In the first of our interviews with authors shortlisted for the 2021 HWA Crown Awards, Historia talks to Ellen Alpsten, whose novel, Tsarina, is in the running for a Debut Crown Award. It retells the ‘ultimate Cinderella’ story of the tumultuous rise of a peasant girl, Marta Helena Skowrońska, who became first the wife of […]
The HWA Crown Awards shortlists 2021
The 2021 HWA Crown Awards shortlists are out! We’re delighted to announce the 18 outstanding books which have gone forward for consideration for this year’s Crown Awards, with six books in each of the three categories: HWA Gold Crown, HWA Non-fiction Crown and HWA Debut Crown. HWA Gold Crown shortlist 2021 V For Victory by […]
HWA Crown Awards 2021: the longlists
We’re delighted to announce the HWA Crown Awards longlists for 2021: 36 books celebrating the best in historical writing, fiction and non-fiction, of 2020-2021. There are three awards categories: HWA Gold Crown, HWA Non-fiction Crown, and HWA Debut Crown. The books longlisted for the HWA Crown Awards for 2021 are: Gold Crown Award 2021 longlist […]
Books for history lovers: summer reading 2021
It’s a good year to plan your summer escape in the bookshop or library, since most of us will be taking our break at home or somewhere in these beautiful but rainy islands and may need books to journey any further. We asked historical writers, both fiction and non-fiction, for their suggestions for books for […]
HWA Crowns winners interviews: Toby Green
Toby Green is the 2020 winner of the Historical Writers’ Association Non-Fiction Crown Award for his ground-breaking book, A Fistful of Shells. Many years of detailed research culminated in this fascinating perspective on West Africa and its unique history, as he tells Richard Genet for Historia. I catch up with Toby over Zoom after the […]
HWA Crowns winners interviews: Jane Healey
Jane Healey’s The Animals of Lockwood Manor won the 2020 HWA Debut Crown Award, which celebrates new voices in historical fiction. In this atmospheric gothic tale of family madness, long-buried secrets and hidden desires, a young woman is given the task of safeguarding a natural history collection as it is transported out of London during […]
The HWA Crown Awards in an unusual year
This year’s HWA Crown Awards coverage in Historia has an exciting boost: guest contributions by four students from Bath Spa University who are studying publishing and journalism. They add fresh voices to Historia’s content and we hope that working with us will be useful to all four of them in their future careers. Our first […]
Historia interviews, 2020 Crown Awards shortlists: Jung Chang
Jung Chang, the historian whose acclaimed family biography, Wild Swans, has been translated into 37 languages but is banned in her native China, is shortlisted for the 2020 HWA Non-fiction Crown Award for Big Sister, Little Sister, Red Sister. Her book explores the lives of the influential Soong sisters, Ei-ling, Ching-ling and May-ling; three remarkable […]