San Clemente

Sin + Helen have teamed up to write Prophet, in every bookshop you've ever seen right now. Sin is a musician and writer- this is their first novel.

Helen, who uses she/they pronouns, is a writer, poet, naturalist and historian of science. They have previously been celebrated internationally for their book H is for Hawk, which won many prizes including the Costa Book of the Year, Prix du Meilleur Livre Étranger, and the Samuel Johnson Prize for Non-Fiction.

It was also shortlisted for The Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Nonfiction and The Duff Cooper Prize. Their book Vesper Flights was a Sunday Times Bestseller.

They presented the BBC Four documentary, The Hidden Wilds of the Motorway, in 2020 and worked as an an affiliated research scholar at the Department of History and Philosophy of Science, University of Cambridge, until 2015.

Sin + Helen have been interviewed by The Washington Post, LitHub, The London Review of Books podcast & The Guardian.

Get their book ⁠here⁠, or at your local bookshop.

Sin + Helen have teamed up to write Prophet, in every bookshop you've ever seen right now. Sin is a musician and writer- this is their first novel.

Helen, who uses she/they pronouns, is a writer, poet, naturalist and historian of science. They have previously been celebrated internationally for their book H is for Hawk, which won many prizes including the Costa Book of the Year, Prix du Meilleur Livre Étranger, and the Samuel Johnson Prize for Non-Fiction.

It was also shortlisted for The Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Nonfiction and The Duff Cooper Prize. Their book Vesper Flights was a Sunday Times Bestseller.

They presented the BBC Four documentary, The Hidden Wilds of the Motorway, in 2020 and worked as an an affiliated research scholar at the Department of History and Philosophy of Science, University of Cambridge, until 2015.

Sin + Helen have been interviewed by The Washington Post, LitHub, The London Review of Books podcast & The Guardian.

Get their book here, or at your local bookshop.

Louisa Treger is the acclaimed author of four novels, The Lodger (2014), The Dragon Lady (2019) Madwoman (2022), a historical fiction Book of the Year in The Times and The Sunday Times, and a Book of the Month in the Independent, and The Paris Muse (2024).  She has written for The Times, The Telegraph, Tatler, BBC History Magazine and English Heritage. Radio appearances include BBC Radio 3’s Free Thinking Programme, and BBC Radio 4’s Woman’s Hour. Treger has a First Class degree and a PhD in English Literature from UCL, and currently lives in London. (Courtesy of Louisa's website

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Get her book here, or at your local bookshop.

Nana is an artist you should know, just ask Dazed, Paper Mag and Fader. Her 21st century queer cowgirl album, Wyoming, is a masterclass in electronic pop. She's featured on major playlists including Spotify's Indie Chillout & anti pop. Also Zara Home Dining.

Find her on ⁠Instagram⁠ and ⁠Youtube⁠.

For more music, listen to our previous episodes or get ready for more later in the week.

Claire was shortlisted for the Woman's Prize for Fiction this year. She also won the Rooney Prize, Ireland's longest standing literary award, and been nominated for the Irish Novel of the Year Award and the Kerry Group Award for fiction.

Her latest work Soldier, Sailor has received international praise from The Independent, The Times, The New York Times, The Irish Times, The Boston Globe, The Hindu, Kirkus Review and The Guardian. You can find in every bookshop, displayed front and centre.

She's been listed by The Times & The Bookseller as one of Ireland's leading contemporary writers and her book The Devil I Know was a bestselling hit.

She also lectures in Creative Writing for NYU's Dublin Program.

Get her book here, or at your local seller.

Rita's exquisite book, Headshot,is one of LitHub & The Independent 2024 Most Anticipated Books. Plus, it featured on the Oprah Daily Spring 2024 List.

Rita's been praised in The Washington Post, Guardian, Spectator Australia, The New York Times, Publisher's Weekly, ABC News & Telegraph Praise. She's also been interviewed about by NPR & LitHub. 

Her previous book, Belly Up, won the 2022 Whiting Award. Both her novels have been nominated for Pushcart Prizes.

Rita is also an Associate Professor at the University of San Fransisco where she teaches courses on creative writing, zines, and the use of invented and foreign languages as tools for world building. She's been translated into German, Italian, Greek and Dutch.

Get her book here, or at your local seller.

Longlisted for the Women's Prize for Fiction, Karen's latest novel picks up in her series about aliens 150 years from now as they make first contact. Her Cygnus Beta series has earned praise from The Guardian, Martha Wells, LitHub, The Big Issue & BookRiot.

