Dr Catherine Hanley is a historian who started her career as an academic before deciding that there were better and more fun ways to engage with public interest in all things medieval. She now writes about the Middle Ages for a wider audience under her own name, historical fiction as CB Hanley, and more non-fiction […]
Historia interviews: Caroline Lea
This is the fourth in Historia’s series of interviews with writers shortlisted for the 2019 HWA Crown awards. Caroline Lea is the author of The Glass Woman, which is shortlisted for the HWA Debut Crown. The HWA Debut Crown celebrates new voices in historical fiction. Have you always been interested in history? Absolutely. At school, […]
Historia interviews: Matthew Plampin
This is the third of Historia’s interviews with writers shortlisted for the 2019 HWA Crown awards. Matthew Plampin is the author of Mrs Whistler, which is shortlisted for the HWA Gold Crown. It tells the story of Maud Franklin, model, muse and madame of James McNeill Whistler and would-be artist in her own right. How […]
Historia interviews: Abir Mukherjee
This is the second of Historia’s interviews with writers shortlisted for the 2019 HWA Crown awards. Abir Mukherjee’s Smoke and Ashes, set in India in 1921, was listed in the Sunday Times list of 100 Best Crime novels since 1945 and is shortlisted for the HWA Gold Crown Award. Smoke and Ashes is your third […]
Historia interviews: Giles Kristian
This is the first in a series of Historia interviews with writers shortlisted for the 2019 HWA Crown awards. Giles Kristian’s Lancelot, in the Gold Crown category, is a masterful retelling of the Arthurian legends. Lancelot’s a bit of a departure from your previous books. How did the idea of retelling the Arthurian legends come […]
Historia interviews: LJ Trafford
LJ Trafford is one of the authors selected to write for Rubicon, a collection of short stories set in Ancient Rome. Her books cover the turbulent ‘Year of the Four Emperors’, which followed the death of Nero in AD 68. Her short story for Rubicon, The Wedding, is set a little earlier, when Nero was […]
Historia interviews: Elizabeth Macneal
Elizabeth Macneal’s first novel, The Doll Factory, is as full of strange, beautiful and horrifying things as a Victorian curiosity cabinet. Her protagonist, Iris, moves from sweatshop labour making dolls’ clothes to the exotic company of the Pre-Raphaelites, only to become the object of a collector’s obsession. She spoke to Historia about her novel and […]
Historia interviews: Alison Weir
Historia interviews author Alison Weir about her novel Anna of Kleve