On a rainy day like today you might be looking for inspiration on something to do indoors. Look no further, as there is a new(ish) and interesting little festival taking place at Summerhall for all you history buffs.
From suffragettes to soldiers, from the battlefields of France to the back alleys of Venice, this year’s Summerhall Historical Fiction Festival covers a lot of ground. But that’s only fitting, for the historical novelist is spoiled for inspiration, with all of the known past there to be re-imagined and re-shaped into stories to delight and intrigue contemporary readers.
Founded three years ago by Allan Massie and Iain Gale – both practitioners of the art – SHFF is a celebration of this multi-faceted and popular genre. A little festival filled with big ideas, it takes place in one of Scotland’s most exciting arts venues, Summerhall, on the capital’s south side.
Ticket prices are low: £6 (3), with the exception of Saturday’s panel discussion: £7 (3.50). They hope this will encourage visitors to attend more than one event. The setting is intimate, and there will be ample opportunity to meet the authors afterwards, at book signings.
More details on what is going on here on the website and they have a Facebook page.
The list of authors is impressive:
Allan Massie: Why Historical Fiction?
Robert Fabbri: The Vespasian Chronicles
Catherine Czerkawska: Discovering the Truth about Jean Armour (aka Mrs Robert Burns)
Andrew Williams: The Deadly Story Behind One of World War II’s Best-Kept Secrets
Queering History: Panel Discussion chaired by Kaite Welsh (with Laura Macdougall and Ronald Frame) asking, Is This a Golden Age for LGBT Historical Fiction?
Rob Newman: Tales of Derring-Do in Tudor England
Iain Gale: Waterloo: Fact and Fiction
Robert Wilton: What Next for the Comptroller-General?
Anna Hope: The Story Behind Wake
Sara Sheridan: Inventing Cosy Noir
Douglas Jackson: The Defender of Rome Series
Lucy Ribchester: Circuses and Suffragettes
Founding Editor of The Edinburgh Reporter.
Edinburgh-born multimedia journalist and iPhoneographer.
