Goosebumps, The Exorcist and the monsters behind a Tamil-led YA horror debut
Twelve books a week from the library, and this is what it got us.
Yuvashri Harish writes horror in which Tamil girls carry the story rather than decorate it, and her YA horror novel Kill Your Darlings arrives on 22 September 2026 with a full horde of classic monsters at its back. She grew up on Tharawal land, lives on Gadigal land, and borrowed twelve books a week as a child, which explains a great deal about the reading list below. Her day job is employment law for disadvantaged and vulnerable people in New South Wales, so she comes to the genre with a clear eye for who gets protected and who gets left out.
We sat her down for the Ginger Nuts of Horror questionnaire and she gave us Goosebumps, Carrie, a viewing of The Exorcist at fifteen that she has never repeated, and a lasting dread of trucks in the next lane thanks to Joy Ride. She also names Dracula, Frankenstein, Carmilla and The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, the classics she drew on for Kill Your Darlings, and describes her next book as cannibalism soulmate horror. Read on.
Yuvashri Harish grew up borrowing twelve books a week and came out the other side writing horror where brown girls are the protagonists, not the scenery. Kill Your Darlings drags Dracula, Frankenstein, Carmilla and The Legend of Sleepy Hollow into one Halloween night, and gives a teenage babysitter until midnight to stop them.
The Horror of My Life: Yuvashri Harish on Kill Your Darlings and YA Horror
THE FIRST HORROR BOOK I REMEMBER READING:
Definitely a Goosebumps book, although I can’t remember which one it was! That would’ve been when I was around 10 or 11. A few years later, though, I distinctly remember reading
Carrie by Stephen King. Something about its portrayal of girlhood and religion and powerlessness and bodily autonomy deeply resonated with me.
THE FIRST HORROR FILM I REMEMBER WATCHING
The Exorcist! I was fifteen or so, and my mother introduced me to it. That scene when Reagan crab-walked down the stairs still makes my insides cringe and cinched it as a one-and-done kind of movie for me. To date, I’ve never been able to rewatch it!
THE GREATEST HORROR BOOK OF ALL TIME
This is so hard to pick, and honestly, changes with every new book I read. But I think it’s probably a tie between Alexis Henderson’s The Year of the Witching and Grady Hendrix’s My Best Friend’s Exorcism. They’re so different but have a way of making the reader reflect on broader culture and society, and how that contributes to the individual experiences of these female protagonists.
THE GREATEST HORROR FILM OF ALL TIME
I’ll go with the Alien franchise as a cheat answer. The monster is terrifying, and without Sigourney Weaver, I think we’d have a very different horror genre today. If I had to pick just one movie, though, Sinners.
THE GREATEST WRITER OF ALL TIME
To me, there’s no single greatest writer of all time, but I would have to say among the greats are: R.L. Stine, Vladimir Nabokov, Mary Shelley, Enid Blyton, V.C. Andrews, Cornelia Funke, Ray Bradbury, Angela Carter, Toni Morrison, Mary Oliver, George R. R. Martin, Octavia Butler. More recently, I really enjoy Rebecca Roanhorse, Brom, Tamsyn Muir, Grady Hendrix, Mona Awad, Gillian Flynn, Rivers Solomon, Sarah Gailey, and Tiffany D. Jackson!
THE BEST BOOK COVER OF ALL TIME
I’m going to say that it’s a tie between Our Wives Under the Sea by Julia Armfield and Sara Farizan’s Dead Flip! The first is very reflective and character-driven, and the second really embodies the retro feel of the book itself.
THE BEST FILM POSTER OFF ALL TIME
There are so many fantastic horror film posters, it’s so difficult to just pick one! Even two’s hard, but if I had to pick: Birthrite and Barbarian. Both are so visually striking and the horror practically leaps off the colours!
THE BEST BOOK / FILM I HAVE WRITTEN
The one, the only, Kill Your Darlings, releasing September 22, 2026! I am so incredibly proud of this book — it’s fun, full of feels, frightening, and everything I ever wanted from a horror book when I was a teenager. Monsters and the classics they come from — Dracula, Frankenstein, The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, Carmilla — are so definitive in the horror genre, so it was a fantastic opportunity exploring those reverberations in this book!
THE WORST BOOK / FILM I HAVE WRITTEN
All I’ll say is there’s a lot of fanfiction out there I hope never resurfaces.
THE MOST UNDERRATED FILM OF ALL TIME
Horror-wise, Joy Ride (2001), without a doubt. Never has a movie impacted my day-to-day life the way this one has — namely, the quiet, muted dread my body experiences if I’m in a car and there’s a truck in the next lane.
My non-horror pick is either Jurassic Park III (2001) or The Green Knight (2021).
THE MOST UNDERRATED BOOK OF ALL TIME
Sticking with horror for this one. If I went with YA, it’s Cherish Farrah by Bethany C. Morrow. I think this was one of the first YA horror books I read after a very long reading drought, and it was so chilling. For adult, Erin E. Adams’s Jackal. This one just stuck with me long after I finished reading. It tells such a brilliant, terrifying story about young Black girls going missing and who cares and who doesn’t.
THE MOST UNDERRATED AUTHOR OF ALL TIME
I will go with Kate Alice Marshall. I don’t think there’s a single book of theirs I’ve read and haven’t enjoyed.
THE BOOK / FILM THAT SCARED ME THE MOST
The Exorcist. Again, I can never seem to rewatch it, even if I’m sure there are scarier movies I’ve watched. That, and Evil Dead Rise.
THE BOOK / FILM I AM WORKING ON NEXT
Speaking of Evil Dead Rise, I deliberately describe my next book, which releases tentatively in Fall 2027, as “cannibalism soulmate horror.” Do with that what you will.
Kill Your Darlings by Yuvashri Harish
A fun, fast-paced YA horror about a teen girl facing the horrors of misogyny, racism, an evil witch, and her horde of monsters.
Thulasi is the perfect she’s responsible, she never breaks the rules, and she’s always willing to babysit her seven-year-old cousin. Even on Halloween night.
But the night takes a horrifying turn when a simple playdate leads to accidentally summoning a horde of monsters out of a book of horror tales, along with her small town’s most famous author, Addison Greer—Thulasi’s literary hero. Except Addison has a more sinister scheme planned for her miraculous revenge on the family that wronged her.
Drawn into a bloodthirsty bargain with Addison, Thulasi will have to team up with Sam, the super cute quarterback in her class, and the only other teen stuck with babysitting duty on Halloween. They only have until midnight to foil Addison’s plans—while keeping their seven-year-old charges safe—or her monsters will destroy their town and everyone they love.
Yuvashri Harish
Yuvashri Harish writes speculative fiction for YA and adult audiences, featuring Tamil main characters in dramatic, magical, and often terrifying situations.
Born on Tharawal land and now living on Gadigal land, she grew up borrowing twelve books a week from the library. She is deeply passionate about writing stories and creating worlds where brown girls are not just represented but are the protagonists of their own narrative.
When she isn’t writing, she can usually be found eating pasta, watching Bob’s Burgers, and providing employment law advice and representation for disadvantaged and vulnerable people in New South Wales.
WEBSITE LINKS
You can find her on her official website, yuvashriharish.com, and on Instagram, @yuvanissue.
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