I’m fascinated to find out different ways
in which we learn about history, especially through fiction. One important way
is through public events. If we go to a talk or attend a workshop or have
coffee with someone at a conference we learn something quite different to what
we might find out if we explore in libraries by ourselves. This is because the
learning in conferences is influenced by the programme.
This month I thought it would be a very
good thing to talk to someone who is in charge of the programme for a major
conference and find out more about the history presented and the contexts that
conference presents from her view. It’s not just what she does – it’s how she
designs that programme and what her thoughts are about it.
Elisabeth Storrs is responsible for the programme for the Historical
Novel Society Australasia (HNSA) Conference. She loves history., That should go
without saying, given what she does. She programmes the HNSA Conference from a
position of knowledge and of that love, which is why I asked her if she’d
answer some questions. She’s also an author (the Tales of Ancient Rome Saga) and
has done a great deal over the years to support other writers. She used to be
the Deputy Chair of the NSW
Writers’ Centre and is the co-founder of the HNSA. All of this explains why she
does programming for the HNSA and why it works out so very well.
One more thing you need to know about
before we look at how Elisabeth approaches her work is what the HNSA conference
is about and why it’s important to understand it. Conventions and conferences
are a key link between readers and writers. They create communities of
interest. The HNSA’s community includes readers of historical fiction,
historians and other scholars, writers of historical fiction, and a range of
people who work in publishing. At the very least, a conference can create a bond between their subject and those who love it through their approach to it. When
the programming is done right, which it was last HNSA Conference as I reported
here (which is why this interview, this year) new things happen to a genre.
Elisabeth doesn’t open the doors to history when the plans a
conference, she does the carpentry so that the rest of us on the programme can
open doors into our way of seeing things. When there are enough doors and
enough people going through them, the whole atmosphere changes. Her vision
provides the direction and our writing and research the content. Events of all
kinds do this. They help shape the history we read and the way we think about
the past.
Let’s get a bit of an insight into how she
lays that groundwork.
 |
| Elisabeth Storrs |
1.
How do you choose your presenters and the role they play at the
conference? Are there any people you feel are particularly necessary? Who are
they? What do they bring?
How do I choose
presenters? The HNSA 2017 Melbourne Conference in September features over 60
speakers. It’s a challenging juggling act!
There were
various goals the HNSA wanted to achieve when designing the programme. Firstly,
we wanted to explore a theme that would resonate with both readers and writers
in terms of Australasian history; secondly, we sought to elicit ‘personal
histories’ from award winning authors for the purpose of inspiring and
informing a general audience; and finally, we believed it was important to provide
insight and instruction to writers into the craft of writing and researching
historical fiction. Overlaid onto this was a desire to provide diversity in the
conference line-up by including authors from a variety of backgrounds,
particularly indigenous speakers. Fortunately, the success of the inaugural
conference in 2015 placed us in a happy position to extend the programme to run
two concurrent streams in 2017 to achieve this vision.
With our aims
sorted, I was then charged with the task of deciding who our speakers would
be. Our conference theme is Identity: Origins and Diaspora as HNSA
believes historical fiction plays an important role in interrogating how
national identities have been forged by past struggles, injustices, sacrifice,
survival, and clash of cultures. It
was essential to secure the appearance of speakers who represented a range of
perspectives to reflect this. Our round table discussion at the opening
reception on 9th September features Arnold Zable, Hanifa Deen,
Ngahuia te Awekotuku and Gary Crew who will
discuss the role of the historical novelist in exploring first encounters in
Australasian colonial pasts, the migrant experience underlying multicultural
identity, and whether an author’s origins are relevant to the story telling.
The first stream
of the Saturday programme will continue to highlight the theme with the keynote
address from Lesley and Tammy Williams, authors of Not Just Black and White,
followed by panels that will discuss the challenges faced in
portraying the meeting of First Peoples with Europeans, and how historical
novelists can breathe life into immigrant tales of prejudice, hardship,
homesickness and adaptation. I chose authors who had produced books that
directly addressed one or more aspects of the conference theme such as Nicole
Alexander, Maxine Alterio and Kim Kelly.
The remainder of
the first stream concentrates on introducing readers and writers to the
personal histories of high profile authors such as our special guest, Kerry
Greenwood, as well as conversations with Kate Forsyth, Sophie Masson, Deborah
Challinor and Lucy Treloar. Insights into the secrets of ‘the long haul’ of
producing multiple books or series will be provided by Juliet Marillier, Libby
Hathorn and Anne Gracie.
The second
stream required further difficult decision making. I chose to separate the
sessions into three areas: research and technique, sub-genres, and trends in
publishing. I matched authors to the topics using criteria such as prominent standing,
favourable reviews, recommendations from HNSA patrons and committee members,
and choosing some members from our HNSA Facebook group . Again, I hoped to achieve diversity in the panels. And my aim was
to present authors who wrote across a range of eras and cultures while also
including self-published writers with proven reputations. I was pleased to include
a greater representation of New Zealand authors than in our 2015 conference.
The result is a
wonderful array of panels including popular novelists Sulari Gentill and Robert
Gott discussing how they’ve successfully created sleuths constrained by the
detective methods of their era. I also
thought it would be interesting to examine the difference between an historical
romance and a love story. For this I chose Isolde Martyn whose work has been
classified as both, and Lisa Chaplin who has gained a reputation as a romance
writer (as Melissa James) but who now writes ‘straight historical fiction.’ The
chance to dispel the assumption that writing fiction for Children and Young Adults
is easy will be explored via experienced authors Pamela Rushby, Gabrielle Wang
and Alan Tucker. I am particularly pleased that Kate Mildenhall and Melissa
Ashley will be participating in a panel discussing ‘The Modern Voice in
Historical Fiction’ given it is essential for an historical novelist to balance
the readability of a novel for a modern audience with a commitment to
authenticity.
