Last week I was at Carew Castle in Pembrokeshire, Wales giving a talk on the first inhabitants of the castle: Nest ferch Rhys and Gerald FitzWalter. At the front of the castle site a large, decorated stone cross bears the name of Maredudd ap Edwin, one of the 11th century rulers of the Welsh kingdom…
Author: Tracey Warr
Author of historical novels and books on contemporary art.
The Normans in Wales
Nest ferch Rhys, the 12th century Welsh princess, is the heroine of my fiction trilogy, Conquest. Nest was wife or mistress to a Norman king, a Welsh prince, and the Norman constables of Pembroke and Cardigan castles. Interpretations of the few facts known about Nest ferch Rhys vary greatly. In my novels I am attempting…
Step into 12th century London
More details and bookings on Eventbrite
Writers interviewed
My interview with Carol Drinkwater just published. Her new novel, The Lost Girl, is set in Paris and published next month.
Stepping into medieval London
‘The only plagues of London are the immoderate drinking of fools and the frequency of fires’ wrote William Fitz Stephen in his account of the city in the 12th century. On a recent trip to Cambridge, Massachusetts I came across a little book called Norman London in a second-hand bookshop. The book contained Fitz Stephen’s…
A writing life in France
at Hotel Les Fleurines 17 Boulevard Haute Guyenne Villefranche-de-Rouergue, 12200 France organised by The English Library Many writers, from Joyce to Hemingway, have seen and used the value of the estranged position. Not entirely fitting in, being a bit of a voyeur is the ideal position for a writer. Not belonging can allow a…
Murder Mystery in France
My interview with author, Stephen Goldenberg, has just been published on The Displaced Nation website. Goldenberg has written and self-published a murder mystery set in France and thrillers set in Britain. He is now working on a novel about a man who modelled for the artist, Francis Bacon. Stephen and I are talking about our…
Considering historical fiction
Just back from Cluny Museum of the Medieval Age, Paris. Talking on Sat 25 Mar 10.30am at Parisot Library, France on historical fiction. Does historical fiction try to impose today’s moral values on another era? 7th century Visigothic votive crowns. Cluny Museum, Paris. Historical fiction takes time instead of…
Bodice-ripping?
Saturday 25 March 10.30am Tracey Warr at Parisot Library, 82160, France Is historical fiction bodice-ripping escapism, taking liberties with historical facts, or a genre putting flesh on the skeleton of history, and engaging with contemporary society? In this event Tracey Warr will discuss a wide range of historical fiction writers from Mary Renault to Bernard…
Tracey Warr Writing 