Derek Birks & Sharon Bennett Connolly in conversation with Elizabeth Chadwick, David Gilman and Matthew Harffy
A Slice of Medieval Podcast co-hosts historian, Sharon Bennett Connolly and historical fiction author, Derek Birks interview a panel of three authors who write historical fiction set across the medieval age. The focus will be on how each author writes stories set in the middle ages and how they attempt to create an authentic medieval world and present its beliefs and values – especially regarding the roles of women – which is accessible to the modern reader. The authors will offer some insight into their writing process and how their work might transfer to the screen.
Elizabeth Chadwick is a UK million selling historical novelist with 28 novels in print translated into 18 languages between them. She won a Betty Trask award for her first published novel The Wild Hunt and the RNA prize for Historical fiction in 2011 with To Defy A King. Her novel The Greatest Knight is a New York Times bestseller and has been optioned for film and TV together with several others in the same series. Specialising in the medieval period, she occasionally lectures on the academic circuit and gives talks on historical tours. Elizabeth is also a member of The Royal Historical Society. When not writing, Elizabeth enjoys sharing historical discussions with readers.
David Gilman lives in Devon. He was a firefighter, soldier, photographer, then award-winning screenwriter and writer of an acclaimed adventure series for young readers, before turning to writing his much-loved and bestselling Master Of War series full-time. Head of Zeus have sold more than 700,000 copies of David Gilman’s novels in English, and his work is translated into more than a dozen languages. The Master Of War titles featuring Thomas Blackstone has been widely reviewed as a must-read for Bernard Cornwell fans, with more than half a million copies sold in English. Titles have featured several times on the Der Spiegel bestseller lists in Germany, where sales by 2022 stand close to 300,000 copies. The Last Horseman, a standalone novel following Irish involvement in the Anglo-Boer War, was shortlisted for the Wilbur Smith Adventure Writing Prize and his new contemporary thriller series, The Englishman, starring ex-Foreign Legion soldier Dan Raglan, was longlisted for the Wilbur Smith Adventure Writing Prize as well. He is also the author of a popular WWII espionage thriller, Night Flight To Paris. The Englishman: Resurrection, the third title in The Englishman series was published in 2023, with the 8th Master of War title, To Kill A King, to be published in February 2024. AGC Studios have optioned The Englishman for development as a feature film in the vein of the Jason Bourne franchise with an excellent scriptwriter and director attached.
Matthew Harffy lived in Northumberland as a child and the area had a great impact on him. The rugged terrain, ruined castles and rocky coastline made it easy to imagine the past. Decades later, a documentary about Northumbria’s Golden Age sowed the kernel of an idea for a series of historical fiction novels. The first of them is the action-packed tale of vengeance and coming of age, The Serpent Sword. Matthew has worked in the IT industry, where he spent all day writing and editing, just not the words that most interested him. Prior to that he worked in Spain as an English teacher and translator. Matthew lives in Wiltshire, England, with his wife and their two daughters.
Sharon Bennett Connolly is an historian and the best-selling author of four non-fiction history books. Sharon is the author of Heroines of the Medieval World, Silk and the Sword: The Women of the Norman Conquest and Ladies of Magna Carta: Women of Influence in Thirteenth Century England. Her fourth book, Defenders of the Norman Crown: Rise and Fall of the Warenne Earls of Surrey, telling the story of the Warenne earls over 300 years and 8 generation, was released in May 2021. A Fellow of the Royal Historical Society, Sharon has studied history academically and just for fun – and has even worked as a tour guide at a castle. She writes the popular history blog, http://www.historytheinterestingbits.com. Sharon regularly gives talks on women’s history; she is a feature writer for All About History magazine and her TV work includes Australian Television’s ‘Who Do You Think You Are?’
Derek Birks was born in Hampshire in England but spent his teenage years in Auckland, New Zealand, where he still has strong family ties. Derek taught history at a secondary school for many years before taking early retirement to write.
He writes action-packed historical fiction which is rooted in accurate history and his debut book, Feud was the first of the successful Wars of the Roses series. More recently, he has written the bestselling Last of the Roman series set in 5th century Britain. Derek has also produced many non-fiction podcasts on medieval history for those interested in the real historical background to his books. Apart from his writing, he enjoys walking, archaeology and travelling – sometimes, but not always, to carry out research for his books.
The Slice of Medieval Podcast
Sharon and Derek started the Slice of Medieval Podcast in Autumn 2022 and have since interviewed many leading historians and authors of historical fiction. Their brief is to present medieval history and historical fiction in an informal, but historically robust, way. Guests have included: Bernard Cornwell, Michael Jones, Ben Kane, Elizabeth Chadwick, Michael Jecks and Anne O’Brien – amongst many others.
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/a-slice-of-medieval/id1397155925
The Historical Novel Society UK 2024 conference 