Without effectively
adapting research, history merely becomes a backdrop rather than an integral
part of plot, place and character. There will be two panels discussing this:
one on how to transmute research into compelling fiction which includes
translator Stephanie Smee whom I thought would bring a fresh perspective to
this topic, and the other debating the perennial issue of balancing authenticity
against accuracy with Pamela Hart (Freeman) who has moved from predominately
writing CYA to concentrating on adult historical fiction. I have included Tim
Griffiths on the panel to discuss how he grappled with wrapping his imagination
around the challenges of depicting the true story of the famous photographer
Frank Hurley.
2.
What sorts of limitations are there on your choices? Is there
anything you would have loved to do but that was impossible?
Limitations?
Those imposed by lack of funds! HNSA believes authors should be rewarded for
their appearance at writing events. As such we compensate our presenters but unfortunately
we are not in a position to offer travelling and accommodation expenses. There
were many authors (over 20) who were unable to accept our invitation because
they lived interstate or overseas.
HNSA’s next goal is to offer more to its
authors at our 2019 biennial conference. This will ensure we achieve even more variety.
And I have to extend a huge thank you to all our current speakers for their
generous spirit and support, especially those who are prepared to wing their
way across the Ditch or Australia for love of the genre.
3.
This is the second HNSA conference. How did the experience of the
first feed into what you’re doing now?
The 2015 HNSA
conference in Sydney was a huge learning curve. By analysing feedback from our
surveys, we were able to identify favourite panels and features. Hands down
winners were the interviews, our ‘In Bed with History’ session, and our First
Pages Pitch Contest where aspiring writers pitch their ‘first page’ anonymously
to industry experts (Alison Green, (Pantera Press) Mandy Brett (Text), Sophie
Masson (Eagle Books) who then provide a critique of chosen submissions to the
general audience. We are once again employing Rachel Nightingale as an actor to
read the excerpts. Hearing words spoken aloud definitely accentuates what grabs
the attention of readers, publishers and agents from the very first paragraph.
Our 2015 ‘Tudorphilia’
panel was also very popular. In 2017, I decided to look at the appeal of World
War fiction as I believe this is the current ‘flavour of the month’ among
publishers and readers. Analysing why should involve an entertaining discussion
between Paddy Richardson, Elise McCune, Julian Leatherdale and Justin Sheedy. And,
of course, the weekend finishes once again with ‘Outside Your Comfort Zone –
Writing Sex and Violence’ with less bashful authors Kate Forsyth, Luke Devenish
and Anna Campbell.
4.
How does the programme meet the needs of writers and of readers?
I wanted to avoid the
conference being geared solely to writers. After all, readers are absolutely vital. This
is why I developed a general stream concentrating on ‘In Conversation’
interviews as I believe both writers and readers enjoy learning how successful
authors approach their craft and the steps on their publishing journey. However,
our 2015 surveys revealed that the majority of attendees were aspiring writers.
The second stream caters to those who wish to improve their craft and gain
direction. And even the most experienced writers can learn new techniques by
listening to different approaches so I hope the programme will be of interest
to writers at all stages of their careers.
In addition, the
conference aims to provide more advanced support than the panel discussions.
HNSA has developed smaller one hour ‘super sessions’ where participants can
gain tuition from established authors on a range of topics. In this way, people
can learn how to use tools such as Trove (Rachel Franks) and Scrivener (Kelly
Gardiner) or methods of developing a novel from family history (Eleanor
Limprecht.) Lisa Chaplin offers a guide to successful pitching while Hazel
Edwards provides practical advice about ‘The Business of Writing’. Attendees
will benefit from high calibre authors such as Sulari Gentill, Anne Gracie,
Isolde Martyn and Sherryl Clark in writing for specific genres. And a fantastic
opportunity is available to a small number of registrants to attend master
classes with Gillian Polack [me! Editor’s note – it was better for Elisabeth to
talk about me in the third person than to tell me what I was doing, when I know
what I’m doing and it’s readers who don’t know] on ‘Making History Come to Life
through Research and Writing’. This involves her pre-reading 10,000 words of a
manuscript so she can then provide in-depth feedback and practical writing
exercises. Additionally, industry expert, Irina Dunn, will provide 1:1
manuscript assessments.
Our extended academic
programme is open to all. These panels provide an excellent chance to listen to
papers that deal with complex consideration of topics such as ‘Bio-fiction: Can
you Defame the Dead?’ convened by Kelly Gardiner and Catherine Padmore, or ‘The
Lie of History’ featuring Christopher Raja and Wendy J Dunn. We are also
delighted to introduce the inaugural HNSA Short Story Contest with a prize of
$500.
5.
Can you explain specific approaches to history that you’d like the
people attending the conference to experience and how you shaped the programme
to reach this goal (if you did) or why you didn’t (if you didn’t)?
Apart from our ‘Identity’ theme
that examines Australasian history, I made a conscious decision not to
highlight any one era in individual panels other than those considered as
trends. Instead, the sessions feature authors who may write across a range of
periods whether they are medievalists (Robyn Cadwallader, Prue Batten), a fan
of the 1920’s jazz age (Natasha Lester), an ancient world lover (Wendy Orr), or
a devotee of C19th mystery (Greg Pyers). By not separating history into silos,
I believe the audience can better compare and contrast the inspiration, strategies
and expertise of historical novelists to interpret and convey the past.
Thanks, Gillian, for
giving me the opportunity to tell you a little about the HNSA 2017 conference. Creating
the programme has been a challenge and a pleasure. I hope all who attend will
find something which appeals to them. More details are available on the HNSA
website together with the complete speakers’ list including our wonderful chairs and academic panellists.
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