Event overview
Crime writer Helen Black and historical novelist Justin Hill discuss the challenges of the forms they write in and talk about their latest books
With sales of literary fiction in decline, genre fiction - once patronised and marginalised - is becoming increasingly important.
Helen Black grew up in Pontefract, West Yorkshire. At 18 she went to Hull University and left three years later with a tattoo on her shoulder and a law degree. She became a lawyer in Peckham and soon had a loyal following of teenagers needing legal advice and bus fares. She ended up working in Luton, predominantly for children going through the care system. Helen is married to a long-suffering lawyer and is the mother of young twins which take up 90% of her waking hours. She completed an MA at Goldsmiths in 2014.
Her books in the Lilly Valentine series are Damaged Goods (2005), Place of Safety (2007), Dishonour (2009), Blood Rush (2011), Dark Spaces (2013), Friendless Lane (2015). She also published a stand-alone title, Twenty Twelve, in 2012.
Taking Liberties (2017) is the first title in her new crime thriller series featuring Liberty Chapman, a high-flying lawyer whose murky past comes back to bite her when she’s reunited with the family she thought she left behind a long time ago.
'Gripping and gritty, this book will keep you hooked from the first page to the last.' Roberta Kray
Justin Hill has been likened to a George Orwell, a boxer, and Leo Tolstoy. His novels have been picked by the Washington Post, Sunday Times, Times, Telegraph on Sunday and Independent as their Books of the Year. His first novel The Drink and Dream Teahouse was banned in China; while Passing Under Heaven was described as ‘something to be stepped into as indulgently as a long, fragrant bath.’
Viking Fire and Shieldwall are the first two books in the Conquest Series, which challenges traditional narratives that surround the Battle of Hastings in 1066. The Times said Viking Fire was a 'a literary, intelligent read from a masterly storyteller' while Shieldwall was described as 'truly compelling' by the Sunday Times.
Ciao Asmara, about Justin’s time as a VSO volunteer in Eritrea, East Africa, was short-listed for the Thomas Cook Travel Book Award. He was also selected to write the novelisation of Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon: Sword of Destiny. He has published the occasional poem, and translates poetry from Chinese. His work has won the Geoffrey Faber Memorial Prize, the Somerset Maugham Award, and a Betty Trask Award. The Independent on Sunday picked him as one of the Top Twenty Young British Writers. He is currently doing a PhD at Goldsmiths.
Dates & times
| Date | Time | Add to calendar |
|---|---|---|
| 31 Jan 2018 | 5:00pm - 6:00pm |
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