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How to Write a Ghost Story, with author Betsy Gaines Quammen
2026-10-13 18:00:00
2026-10-13 19:45:00
America/Denver
How to Write a Ghost Story, with author Betsy Gaines Quammen
Why do humans need ghosts? What can ghosts teach us? Explore these questions and more in this writing workshop for adults. Learn how to build tension, ground stories, and write with compassion.
Marmalade Branch - Multi-Purpose Room
Tuesday, October 13
6:00pm - 7:45pm
Marmalade Branch
Multi-Purpose RoomWhy do humans need ghosts? What can ghosts teach us? Explore these questions and more in this writing workshop for adults. Learn how to build tension, ground stories, and write with compassion.
In this 90-minute workshop, participants will learn how to:
- Build tension by weaving hauntings into full and compelling backstories.
- Ground stories, and phantoms, within their historical framework.
- Write with compassion, giving specters dignity and fullness beyond a mere set of tragic circumstances. Ghost stories should give the dead a voice without exploiting them.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR AND HER WORK:
BETSY GAINES QUAMMEN is the author of American Zion and True West, which won the 2024 Reading the West Book Award. She examines the intersections of extremism, public lands, wildlife, and western communities, and her writing has appeared in The New York Times, New York Daily News, and History News Network. She received a PhD in history from Montana State University, an MS in environmental studies from University of Montana, and a BA in English from Colorado College. She lives in Bozeman, Montana, with her spouse, writer David Quammen.
"While writing This Haunted Land, I learned that creaks and cold spots are only the beginning of a ghost story. Mysterious perfume, fleeting shadows, strange footsteps, glowing orbs, a stray giggle or whisper—these phenomena are certainly worth consideration when they occur, but they’re merely the beginning of the tale. A flickering light or the yank of a tress will grab our attention, but the heart of a ghost story isn’t just things that go bump in the night, but the backstories, the compelling accounts of folks who simply refuse to stay in their graves." - Betsy Gaines Quammen.
In This Haunted Land, Betsy Gaines Quammen investigates some of America’s most enduring ghost stories and uncovers how ghost stories can help us come to terms with our unsettled past. With curiosity, a bit of skepticism, and an open-hearted willingness to learn from the living and the dead, Gaines Quammen takes readers on a riveting, sometimes spooky journey into the haunted towns, lands, waters, and parts of history that we too often ignore. From a once-booming uranium mine community now entombed in Colorado’s Mesa County, to America’s oldest fort on the east coast of Florida, This Haunted Land interweaves memory, mourning, folklore, and social anxiety — and shows that politicized efforts to rewrite history can be defeated by listening to the specters of the past.
THIS HAUNTED LAND: Reckoning with Ghosts and the Stories that Shape America (Torrey House Press, September 2026)
AGE GROUP: | Adults |
EVENT TYPE: | Workshops | Performances & Presentations | Conversations | Books & Reading | Arts & Creativity |
Marmalade Branch
Hours
About the branch
The Salt Lake City Public Library's Marmalade Branch is the anchor of a mixed-use project developed as a key part of the Redevelopment Agency (RDA) of Salt Lake City's master plan for the Marmalade/West Capitol Hill area of the city. The neighborhood serves as a gateway to Salt Lake City from the north, and the Marmalade Branch is both a hub for neighborhood gatherings and an important welcome for visitors, highlighting a focus on development in the area. On-street parking is available on 500 North and 300 West, and UTA routes offer service with stops immediately in front of the Library on 300 West.
The two-story Marmalade Branch, designed by Blalock & Partners Architectural Design Studio and completed in early 2016, provides 18,600 square feet of new construction to support a thriving and growing community. The first floor features Lucky Ones Coffee, an incredible team of neurodiverse baristas offering up a full espresso bar, delicious paninis, and locally baked treats; a Creative Lab with the latest maker technologies like 3D printing and music-making software as well as "old school" tech such as sewing machines; a flexible Children's area; and the very popular Music and Movies collection. The second floor includes the Adult collection, study rooms for a range of group sizes, and a large, flexible Multi-Purpose Room with tiered seating to allow for a wide variety of events. The Multi-Purpose Room hosts community feedback sessions, lively discussions and presentations, film screenings, and music recitals. The second floor also features a wrap-around terrace offering views of the Capitol Building to the east, Salt Lake City's picturesque skyline and landscape to the south and, to the north, views to a public plaza and open green space as part of a new mixed-use development.
The project utilizes an exterior shading device along the west-facing glass to minimize solar heat gain yet still promote a dynamic interaction with the street and passersby. Its compact footprint reduces land use and allows for a high-performance building envelope. The use of LED lights, lighting control systems, occupancy sensors, and daylight harvesting reduce the amount of electrical energy consumption while the flood of natural light creates an inviting interior environment for patrons and an efficient, balanced workplace for staff. In honor of these sustainability features, the Marmalade Branch was awarded the LEED Silver certification from the US Green Building Council (USGBC).