Full programme details with all the speakers are listed on our booking page:
https://historicalnovelsocietyuk.regfox.com/hns-uk-2024
A downloadable PDF of the programme will be available soon.
Bernard Cornwell
Bernard Cornwell was born in London in 1944 – a ‘warbaby’ – whose father was a Canadian airman and mother in Britain’s Women’s Auxiliary Air Force. He was adopted by a family in Essex who belonged to a religious sect called the Peculiar People (and they were), but escaped to London University and, after a stint as a teacher, he joined BBC Television where he worked for the next 10 years.
He began as a researcher on the Nationwide programme and ended as Head of Current Affairs Television for the BBC in Northern Ireland. It was while working in Belfast that he met Judy, a visiting American, and fell in love. Judy was unable to move to Britain for family reasons so Bernard went to the States where he was refused a Green Card. He decided to earn a living by writing, a job that did not need a permit from the US government – and for some years he had been wanting to write the adventures of a British soldier in the Napoleonic wars – and so the Sharpe series was born. Bernard and Judy married in 1980, are still married, still live in the States and he is still writing Sharpe.
He began as a researcher on the Nationwide programme and ended as Head of Current Affairs Television for the BBC in Northern Ireland. It was while working in Belfast that he met Judy, a visiting American, and fell in love. Judy was unable to move to Britain for family reasons so Bernard went to the States where he was refused a Green Card. He decided to earn a living by writing, a job that did not need a permit from the US government – and for some years he had been wanting to write the adventures of a British soldier in the Napoleonic wars – and so the Sharpe series was born. Bernard and Judy married in 1980, are still married, still live in the States and he is still writing Sharpe.
He is also the author of The Last Kingdom series, The Grail Quest, Starbuck Chronicles, Stonehenge and many other books.
https://www.bernardcornwell.net
Kate Quinn
Kate Quinn is the New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of historical fiction. A native of southern California, she attended Boston University where she earned a Bachelor’s and Master’s degree in Classical Voice. She has written four novels in the Empress of Rome Saga, and two books in the Italian Renaissance, before turning to the 20th century with “The Alice Network”, “The Huntress,” “The Rose Code,” and “The Diamond Eye.” All have been translated into multiple languages. Kate and her husband now live in San Diego with three rescue dogs.
Author photo: Laura Jucha Photography.
https://www.katequinnauthor.com
Diana Gabaldon and Chris Humphreys
Diana Gabaldon is the author of the award-winning, #1 NYT-bestselling Outlander novels, described by Salonmagazine as ‘the smartest historical sci-fi adventure-romance story ever written by a science Ph.D. with a background in scripting “Scrooge McDuck” comics’. Her books have sold 50+ million copies in 39 languages and 114 countries, and she was given a Thistle Award in 2019 by VisitScotland for ‘services to Scottish Tourism’. In addition, Sony/Starz have created a popular original television series based on the books, also called Outlander—filmed in Scotland and presently sold in more than 187 territories. Season 7 premiered in 2023. There will be an eighth and final season, and also a prequel show, dealing with Jamie Fraser’s parents, Brian and Ellen. Diana is a Consulting Producer for the show and has written several scripts. (Gabaldon is pronounced (in English) GAA-bull-dohn—it rhymes with ‘bad to the bone’. If you’re speaking Spanish, it’s gah-vahl-DOHN.)
Chris (C.C.) Humphreys is an award-winning novelist, playwright, actor and teacher, Chris Humphreys has written 22 novels, including The French Executioner – runner up for the Steel Dagger for Thrillers, UK; The Jack Absolute Trilogy; Vlad–The Last Confession, and A Place Called Armageddon. Chris adapted his 12th novel, Shakespeare’s Rebel for the stage and it received its premiere in 2015 at Bard on the Beach, Vancouver, Canada. His novel Plague won Canada’s Arthur Ellis Award for Best Crime Novel in 2015. Chasing the Wind follows the daring adventures of 1930s aviatrix, Roxy Loewen. His novels for young adult readers include, The Runestone Saga Trilogy published by Knopf, as well as The Tapestry Trilogy. His latest novel is Someday I’ll Find You, a WW2 epic romance, published by Doubleday. His novels have been translated into thirteen languages. He holds a Masters in Fine Arts (Creative Writing) from the University of British Columbia, has been keynote speaker and Guest of Honour at several conferences, including the HNS North American Conference in Denver 2015. A busy audiobook narrator, as an actor Chris has performed on stages from London’s West End to Hollywood.
Derek Birks and Sharon Bennett Connolly with Matthew Harffy, Elizabeth Chadwick and David Gilman
Podcasters Derek Birks and Sharon Bennett Connolly talk with Matthew Harffy, Elizabeth Chadwick and David Gilman on writing medieval fiction.
Ian Mortimer
Dr Ian Mortimer is the Sunday Times-bestselling author of the Time Traveller’s Guides to Medieval England, Elizabethan England, Restoration Britain and Regency Britain, as well as four critically acclaimed medieval biographies. He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society in 1998. His work on the social history of medicine won the Alexander Prize in 2004 and was published by the Royal Historical Society in 2009. He lives with his wife and three children in Moretonhampstead, on the edge of Dartmoor.
Author photo: Stuart Clarke.
Website: https://www.ianmortimer.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. Jane continues to work remotely as a Fiction Publishing Director for HarperCollins. https://www.janejohnsonbooks.com
S.G.MacLean in conversation with Lisa Highton
S.G. MacLean (Shona) was born in Inverness and brought up in the Scottish Highlands. With an M.A. and PhD in History from the University of Aberdeen, she started writing historical fiction while bringing up her four children. She is the author of both the Alexander Seaton and the Damian Seeker series of historical crime, and the standalone thriller, The Bookseller of Inverness. She has twice won the Crime Writers’ Association Historical Dagger.
Lisa Highton
Lisa Highton joined the Jenny Brown Associates literary agency as an Associate Agent in 2022. She was the publisher of Two Roads, an imprint of John Murray Press/Hachette. Over a long career in publishing in the UK and Australia, she has published many bestsellers and was publishing director of Doubleday, HarperCollins and Hodder.
The Historical Novel Society UK 2024 conference 