Ali Bacon's Blog, page 3

For #womenshistorymonth: Scottish sculptor Amelia Robertson Hill

My historical novel In the Blink of an Eye was written to illustrate and honour an iconic photographic partnership between two men, D.O. Hill and Robert Adamson, but when it came to writing their story, I found myself focussing on the women who surrounded them. This arose from the writer’s instinct to look for the parts of the story which hadn’t been told, and not surprisingly it was the voices of the sisters, daughters and wives I thought needed to be heard.

Newhaven Fisherwoman Elizabeth Jo...

What exactly do we mean by authenticity? A Historical Fiction Convention and other news @HistoryQuill @BLFupdates @StroudStories #hiddengems

Historical Fiction Convention, February 2022

The first Historical Fiction Convention organised by History Quill was a four day virtual and international event covering publishing, marketing, writing craft and research. In my slot on the final day Stepping through the Magic Door: defining analysing authenticity in historical fiction (ambitious or what?) I gave my take on this vital but curiously amorphous concept.

I’ve struggled to work out for myself why some historical novels draw ...

Historical fiction convention – early bird discount to Dec 22nd @HistoryQuill #historicalfiction #writingcommunity

For a while I’ve been associated with an outfit called The History Quill which offers a raft (or an inkwell?) of services and support to writers of historical fiction. It’s a commercial enterprise but I don’t have a problem with that. It means, for instance, that blog posts are commissioned and paid for (if only I could get round to writing one!) and that even ‘volunteer’ beta readers get a small payment for their efforts. As a result the blog posts are regular and of excellent quality; top...

News – there is some! @Glenside_museum @stroudstories @HULitFest and more

We may be heading towards winter but the writing scene is livening up at last with events of all kinds springing up – some still online but others face to face, ITRW, or as some would put it, 3D! This afternoon I’ll be talking live to my first WI Group in quite some time about matters photographic and I have bookings in for the months ahead.

Who knows how long this will last? In the meantime let’s celebrate the joy of all the things that don’t come through a screen; the nuanced expression, ...

Sometimes a novel sings, but will it fly? Of Crawdads and River Songs.

If you haven’t read Where the Crawdads Sing, I think you may have heard of it. At the last count it had 53,000 ratings on a certain review site (which I assume equates to many, many more sales) or you could check it out on the ‘unaffiliated’ Goodreads. I’m not going to write a full review but I thoroughly enjoyed the story of Kya, abandoned by her parents to make a life for herself in the marshlands of North Carolina. Kya finds the key to her future when a boy neighbour teaches her to read ...

Old Bones by Helen Kitson: or how old is old? @Jemima_Mae_7 @LouiseWalters12

Helen Kitson Novels

I’m quite a fan of Helen Kitson’s debut novel The Last Words of Madeleine Anderson (Louis Walters books 2019) and was eager to read her latest, Old Bones, which focuses on a group of not-so-young women living in a Shropshire village. However, as someone well into my sixth decade (and nearly out the other side!) I was somewhat vexed by what struck me as the very ‘elderly’ depiction of these women who in fictional years are actually younger than real old me. After an exchang...

A friendship in messages: with thanks to #RLS and @SandstonePress

Robert Louis Stevenson & J.M. Barrie, A Friendship in Letters, by Michael Shaw, Sandstone Press, 2020

“Write to me again in my infinite distance”

So wrote Robert Louis Stevenson in the year 1893 from his home in Samoa to fellow writer J. M. Barrie who was in, or near, his native town of Kirriemuir in Angus. I don’t think I’ll ever make it to Samoa but I do know Kirriemuir, which is close to where my mother was born, and the distance does indeed feel infinite in both geography and imagina...

Truth, Conjecture and ‘The Crown’

Coronation Day 1953 postcard

I loved the first couple of series of The Crown – all those stories which formed the backdrop to my youth brought to dramatic life. I only fell out of love when Olivia Colman (much though I admire her) took over as the Queen. However this hasn’t stopped me from following the furore raging around the current series. ‘This is outrageous/inaccurate,’ cry one side. ‘Don’t worry, this is fiction,’ cry the others.

I’m pretty neutral on the subject of royalty but ...

Truth, Conjecture and The CrownCoronation Day 1953 po...

Truth, Conjecture and The Crown



Coronation Day 1953 postcard

I loved the first couple of series of The Crown – all those stories which formed the backdrop to my youth brought to dramatic life. I only fell out of love when Olivia Colman (much though I admire her) took over as the Queen. However this hasn’t stopped me from following the furore raging around the current series. ‘This is outrageous/inaccurate,’ cry one side. ‘Don’t worry, this is fiction,’ cry the others.

I’m pretty neutral...

Literature festivals – now available anywhere and everywhere.

Bristol Festival of Literature 2019

October as most of you know is the season of literature festivals and this year is no exception, even if most of them are a bit different. Sometimes that’s an advantage: I’ve looked in on a couple of live-streamed events from Cheltenham which I most probably wouldn’t have attended in normal circumstances. Staying in is the new going out.

On the other hand, more screen time isn’t what most of us would choose right now so it pays to think carefully about ...