Scroll down if you would like to book a talk for your u3a, WI, reading or community group.

Saturday September 27th
Hawkesbury Upton, South Gloucs (all day)

The 10th birthday special event for the Hawkesbury Upton Literature Festival,  founded in 2015 by author Debbie Young, to provide a local, affordable event for the local community. The theme for September will be “Strength of Character”, approached from many different angles, from classic novels to contemporary paintings.
Mrs Sitwell will be attending!
I was at the very first HULF so it’s thrilling to be part of this celebration.
Details and tickets here.

Tuesday October 14th
Clifton Library, Bristol, 7 pm

Telling Tales for the FOCCAL (Friends of Clifton Centre and Library) autumn series of talks
Princess Victoria Street,
Clifton, Bristol BS8 4BX 
Tickets £5

Here’s your chance to hear myself, Claire Jaggard and Hilary Smith share a medley of short stories, flash fiction and tantalising extracts from work in progress. The event starts at 7pm and the bar opens at 6.30pm. Yes, this photo was taken on a very blustery day!

Sunday November 9th
Lansdown Hall, Stroud, 7.30 pm

Thursday November 13th (RLS Day)
Skerryvore Gardens in Bournemouth, 7 – 9 pm

Celebrate Robert Louis Stevenson’s 175th Birthday at the site of his former home

3 Alum Chine Rd, Bournemouth BH4 8DS

Taking place under marquees at Skerryvore Gardens, the site of Stevenson’s former home, where he wrote Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, Kidnapped and A Child’s Garden of Verses – join us for readings, performances and poetry with actor Mark Freestone, local historian Andrew Emery, founder of Bristol’s Long John Silver Trail Mark Steeds and myself.
Expect informal networking in the garden with books on sale.

BYO drinks and seating!

More at Bournemouth Writing Festival

Tickets £7.50 here

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Recent Events

A few highlights from summer 2025

The Edinburgh Bookshop, Thursday May 8th

Historical Fiction, Emersons Green, June 7th

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Book a Talk for your Book Group, WI, or u3a

Here are some of the topics I can bring to your event.

The Life and Loves of Robert Louis Stevenson

Writer Robert Louis Stevenson is best known for all-time classics Treasure Island and The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, but he was a prolific writer not just of novels, essays and poetry but also of letters, a large proportion of which were written to the famously beautiful Frances Sitwell, ten years his senior and the partner of his closest friend. What did these letters contain, why were they heavily censored, and why were all of Frances’s replies destroyed?

My talk explores the love triangle which formed the inspiration for my latest novel The Absent Heart and uncovers the strange history of Frances Sitwell’s letters.
Thanks to Jennifer Mcdonald for her artist’s impression of (left to right) Sidney Colvin, R. L. Stevenson and Frances Sitwell. 

The History of Photography

What’s the oldest photograph you own?
In my illustrated talk on early photography I invite the audience to bring along their oldest family photos to compare with some of the earliest ever made.
You’ll also hear about the historical figures I met in the course of writing my first historical novel In the Blink of an Eye.

Unsung Heroines: Women in Victorian Society

The voices we hear in In the Blink of an Eye are mostly women and include an art critic, a fisherman’s wife,  and the first ever female photographic assistant. In The Absent Heart I uncover the life of a middle class woman in mid-nineteenth century London.

What do these historical figures tell us about their place in Victorian Society and how they have been treated by history?

Fact or Fiction?

How does a writer of fiction tackle real historical events? Can you retell history without sacrificing either the facts or the demands of a good story? Who might be affected by your version?

Please contact me if you need more information about forthcoming events or would like to book your own.