Unleashing Creativity at the History Unbound Historical Novel Writing Festival
- Patricia Leslie
- Nov 5
- 8 min read
History Unbound
Last weekend was the 10th anniversary of Historical Novel Society Australasia’s biennial conference, History Unbound, so I packed my bags and headed to Sydney for the Sunday program.
The venue, Parramatta Town Hall, was lovely (I always appreciate a good heritage building), easy to find and surrounded by cafes. I picked up my morning coffee at @lilmisscollinscafe
Read on for my round up of the Sunday sessions. For the full weekend program, visit History Unbound.
Session 1: First Nations Voices: the importance of oral histories. Speakers: Yvonne Weldon with Lenora Thaker, Leonie Norrington and Tasma Walton.
Stories are owned by the land. ~ Dr Leonie Norrington
This session covered the erasure of First Nations People from the narrative of Australian history. Opportunities are increasing for our Indigenous authors to share stories of invasion and dispossession, and the consequences of the brutal treatment they’ve endured since Europeans arrival in their Country.
The authors talked about their books as well as the processes involved in writing and publication, and the complexities arising from different approaches to language. Indigenous languages are invested with huge concepts. A single word, for example “dilly bag” means much more than the English version (or Western-educated person in general might be aware of). The dilly-bag is more than a simple bag, a receptacle for items to be transported. Through the fibres used to make the bag, the design of the weave, colours chosen, and style of bag, a story is being told of where this bag (and its owner) belongs, the people they may represent as well as the bag’s purpose. There’s no such thing as “just a bag”.
Now imagine this depth of meaning and complexity held within every Indigenous story and how difficult and sensitive it is to translate into English. Add to that, the process of ensuring stories are accurate, Indigenous words used are correct, and the need for consultation throughout (start to finish) from the owners of the story The complexity may sound onerous but it is vital to ensure voices and narratives are correctly heard and recorded.
All of our histories started with oral history. For hundreds of years before writing and printing became common practice, storytelling between communities and families was the key to understanding our past and acquiring knowledge to take into the future. Oral history is the foundation of what we know. It travels throughout history through the voices of the people.
Yvonne Weldon: independent, and first Aboriginal Councillor in the City of Sydney Local Government Area. Born and raised in inner Sydney with strong ties to her Wiradjuri homelands of Cowra and the Riverina areas of New South Wales. Author of Sixty-Seven Days.
Lenora Thaker, Meriam and Wagedagam woman, born and raised on Gimuy-Walubarra Yidinji country in far north Queensland and author of The Pearl of Tagai Town.
Dr Leonie Norrington grew up in Arnhem Land and was adopted by Yolngu woman, Clare Bush. Author of A Piece of Red Cloth : co-authored by Merrkiyawuy Ganambarr-Stubbs, Djawa Burarrwanga and Djawundil Maymuru.
Tasma Walton, Boonwurrung woman from the saltwater country of Melbourne and surrounding coastlines and author of I am Nannertgarrook.
Session 2: Kate Evans in conversation with Pip Williams.
Tell all the truth but tell it slant ~ Emily Dickinson
Kate Evans is co-host of ABC Radio National’s Weekly Broadcast and Podcast, The Bookshelf.
Pip Williams is best known for her novels, The Dictionary of Lost Words and The Bookbinder of Jericho. Read my reviews here. You can read these as stand-alone novels but I recommend them as companion novels (start with “Dictionary”) as some characters and their story lines (or parts thereof) feature in both. Pip shared that a side-character in these two novels will feature in her next novel.
It was a pleasure to listen to her talk about her research and writing processes for these novels and the hints she shared with her upcoming novel. Kate Evans and Pip discussed the ins and outs of writing about real people from history alongside fictional characters. Real people with real participation in the past adds depth to historical fiction. Their experience, their stories are included so that their names are not forgotten to history. At the same time, where their presence or achievements have been noted, then these should be treated truthfully and sensitively. Where private lives have not been recorded then fictionalising is allowable (to a certain extent). Fictional characters are, of course, more flexible and can be used to undertake actions that cannot be done by the real person.
I follow a similar process in my own writing. In Keeper of the Way, for instance, real characters give substance to the historical period and fictional undertake the more unlikely activities like casting spells or doing harm.
Pip Williams’ interest is social history and honouring the ignored women of history. She separates “history” from “the past” into different aspects.
The past is one thing and history is something completely different.
History is the story we tell of the past.
This rendering of the past into history is often overlooked. History is an interpretation of what may have actually happened so we, as readers and writers, need to come into it slant-wise with eyes wide-open to differing facets of the same events.
Session 3: Stephen Romei in conversation with Matthew Reilly and Malcolm Knox.
Stephen Romei is a journalist and critic.
