O. Penn-Coughin is a talented and strikingly-handsome storyteller and author of They’re Coming For You: Scary Stories that Scream to be Read. During his nearly 20 years as a classroom teacher, reading aloud was his favorite activity. He loved to read the books of Gary Paulsen, Barry Lopez, and Alvin Schwartz and the poetry of Langston Hughes and Robert Frost.

Some of his former students say he was so good it was scary. Others say he was just plain scary. Now that he’s written They’re Coming For You: Scary Stories that Scream to be Read, O. Penn-Coughin is going back to school to read his own stories.

“Sometimes it’s scary trying to follow in the footsteps of your heroes,” he says. “But it’s even scarier not to follow your screams, I mean dreams.”

Born in Argentina, O. Penn-Coughin came to the United States at the age of four. He learned English in school and continued to speak Spanish at home.

“It wasn’t always pretty,” he says, admiring himself in the mirror. “But now I’m able to tell my stories –  and scream – in both languages.”

In a previous life, O. Penn-Coughin had some other pretty scary jobs before becoming a teacher. He was a file clerk, dishwasher, assembler, casino coin wrapper, delivery man, interpreter, and newspaper reporter and editor. He holds a degree in history from the University of California at Berkeley and a teddy bear when scared.

When not writing or visiting schools, O. Penn-Coughin is out looking for scary stories while hiking, canoeing, snowshoeing, or running. He currently haunts Bend, Oregon with his wife, two daughters, a sharp-clawed orange cat, and a ghost dog.

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