Annalene Chanel Pillay

Author - Krest House Publishers

Chanel is a Film and Television graduate specialising in scriptwriting, now pursuing a degree in Creative Writing and majoring in English and Literature. She works as an editor and project manager at The KREST House, helping bring stories to life. Outside of writing, she's a gamer, unapologetic book-dragon, proud ARMY, and a self-declared animal whisperer who has never met an animal she didn't want to adopt.

Abecedarium: Tales of Terror, co-written with Isabelle Fouquereaux and illustrated by Caitlin Woldu, is her debut work, built on the idea that the best stories are the ones that linger long after the final page.

All Sessions by Annalene Chanel Pillay

15:00 - 15:30
CREATORS CORNER STAGE

Every Letter Has A Monster: How We Wrote 26 Horror Stories And Lived To Tell The Tale

26 letters. 26 monsters. Way more lore debates than anyone expected. Abecedarium: Tales of Terror is a traditionally published horror anthology from The KREST House, built from 26 original short stories, one for every letter of the alphabet, written by two authors and brought to life by one illustrator-designer. The stories span mythology, folklore, and original horror fiction drawn from legends across the world, all rooted in the fears and feelings we already carry through everyday life. No two tales are alike because no two letters are anything alike. In this panel, Caitlin, Chanel, and Isabelle pull back the curtain on the craft and research behind the book. We’ll get into the writing, the deep dives into mythology and folklore, the hours-long lore debates, and the very serious question of which monster deserved which letter, before turning our lens to the design process of bringing the stories to life. We’ll also talk editorial and publishing, since between the three of us we managed the full production workflow from manuscript to finished book. This panel is for horror fans. It’s for writers, for lore nerds, and for anyone who ever wanted a more memorable way to get through the alphabet than that new alphabet song nobody asked for. It’s for people who appreciate storytelling as an art.