bachelor's Degree in Art History from La Sorbonne University Paris in 2009. Laetitia has worked with Morbid Anatomy from 2012 to 2024 as a programming director, head librarian, and occasional curator. Her book Tarot and Divination Cards: A Visual Archive was published in 2021 with a foreword by Rachel Pollack. She is the author of the Tiger Tarot Guide Book, a unique Tarot deck by symbolist artist Lori Field. As a writer and scholar, she has the privilege of collaborating with the iconic French maître-cartier Grimaud, notably on the exquisite re-release of their 1930s Tarot de Marseille and Belline Oracle.  

Laetitia has lectured, taught and read cards for various cultural institutions, such as Greenwood Cemetery, Artyard,  Fotografiska NY, the New York Public Library, the College of Psychic Studies in London or the Tarot Museum in Tokyo. She lives in Brooklyn, New York.

New Jersey’s own Heather Buckley was born a monster kid to a train construction foreman and a tarot card-reading psychic. As a Blu-Ray Special Features Producer, she has created over 300+ bonus feature documentaries for Kino Lorber, Lionsgate/Vestron, Arrow Films, Vinegar Syndrome, Imprint, MPI, and Shout Factory. The releases have included THE THING, BARTON FINK, WARRIORS, HUGO, NIGHT OF THE HUNTER and CRYBABY. Her work has been nominated for the Saturn Award and Rondo Awards. She has worked alongside John Waters, Walter Hill, Abel Ferrara, and Joel Schumacher. Buckley produced Jenn Wexler’s THE RANGER (2018) for Glass Eye Pix, which premiered at SXSW. She then produced the feature documentary FLESH AND BLOOD: THE REEL LIFE AND GHASTLY DEATH OF AL ADAMSON (2019) for director David Gregory. THE SACRIFICE GAME (2023) marked her second time working with Wexler. She was recently back at SXSW with directed/writer Annapurna Sriram’s FTOYS (2025) which won the Grand Jury special mention in the narrative competition.

Ilise S. Carter is freelance writer and performer based in New York City. She has written for Allure, New York Times, Washington Post, and others. In addition, she’s spent over a decade as a consulting copywriter for companies such as Shiseido, bliss, L’Oréal, and Madame CJ Walker. Her first book, The Red Menace: How Lipstick Changed the Face of American History from Prometheus Books, has been featured in the Wall Street Journal, NY Post, and earned a starred review in Publishers Weekly. Her next book on the long-term impact of the spiritualist movement, When We Spoke to the Dead: How Ghosts Gave American Women Their Voice comes out in September 2025 from Sourcebooks.

Colin Dickey is the author of five books of nonfiction, including Ghostland: An American History in Haunted Places, and, most recently, Under the Eye of Power: How Fear of Secret Societies Shapes American Democracy. He splits his time between Brooklyn and Los Angeles.

Sadie Dingfelder is a science journalist who is currently obsessed with hidden neurodiversity and science-based answers to the question: If you were beamed into the mind of another person or animal, what would that be like? Her debut book is, “Do I Know you? A Faceblind Reporter’s Journey into the Science of Sight, Memory and Imagination.” She spent six years as a reporter for the Washington Post Express, where she focused on high-impact public service journalism, such as this review of every single bathroom on the National Mall.

Fancy Feast (Miss Coney Island 2016) is a Brooklyn-based burlesque performer, writer, and sex educator. Her debut essay collection, Naked: On Sex, Work, and Other Burlesques was published in October 2023 by Algonquin Books. Her work has been featured in Vogue Magazine, The Huffington Post, and The Washington Post, and she performs at venues including The Metropolitan Opera, The Whitney, and in dirty little backrooms all over the country.

Elyssa Maxx Goodman is a New York-based writer and photographer specializing in non-fiction writing and documentary photography. Her book Glitter and Concrete: A Cultural History of Drag in New York City, now a National Bestseller, was published by Hanover Square Press in September 2023. Glitter and Concrete was named a 2024 Stonewall Honor Book for the Israel Fishman Non-Fiction Book Award, one of Vogue’s Best LGBTQ+ Books of 2023, one of Booklist’s Best History Books of 2023, and was a finalist for a Lambda Literary Award in LGBTQ+ Nonfiction. Elyssa's writing and photography have also been published in Vogue, Vanity Fair, New York Magazine, and more.

