I don’t have a section for book talks, so this will have to be a musing. I spent the evening a few days ago listening to the author Kate Mosse talking on stage. She was entirely alone. This was not an interview but I’m not quite sure what it was: part performance, part illustrated lecture and definitely part book promotion. The book in question was the product of the lockdown years and an investigation into family history: ‘Warrior Queens and quiet revolutionaries’.
I have often pondered and discussed the conundrum: What is truth? And very much the same applies for : What is history? The further in you wade, the muddier the waters become. Kate Mosse was trying to think about who writes history, who decides who gets a place and who is left out. She did have an agenda, clearly. Where are the women in history? Kate Mosse told her audience that she had only ever written one tweet. It was as she was researching and realising that frequently women had been wiped out of events. She asked if anyone knew of a woman who was missing from archives, from music, art, science and literature. She received many answers from all over the world.
The author talked for over two hours, supported only by a large screen behind her which showed dates and pictures and by a few props to lighten things up a little. It was a fascinating evening which I much enjoyed. At the end there was the inevitable book signing. I didn’t buy the book … maybe another time.