Years ago, I worked as the features editor on a magazine. My job was to come up with ideas and find writers who wanted to tackle them. I remember thinking that my brain must be changing, the billions of neurons connecting in different ways, because I saw the whole world in terms of potential features. (I […]
A Step to Publication
As HWA team up with the Dorothy Dunnett Society to launch a brand new short story competition (Dorothy Dunnett pictured above), here’s Imogen Robertson on how competitions helped her get published. Have you heard that the Historical Writers’ Association are launching a new open short story competition for Historical Fiction with the Dorothy Dunnett Society this […]
Zounds! Whatevs! How can I find the right voice for my novel?
Dear Dr Darwin My characters don’t think they sound historical, but their present-day isn’t my present-day: they are Other to us. If I make them sound like 21st century people then the novel will just be like a modern film in pretty period costumes, but if I try to write the novel as it would […]
HWA Dorothy Dunnett Short Story Competition
Can you transport a reader into the past? Can you tell a story which will grip the reader while immersing them in another time? Do you want the voices and the stories of the past to find a new audience in the modern world? If your answer to any of the above is yes, then you […]
History by the River May 2017
A New Series of Events in West London We’ve been working on something rather special for lovers of history and literature in London. William Ryan, one of the talents behind the highly successful First Monday Crime Series, along with Antonia Senior, Imogen Robertson and Anna Mazzola have been carefully researching venues and badgering best-selling authors […]
Historical Fiction for Children
Tony Bradman on writing historical fiction for children. I first started getting published as a children’s writer in the mid-1980s. My own kids were young at the time, and I was reading lots of picture books and nursery rhymes to them, so it was natural for me to write picture book texts and poetry. My books did […]
April Giveaway!
Two fantastic books up for grabs this month! Win a copy of The Third Nero, the latest in the Flavia Albia series from Lindsey Davis AND a copy of The Tyrant’s Shadow, the brand new novel from Antonia Senior. Read more about The Third Nero. Read more about The Tyrant’s Shadow. Just follow the instructions below to […]
Historia Q&A: Rebecca Mascull
Rebecca Mascull is the author of The Visitors and Song of the Sea Maid. She has works in education, has a Masters in Writing and lives by the sea in the east of England. Her new novel, The Wild Air, is out on 4th May. What is your earliest memory? I remember having a dream about […]








