The programme for the Historical Novel Society 2026 conference in Maynooth, Ireland is now available:
I will be presenting on Saturday 22 August at 10.10 on Transforming Sources into Fiction. Four of my historical novels have links to Ireland. Dublin was established by Vikings. The Viking Hostage focuses on the 10th century Viking occupation of the Welsh islands off the Pembrokeshire coast.
My Conquest trilogy (Daughter of the Last King, The Drowned Court, and The Anarchy) focuses on the Welsh noblewoman Nest ferch Rhys. When her father and older brothers were slain in battle and she was taken hostage, her youngest brother Gruffudd ap Rhys, the heir to the throne of southwest Wales, was hidden in Dublin. When he grew up, he attempted to oust the Normans from his kingdom. His wife, Gwenllian ferch Gruffudd was killed in battle against the Normans. Gruffudd inflicted a crushing (and rare) defeat on the Normans in 1135 in the battle of Crug Mawr, near Cardigan. There are scenes set in Dublin in Daughter of the Last King and The Drowned Court.
Nest’s son Maurice Fitzgerald (shown in the illustration) – his father was the Norman, Gerald Fitzwalter – was the lord of Llanstephan Castle in Wales and the Fitzgerald Castle in Maynooth – the site of the HNS 2026 conference. Maurice was a significant figure in the Norman invasion of Ireland. I will be looking at drawing on chronicles, sagas, and poems to create fiction around these historical characters and events. Nest’s grandson, Gerald of Wales, was the author of an account of the Norman invasion of Wales.
The conference presents two days of talks for historical fiction writers, publishers and readers, along with excursions. You can book your ticket here:
https://historicalnovelsocietyuk.regfox.com/hns-2026
Image: Maurice Fitzgerald, lord of Llanstephan. From a manuscript of the Expugnatio Hibernica written in 1189 by Gerald of Wales, in the National Library of Ireland, MS 700, f77, right margin. Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.
Tracey Warr Writing 