Edinburgh Libraries have organised an online event, celebrating the power of women and writing which will take place on International Women’s Day, 8 March 2021.

Monique Roffey

They invite readers to celebrate this year’s International Women’s Day with award-winning author Monique Roffey who will be in conversation with Sarah Howells of the Central Library.

Monique Roffey will be reading from and talking about her Costa Book Award winning novel The Mermaid of Black Conch, published by Peepal Tree Press.

The judges called The Mermaid of Black Conch, ‘a story of rare imagination and exciting scale – an adventure and a fable, a glorious myth that tells a far bigger story.’

For more information about the event and to book your free ticket go to Eventbrite.

Monique Roffey is an award-winning Trinidadian-born British writer of novels, essays, a memoir and literary journalism, a Senior Lecturer on the MA/MFA in Creative Writing at The Writing School, Manchester Metropolitan University, and tutor for the Norwich Writers Centre. Her seventh book, The Mermaid of Black Conch won the Costa Book of the Year, 2020. It was also short-listed for the Goldsmiths Prize 2020 and longlisted for the Rathbones/Folio Award.

Sarah Howells is a queer writer based in Edinburgh, committed to supporting people tell their stories creatively. She holds a MLitt in Creative Writing from the University of Aberdeen and her work has featured on The Dangerous Women Project, Dear Damsels, All Washed Up, and the Big Lit Festival. As well as working at Edinburgh’s Central Library, Sarah teaches creative life writing and journalling whilst working on short stories and a novel with themes of belonging and domestic violence.

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