A world of veils and delusions. A city in ferment. A battle of empires played out in diplomatic details and back-street brutality. Marrakesh, 1906, and the unexpected arrival of a circus to perform for the Sultan seems like an opportunity for European envoy and Moroccan warlord alike, as they manoeuvre for advantage and pursue their […]
The challenges of writing a novel set in Morocco
When the perfect idea for a novel presents itself, but then you find that your source is (factually and morally) questionable, how do you approach it? By telling the story behind the stories, RJ Wilton suggests in his account of the challenges he faced in writing a novel set in early 20th-century Morocco. Sultan Abd-al-Aziz […]
Researching pre-colonial Africa: why the Victorians ruffled my feathers
The bestselling author Florence Olajide writes about the difficulties of researching pre-colonial African history for her novel, The Stolen Daughter, including the language the Victorians used about her ancestors. Authors face many challenges when it comes to their writing, but my experience with African historical fiction involved some unique and personal difficulties. My first task […]
Medea in India: savage colonialism
Rani Selvarajah’s novel Savage Beasts takes the story of Medea and reimagines it set in 18th-century India. She tells Historia how she wanted to explore the treatment of women and of foreigners under colonialism; universal themes, both in myth and in history. I first studied the play Medea at school and was instantly mesmerised by […]