The Festival regrets that this event has been cancelled.

We apologise for any inconvenience caused. If you have a ticket to this event, you can obtain a refund by contacting The Ticketsellers on 0844 870 0000 or you can exchange this ticket at the Spring Thing for another ticket to another event of the same value (subject to availability).

Books by these authors will still be available in the Festival Bookshop.

Saturday 9th April 2011

Panel: Turning History Into Story – Guy Saville, Saul David and Gaynor Arnold

£6.50/£5 / 12pm / Recital Hall, Birmingham Conservatoire, Paradise Place, Birmingham B3 3HG

Historian and broadcaster Saul David and historical novelists Guy Saville and Gaynor Arnold come together to talk about the process of turning dates and facts into creative narrative.

Saul David is the author of several critically-acclaimed history books, including The Indian Mutiny: 1857 (shortlisted for the Westminster Medal for Military Literature), Zulu: the Heroism and Tragedy of the Zulu War of 1879 (a Waterstone’s Military History Book of the Year) and, most recently, Victoria’s Wars: The Rise of Empire. His latest work of history – Soldiers: The British Redcoat from the Glorious Revolution to Waterloo – will be published by Penguin in February 2012.

Saul has also written two historical novels, set during the wars of the late Victorian period and featuring the Anglo-African soldier George Hart. The first, Zulu Hart, was published last year. Praised by Bernard Cornwell and Conn Iggulden, it was chosen as a Waterstone’s New Talent in Fiction title and reached No. 4 in the Daily Telegraph hardback fiction bestsellers (see Books for reviews). The follow up, Hart of Empire, was published on 5 August.

An experienced broadcaster, Saul has presented and appeared in history programmes for all the major TV channels and is a regular on Radio 4. He is Professor of War Studies at the University of Buckingham, and Programme Director for Buckingham’s London-based MA in Military History.

Guy Saville was born in 1973. He has lived in South America and North Africa. The Afrika Reich is his first novel – a high-octane thriller of alternate history that combines meticulous research with edge of the seat suspense. Others have imagined a Europe ruled by Hitler but never before have we seen his empire stretch beyond the equator. Written with a cinematic sense of action, the book takes the conventions of the men-on-a-mission story and turns them on their head. It delivers more than just a page-turning plot. A rich cast of characters gives the narrative real emotional depth. This is a human story of love, revenge and the battle for Africa.

The research for the book has taken Guy Saville to the Nazis’ actual plans for Africa, the weaponry they were developing and declassified British intelligence documents. Real life historical figures appear with fictional characters to build a thoroughly convincing account of how the world might have been.

Please note that this event previously listed Robyn Young as a participant. Unfortunately Robyn is no longer able to take part. We are delighted that Tindal Street’s Gaynor Arnold is able to join this panel.

Gaynor Arnold was born and brought up in Cardiff, and was an au pair in Paris before reading English at St Hilda’s College, Oxford. She is married, with two grown-up children and currently works for Birmingham’s Adoption & Fostering Service. She is a member of a writer’s group and has had several short stories published in magazines and anthologies. Girl in a Blue Dress is her first novel. It was longlisted for The Man Booker Prize 2008, the Orange Broadband Prize 2009, and the Desmond Elliott Prize 2009, and was shortlisted for the McKitterick Prize 2009. Her short story collection, Lying Together, was published by Tindal Street Press in February 2011.

More information about Gaynor and her writing here

With thanks to Hodder and Stoughton and Tindal Street Press.

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