Eddie McNamara is the author of the crime novel Brooklyn Hardcore, the vegetarian cookbook Toss Your Own Salad, the short story collection Two Fare Zone, and the upcoming true crime book Zodiactually. In a former life, he was a 9/11 first responder and a columnist for Penthouse magazine.

A burlesque performer, emcee, writer, and producer, Jonny has penned and produced almost 50 burlesque plays, including Off-Broadway productions of Pretençión: un burlesque de cirque , The Bawdy House , and Dead Sexy(returning from the grave in October)—which have been lauded as the “Best Burlesque” in NYC by New York Magazine and the Village Voice. His burlesque murder mystery, The Corpse Wore Pasties, was originally published by Hard Case Crime. 

Sarah Porter is the author of several odd and creepy novels for teens and adults, including VASSA IIN THE NIGHT, PROJECTIONS, and WHEN I CAST YOUR SHADOW. She also VJs, makes creepy mixed-media art, and occasionally teaches. She lives in Brooklyn.

Dawn Raffel is the author of six books, including The Strange Case of Dr. Couney: How a Mysterious European Showman Saved Thousands of American Babies (about the incubators shows at Coney Island) and Boundless as the Sky, a novella inspired in part by sideshow performers.

Hugh Ryan is the award-winning author of When Brooklyn Was Queer (2019) and The Women’s House of Detention (2022). He teaches creative nonfiction in the MFA program at the Bennington Writing Seminars.

Laurie Gwen Shapiro is an award-winning documentary filmmaker and journalist whose writing has appeared in The New Yorker, The New York Times, New York Magazine, The Daily Beast, Slate,and others. Shapiro is the 2021 winner of the Damn History Award for “The Improbable Journey of Dorothy Parker’s Ashes” for The New Yorker and gold medallion winner in the People Profiles category for the Silurian Press Club’s 77th annual Excellence in Journalism Awards. She is the author of The Stowaway a best seller and an Indie next selection. The Aviator and the Showman: Amelia Earhart, George Putnam, and the Marriage that Made an American Icon will be published on July 15th, 2025

Former editor of the legendary New York Press and writer/host of the New York Times Weekend Explorer series of articles/podcasts about the city, John's books on New York City history include The Village, City of Sedition, and Victory City. 

Alix Strauss is a trend and culture journalist, New York Times contributor, and four-time published author. Her cult novel, “The Joy of Funerals,” was reissued in honor of its 20th anniversary. With this recent release, the novel has found success with a new audience, and reconnected with its original one. It’s also gotten a lot of love, and a different kind of notoriety – including shout outs from Oprah’s Book Club, Katie Couric, NY1, among others. Newly optioned by A24, The Joy of Funerals is currently in early development with them for a TV series.

James Taylor has been called “the world’s foremost authority on sideshow” c/o his Shocked and Amazed! On & Off the Midway, the world’s only journal on contemporary and historical sideshow, novelty and variety exhibition. He has been covering “the other entertainment” for over two decades and has been featured in all major broadcast and print media worldwide for his work in that field.

Leila Taylor is a Brooklyn-based writer, speaker, and designer whose work focuses on the intersection of history and horror and the gothic in contemporary culture. Author of Sick Houses: Haunted Homes and the Architecture of Dread and Darkly: Black History and America’s Gothic Soul, her essays have appeared in Us: The Complete Annotated Screenplay, The Repeater Book of the Occult, The New Urban Gothic, and the graphic novel Bitter Root. 

Jo Weldon is a burlesque instructor, fashion historian, and essayist. She isthe author of The Burlesque Handbook and Fierce: The History of Leopard Print.  She was the 2023 GANYC (pronounced gan-ick – Tour Guides of New York City) Apple Award for Lifetime Achievement. She is the founder and Headmistress of the New York School of Burlesque and producer of the master class in burlesque at Coney Island USA. Jo is also a founding member of BurlyCon and has been a volunteer for the Burlesque Hall of Fame for 20 years.