There were some interesting points made during this discussion on the connection between humour (or laughing) and fear, and the use of distraction when following a fictional character’s journey to their overall goal. Matthew Reilly compared his novel to “Forrest Gump” in that as with Forrest who’s overarching goal in life was to get back to Jenny, Hannah from Mr Einstein’s Secretary wanted to study physics. Life got in the way though, just as it did with Forrest Gump, as she became secretary (spy and scientist), to some of history’s (1912 to 1948) greatest minds. An interview with Matthew Reilly in Goodreading Magazine outlines the purpose behind writing this story and the departure from his usual action and thriller novels.
Malcolm Knox’s most recent novel, The First Friend, is set in 1938 Soviet Union and is described as a satire, thriller and survivor’s tale. The first friend of the title is Vasil Murtov (fictional), closest friend to Lavrenti Pávlovich Beria (real person), a long serving and influential secret police chief under Joseph Stalin.
As with Reilly’s, Mr Einstein’s Secretary, the narrative is from the point of view of the fictional character woven into the story of the very real people they each connect with. Hannah Fischer, at different times, works for Einstein, Werner Heisenberg (physicist who ran the Nazi’s atomic research project), and Albert Speer (Nazi architect and armaments minister).
Each of these authors use humour (not always obviously) as a narrative propulsion throughout the story, moving the reader along the journey with the characters from start to end. With such dark subject matter as World War 2, the Nazi regime and the Stalin era you’d be forgiven for wondering how they get away with it. But, as they said during the talk, humour and fear live in close proximity. The reflex of laughter often follows that of fear.
For the writers, on fictionalising real people, it was suggested that reading their memoirs (when available) was a good way of discovering their mindset and finding bits of knowledge that may not be well known.
Session 4: Colonial Crime: sleuthing and survival under British Rule
I wasn’t familiar with the authors from this session but was lured in by the title: Colonial Crime. I was expecting the chats to be about crime during colonial times but it was more about colonial society. Think Death in Paradise where the British detective comes in to take charge of local crime fighting in a commonwealth territory.
It was interesting to hear about the research each author undertook, navigating research traditions from the U.K. plus policing methods from Britain being used in the “colonies” where traditions, social cues, and society in general is vastly different.
Alexandria Burnham, a screenwriter and novelist, talked about her novel covering the life and times of William Swallow. Swallow was a colourful character so some of the challenges Burnham had in her research included unpicking the tall tales from the truth.
Michael Burge spoke about his discovery of one of the first (if not the first) white explorers to discover parts of the Jenolan Caves system (Cathedral Cave, I believe). Jane Falls, a Methodist missionary, was noted as being the first to venture underground but as little else is known or recorded about her, Burge had to completely fictionalise the character including changing her name. Read more about the research here.
Nilima Rao based her novels on a group of detectives who travelled from India to Fiji to assist the police force.
Claudine Tinellis is an author and podcaster (Talking Aussie Books). Her knowledge of Australian writing and publishing was clear so I’ll be checking out her podcast for some more chats with authors.
Session 5: Elisabeth Storrs in conversation with Natasha Lester.
Just keep writing. It will work out in the end. ~ Natasha Lester
Storrs is an author and founder of the Historical Novel Society Australasia (among many other things). Natasha Lester is a bestselling novelist with ten books doing quite well around the world.
Elisabeth Storrs led Natasha through the journey from starting out to where she is now. Lester’s realisation that she was an historical fiction writer rather than a literary contemporary writer meant finding a new publisher and agent, but was worth it. Historical fiction was her true love (alongside research, travel and fashion) and led to her first big break (Costco Pick of the Month). She writes about trail-blazing women in history all while blazing her own trail to global success as an Australian author.
Lester also went into her writing process, she’s a full-time dedicated writer who puts in a full day’s work five days a week on her career. Not all writers have the personality to be as disciplined.
AI churns things out. Human beings create. ~ Natasha Lester.
On discussing, “churning out novels” (her ten novels were published almost one per year), she reminded the audience that while it may appear to be the case, each novel takes two to three years to write and publish, and she certainly includes writing breaks between them. The novel she is working on now, won’t be ready for release until 2028!
Her latest release is The Mademoiselle Alliance, a story about a Parisian mother who came to lead the largest spy network in occupied France. To find information on this woman, Marie-Madeleine Meric Fourcade ,was not easy. As is all too common, she was written out of history, ignored by the historians rendering the past. In this case, stories of World War 2. Luckily, Lester was able to find Fourcade’s memoir – researcher’s gold – and could fill in the many gaps with primary source material.
Overall, the day left me inspired and enthusiastic to return to my own research and writing, which is exactly the type of response I look for in a good writers festival. Natasha Lester shared that discovering the HNSA festival back in 2015 was like finally finding “her people”. I have to agree. I was much more comfortable and engaged with the program than I’ve been at other festivals. There’s much more to the event than what I’ve outlined too, workshops, pitching sessions, dinners, the EJ Corbett Mentorship program, and the ARA Historical Novel Prize.
If historical fiction is your thing, I highly recommend attending the next “History Unbound” festival in 2027. Head to Historical Novel Society Australasia for more details on their events, podcast, and contact details (newsletter and socials).
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