Imagining Ancient Women

Henry Kreisel Memorial Lecture Series

by Annabel Lyon, Curtis Gillespie (Introduction)

Annabel Lyon’s passion for historical novels and her love of ancient Greece make her lecture on the process of creating characters of historical fiction captivating. She discusses the process of wading through historical sources — and avoiding myriad pitfalls — to craft believable people to whom readers can relate. Finding familiarity with figures from the past and then, with the help of hindsight, discovering their secrets, are the foremost tools of the historical novel writer. Readers interested in the literary creative process and in writing or reading historical fiction will find Lyon’s comments insightful and intriguing.

Genres: Nonfiction, History, Writing

68 pages, Paperback

First published February 1, 2012

About the author

Annabel Lyon was born in 1971. Her first book of fiction, the short story collection Oxygen (Porcupine's Quill, 2000), was published to wide acclaim, and was nominated for the Danuta Gleed and ReLit awards.

Her short fiction has appeared in numerous publications, including Toronto Life, The Journey Prize Anthology, and Write Turns: New Directions in Canadian Fiction. Lyon is also a frequent contributor to the Vancouver Sun and The Globe and Mail.

In addition to creative writing, Annabel Lyon has studied music, philosophy, and law. She lives in Vancouver, where she writes full time.

Reviews

[Sophie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very interesting lecture given by Canadian writer Annabel Lyon about how writers and readers of historical fiction imagine the lives of women in ancient times. Lyon also discusses the three weaknesses of historical fiction - easy moral outrage, love stories that don't bring anything to the story, and too much description for description's sake. She argues that an historical novel needs to be more than a regurgitation of meticulous research about what people wore and ate, and must speak to the reader in the same way as a novel set in the present day is expected too.

[Andrea Taylor · Rating 5 out of 5]

What an insightful and inspiring lecture. Annabel Lyon sparks both my intellect and my imagination. This is where one finds oneself thinking deeply about all the possibilities.