Horror authors are used to pushing the boundaries of fiction, but for some in the field there’s one boundary they won’t cross – a picket line.
Several writers including Joe Hill, the son of Stephen King – who has just released his first novel in a decade, King Sorrow – have withdrawn from a seasonal spooky event at the British Library this weekend over worker pay at the central London institution.
Tales of the Weird is scheduled to take place on Saturday and Sunday at the library and online.
Inspired by the popular collections and anthologies published by the library, which include often long-forgotten and lost ghost and horror stories, the festival is set to feature comedian and presenter Robin Ince, actor and director Alice Lowe, folk horror writer Andrew Michael Hurley and Witcher author Andrzej Sapkowski.
But a number of writers have boycotted the event after the Public and Commercial Services Union (PCS) – which says it represents a “substantial portion” of the British Library workforce – announced a strike over what the union calls “poverty wages”.
Hill said he couldn’t now attend, not least because of what his mother might say. “After discussing the situation with the other writers and doing my homework I agreed it was best not to do the event,” he said. “Also, I have to eat a Thanksgiving dinner with Tabitha King and if I cross a picket line to sell a book, it’s not going to be a good one.”
V Castro, a Texas-born Mexican-American author now living in the UK, whose next novel is the vampire story Maria the Wanted, due out in February, is another writer withdrawing. She said: “A living wage and the ability to feed oneself and their family shouldn’t be up for debate.”
Keith Rosson, whose latest novel Coffin Moon was released earlier this month, was the first to take action, saying: “A reader informed me that BL librarians were striking, and I looked into it, notifying the other participants. While I’m entirely confident that the British Library and their employees will reach a meaningful resolution, I have profound respect for librarians as a profession – I dedicated a recent novel to them – and won’t cross a picket line.”
The strike began on Monday and runs until 9 November, with 300 members taking part. “Their key demand is for an inflation-proof pay rise with restoration, after a second consecutive year of a real-terms pay cut. In a recent survey of British Library [staff] members, we found that most struggle each month to make ends meet,” A PCS spokesperson said.
“While the British Library initially proposed a pay award of 2%, with some receiving as little as 1.6%, they have since increased the offer to 2.4%, which is still way below inflation, citing rising costs across the board including energy bills and building materials. Workers at the British Library are fed up. It’s no wonder that the PCS ballot returned a result of 98% voting in favour of strike action on a turnout of 75%.”
A British Library spokesperson said: “The British Library has been notified of planned strike action at our London site … We plan to keep all our buildings open during this time with our building opening hours unchanged. We will be operating a reduced service and there may be significant disruption and reading room closures at short notice. Full details about the impact of the strikes can be found on our website.”