Get your copy here, or at your local seller.

[More on Karen from her about the author online:]

Barbadian writer Dr. Karen Lord is the author of Redemption in Indigo, which won the William L. Crawford Award and the Mythopoeic Fantasy Award for Adult Literature and was nominated for the World Fantasy Award for Best Novel. Her other works include the science fiction novels The Best of All Possible Worlds, The Galaxy Game, and The Blue, Beautiful World, and the crime-fantasy novel Unraveling. Lord also edited the anthology New Worlds, Old Ways: Speculative Tales from the Caribbean.

She was a judge for the 2019 Commonwealth Short Story Prize and the 2018 CODE Burt Award for Caribbean YA Literature. She has taught at the 2018 Clarion West Writers Workshop and the 2019 Clarion Workshop, and she co-facilitated the 2018 Commonwealth Short Story Prize Workshop in Barbados. She has been a featured author at literary festivals from Adelaide to Edinburgh to Berlin, and often appears at the Bocas Lit Fest in Trinidad & Tobago.

Kate has worked as a national journalist for two decades and now we get to enjoy her novels. The Maiden was a Times and Waterstones bestseller that was longlisted for the Women's Prize for Fiction 2024. It also won the Bloody Scotland Pitch Perfect 2020 prize for new writers. It's been recommended by the Guardian, Harper's Bazaar, The Scotsman, The Times, The Bookseller and the BBC.

Her latest book, The King's Witches, is on the Herald and the Times' lists for historical fiction releases in June.

Get both books here, or at your local seller.

Peace is a leading academic and award winning novelist. Her full list of projects and accolades is right here for you, courtesy of her website:

She is associate professor in politics at the University of Bristol and her research is at the intersection of African studies, women’s and gender studies, and international relations. She studies state and non-state actor responses to gender-based violence and other forms of insecurity. Her book, Global Norms and Local Action: The Campaigns to End Violence against Women in Africa, was published in 2020 by Oxford University Press. Her second monograph, which is in progress, draws on survey and interview data to study women traditional leaders and their evolving roles and impact on women’s security and rights in Botswana, Ghana, Liberia, and South Africa. She is also writing and producing a documentary on the subject. 

Her debut novel, His Only Wife, was published in 2020 by Algonquin Books. It was a New York Times Book Review Editor’s Choice, a New York Times Notable Book of 2020, and a Time Magazine Must-Read Book of 2020. It was also a Reese’s Book Club Pick. His Only Wife is available in Croatian, Dutch, Italian, French, and Russian, with more translations forthcoming. Her second novel, Nightbloom, was published in 2023 by Algonquin Books and was longlisted for the 2024 Women’s Prize for Fiction. Her short stories have appeared in Slice Magazine, Transition, Four Way Review, and elsewhere.

Medie’s research has been supported by grants from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, the Harry Frank Guggenheim Foundation, and the Social Science Research Council, and her findings have been published in African Affairs, InternationalStudies Review, Politics & Gender, the European Journal of Politics and Gender, and elsewhere. She has won many awards for her work, including the Best Article Award of the European Journal of Politics and Gender and the African Author Prize of African Affairs. She has also held several fellowships, including the Oxford-Princeton Global Leaders fellowship.

She was an editor of African Affairs, the top-ranked African studies journal, from 2017 to 2022 and co-edits the Oxford Studies in African Politics and International Relationsbook series. 

Medie earned a BA in Geography from the University of Ghana, an MA in International Studies from Ohio University, and a PhD in Public and International Affairs from the University of Pittsburgh. Before joining the University of Bristol, she was a Research Fellow at LECIAD, University of Ghana. She attended OLA Secondary School, Ho, and was born in Liberia.

Get your copy of Nightbloom here, or at your local seller.

Pam's debut novel, A Trace of Sun, was long listed for the 2024 Women's Prize for Fiction. Her work has been covered in The Guardian, The Independent, Harper's Bazaar, India Today, Glamour and Good Housekeeping.

After graduating in Fashion at St Martin's School of Art in 1984, Pam was worked as fashion editor at She, Now, PS and Shape.

Her short stories and poetry has been published by the Afrikan Heritage Writers group. She has also won the BlackInk New Writing Prize 2022 and is an alumnus of the writer development agency’s London Writers Award.

Find her book here, or at your local bookshop.