Fact vs Fiction: Louise Doughty & Jill Dawson

Jill Dawson and Louise Doughty have both published multiple award-winning and bestselling novels stretching over thirty years.

Jill is the foremost novelist in the UK acclaimed for writing novels about real people - including The Crime Writer about Patricia Highsmith and her latest, Pixie, about the illustrator of the most famous Tarot deck in the world. Louise Doughty has written ten novels including the number one bestseller Apple Tree Yard, which was adapted as a BBC One hit miniseries starring Emily Watson. Her most recent book is a memoir, On This Spot Fell One Tear of Love, about her parents' secret love affair in the 1950s.

Between them, they have written in many genres including fiction, non-fiction, screenwriting and journalism. How does a writer move between the invented and the real, and how do they choose what form a book or a work will take? Come for the insights into two working writers' lives and leave inspired.

Louise and Jill will be in conversation with Dr Katherine Cooper.

The event will be followed by book sales and a signing with both authors.

Tickets: £15 standard, £6 student

Age Guidance: 16+

Louise Doughty

Louise Doughty's novels include Platform Seven, recently filmed for ITV; Black Water, a New York Times Notable Book of the Year; the bestseller Apple Tree Yard, which was adapted for BBC One; and Whatever You Love, nominated for the Costa Novel Award and the Women's Prize for Fiction.

She has been nominated for many other prizes including the Sunday Times Short Story Prize and the CWA Silver Dagger, along with creating and writing the hit BBC drama Crossfire. Her work has been translated into thirty languages. She lives in London.

Praise for On This Spot Fell One Tear of Love

Jill Dawson

Jill Dawson is the prize-winning author of twelve novels which include Fred and Edie, The Great Lover (about the poet Rupert Brooke) and The Crime Writer (about author Patricia Highsmith). She is also the editor of six anthologies of poetry and short stories and one poetry chapbook. She is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature and holds an honorary doctorate.

Jill has taught writing extensively and was the Creative Writing Fellow at UEA. She is also a qualified yoga teacher and certified Jungian tarot reader.  She founded Gold Dust, a mentoring scheme for writers, in 2008. She lives in an eco house in the Cambridgeshire Fens.

Praise for Pixie