Gladstone’s Library plays host to two Writers in Residence this February

Writers Sophie Mackintosh and Susanna Forrest are set to wow audiences as Writers in Residence at Gladstone’s Library in Hawarden this February.

Sophie Mackintosh is an award-winning author of award-winning short stories; her work can be found in The White Review, Five Dials, Granta and elsewhere.

Her first novel, The Water Cure (2018), has found huge success both commercially and critically.

Shortly after her nomination for Gladstone’s Library’s Writer in Residence programme The Water Cure was longlisted for the Booker Prize.

Sophie was born in Wales and is currently based in London, her residency at Gladstone’s Library runs 10th February – 10th March.

At her evening event, Utopias and Dystopias on Tuesday, 12th February, she will ruminate on why both critics and audiences seem to love speculative fiction so much and will tackle some tough questions including why we are so drawn to it, what speculative fiction helps us to come to terms with, and what it can tell us about ourselves.

Sophie also leads a day-long masterclass on The Art of the Short Story’ During the day, participants will learn how novels and stories inform one another, as well as how to work within (and learn from) the limitations of short fiction.

Susanna Forrest is an author, journalist, essayist and teacher.

Susanna writes creative non-fiction on equine culture, a subject that took her across the world, including Mongolia.

She published her first book, If Wishes Were Horses, in 2012, following with The Age of the Horse: An Equine Journey Through Human History (2016), an extraordinary achievement of research, travel, and writing which uses horses to tell the story of our own human history.

The Times called her ‘the outstanding writer at the erudite end of horse madness’ and Waterstone’s named her book one of the Best Countryside and Nature books in 2016.

Susanna’s residency runs 10th – 24th February.

On Tuesday, 19th February, she will present an evening talk on Writing Animals and will explore the challenges of doing animals justice in contemporary non-fiction.

As a scholar of equine culture and history and the author of the The Age of the Horse (2016), Susanna has much to teach us about history, literature, anthropology, philosophy, and even food!

For more information or to book tickets to any of the events, call 01244 532350 or email [email protected].

You can also book tickets online through the individual event pages.