The Historical Novel Society UK 2024 conference

The overall winner will be selected from the Category Winners. The judges for the overall winner are Lisa Highton, Jane Johnson and Kate Quinn. The overall winner will be announced at the HNS UK 2024 conference gala dinner on 7 September 2024 in Dartington’s Great Hall.

Lisa Highton

Lisa Highton joined Jenny Brown Associates as an Associate Agent in 2022 and represents S.G. Maclean. In 2023 the agency held its inaugural Debut Novel Over 50 Award with over 1,700 entries. Until 2021, Lisa was the publisher of Two Roads, an imprint of John Murray Press / Hachette where she published authors including Kirsty Wark, Sally Magnusson, Monty Don, Ruth Hogan and Janet Ellis. Over a long career in publishing both in the UK and Australia, where she was publishing director of Doubleday, HarperCollins and Hodder, Lisa has published many bestsellers. Her passions are distinctive storytelling (often historical), finding those hidden stories with emotional heart and then connecting those stories with readers. She will be in conversation with writer S.G. Maclean at the HNS 2024 conference. https://jennybrownassociates.com

Jane Johnson

Jane Johnson has worked in the book industry for 30 years as a bookseller, publisher and writer. She was responsible for the estate of J.R.R. Tolkien and worked on Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings movie trilogy. The authors she has published include George R.R. Martin, Dean Koontz, Robin Hobb, Stuart MacBride, Mark Lawrence, Raymond E. Feist and S.K. Tremayne. She writes historical fiction set mainly in Cornwall and Morocco and will be presenting on her work at the HNS 2024 conference. Jane continues to work remotely as a Fiction Publishing Director for HarperCollins.  https://www.janejohnsonbooks.com