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Dyniaethau a'r Gwyddorau Cymdeithasol - Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences
SpeakerJane Fraser
Kathleen B. Jones
Elaine Canning
Jane Fraser lives, works and writes fiction in a house facing the sea in the village of Llangennith, in the Gower peninsula, south Wales. In 2017 she was a finalist for the Manchester Fiction Prize and in 2018 was a prize-winner for the Fish Memoir Prize and selected as a Hay Festival Writer at Work. Her first collection of short fiction, The South Westerlies was published by UK indie, SALT, in 2019. In 2022, she was commissioned by BBC Radio 4 for the first time to write a short story which was broadcast as part of its Short Works series. In 2022, she was also awarded The Paul Torday Memorial Prize for her debut novel, Advent, published by Welsh women’s press, HONNO, in 2021. She has a PhD in Creative Writing from Swansea University, is wife to Philip and co-director of NB:Design, a business they share, and importantly, grandmother to Megan, Florence and Alice. She is a firm believer that there’s a right time in life to do things, rather than a right age.
Born and educated in New York City, Kathleen B. Jones taught feminist theory for twenty-four years at San Diego State University. Besides many scholarly books, she wrote two memoirs: Living Between Danger and Love, (Rutgers University Press, 2000) and the award-winning Diving for Pearls: A Thinking Journey with Hannah Arendt (Thinking Women Books, 2015). Her essays and short fiction have appeared in Fiction International, Mr. Beller’s Neighborhood, The Briar Cliff Review, Humanities Magazine, and The Los Angeles Review of Books. Among numerous awards, she received multiple grants from the National Endowment of the Humanities, writers’ grants to the Vermont Studio Center, an honorary doctorate from Örebro University, Sweden, and a distinguished alumni award from CUNY Graduate Center. Cities of Women is her debut novel. She lives in Stonington CT.
Originally from Belfast, Elaine Canning is a writer, editor and public engagement specialist living in Swansea, South Wales. She is a member of the British Council Wales’ Advisory Committee and a Fellow of the Learned Society of Wales.
From: 1 Nov 2023, 6 p.m.To: 1 Nov 2023, 7:30 p.m.
Location: Waterstones, Swansea, Other
Join us as we celebrate the debut novels of award-winning authors Jane Fraser (Wales) and Kathleen B. Jones (USA).
In conversation with Elaine Canning, Jane and Kathleen will discuss the art of writing historical fiction, inspirations and influences, as well as the silencing and invisibility of women, duty and desire within a range of cultural landscapes.
Kathleen B. Jones is the author of Cities of Women, a novel which examines the lives of women who dare to challenge the social norms of their days, risking their reputations and livelihoods for the sake of their passions.
Advent, by Jane Fraser, set in rural Wales in 1904, tells the story of Ellen, a young woman grappling with family loyalty and independence, limitations and aspirations, Welsh traditions and American dreams.
Elaine Canning's The Sandstone City moves between present-day Belfast and the Spanish Civil War, questioning choice and responsibility, as an eighty-eight-year-old man strives to heal his granddaughter's trauma before he can fully pass over.
Contact: Cultural Institute (Email: cultural-institute@swansea.ac.uk)
Event created by: s.e.ward-jones