Writing a biography, especially of someone who isn’t already the subject of a published book, can mean searching for living relatives who may have documents or stories that shed light on their life, as Jane Dismore explains. Then, once you find them, you have to persuade them to let you have those stories — or […]
Tangled Souls by Jane Dismore
Outrageously handsome, witty and clever, Harry Cust was reputed to be one of the great womanisers of the late Victorian era. In 1893, while a Member of Parliament, he caused public scandal by his affair with artist and poet Nina Welby-Gregory. When she revealed she was pregnant, horror swept through their circle known as ‘the […]
The 2026 HWA Crown Awards longlists
The Historical Writers’ Association (HWA) is delighted to announce the Crown Awards longlists for 2026, celebrating the best in historical writing, fiction and non-fiction, published during 2025–2026. There are three awards categories: HWA Gold Crown, HWA Non-fiction Crown, and HWA Debut Crown, and 12 books in each category. Read on to find out about all […]
Jane Seymour: Patronage, Material Culture and Image Crafting by Elizabeth Norton
Jane Seymour, the third wife of Henry VIII, was queen of England for only 17 months, something which has accounted for the little interest shown in her by historians. In her lifetime, however, she was a significant political figure, while her legacy and memorialization extended beyond her early death following childbirth in October 1537. This […]
Marcus Agrippa: The True Story by Lindsay Powell
Marcus Agrippa was a remarkable man in his own day and, 2,000 years later, his achievement is undiminished. As the foremost deputy of Emperor Augustus, for three decades he waged wars, befriended kings and potentates, pacified provinces, and beautified Rome. Most people who recognise his name today likely know it through novels, films, and television. […]
Bede: the man who invented England by Edoardo Albert
What is England, and who are the English? The man who first posed and answered these questions lived 1,200 years ago in Northumberland. The Venerable Bede spent almost his whole life in two monasteries looking over the North Sea, far from the centres of civilisation. Yet he became the foremost scholar of the first millennium, […]
Historia interview: Claire Hobson
On 29 May, Oak Apple Day, it’ll be 396 years from Charles II’s birth in 1630 and 366 since his restoration. To mark the occasion, Historia spoke to Claire Hobson, whose biography charts those 30 turbulent years that formed the future king. Your book, Charles II: From the Cradle to the Crown, looks self-explanatory from […]
Thoughtlands by Jacky Colliss Harvey
In the literary footsteps of such walkers as Rebecca Solnit and Lauren Elkin, and in the character of the ‘rambleuse’, Jacky Colliss Harvey traverses the county of Suffolk from west to east, from velvety farmlands to uncompromising sea. She is in excellent company – her fellow walkers range from Daniel Defoe and Robert Louis Stevenson […]