The Regency period lasted a mere nine years while Prince Regent George ruled as his temporarily mad father’s proxy. The glamour and charm of the era has lasted far longer with a plethora of novels set in in those times first made popular by Georgette Heyer in the 1920s.
In this week’s episode of HNSA’s Imagining the Past podcast, Alison Goodman, Anne Gracie and Anna Campbell chat with Elizabeth Jane Corbett about their inspirational sources, their own passion for the period, and how they have played with the tradition of Regency romance.
OUR SPEAKERS
Alison Goodman is the author of seven novels including her most recent release Lady Helen and the Dark Days Deceit, the final novel in her award-winning Regency supernatural trilogy, and EON and EONA, a New York Times bestselling fantasy duology. She is currently working on a new Regency series and has embarked on a PhD focusing on the Regency era and historical fiction research.
Anne Gracie started her first novel writing by hand in notebooks while backpacking solo around the world. Published by Berkley USA (PenguinRandomHouse) with several early books by Harlequin International, Anne has written twenty-one Regency-era historical romances which have been translated into more than eighteen languages. Anne is a national bestseller in the USA, an award-winning author, a five time RITA finalist and has for the last three years been voted ARRA’s “Favourite Australian Author.” She’s also a former president and lifetime member of Romance Writers of Australia.
Queenslander Anna Campbell has written 10 historical romances for HarperCollins and Hachette, and 21 bestselling independently published romances. Her work is published internationally, including in the USA, France, Russia, the UK, and Japan. Anna has won numerous awards for her sweeping, emotional stories set in the early 19th century, including the Australian Romance Readers Association’s favourite historical romance (five times). She has three times been nominated for Romance Writers of America’s prestigious RITA Award and three times for Australia’s Romantic Book of the Year. The Australian Romance Readers Association voted Anna favourite author of 2009, 2010, 2011 and 2012.
When Elizabeth Jane Corbett worked as a librarian, taught Welsh at the Melbourne Welsh Church, and was the Social Media Coordinator for HNSAustralasia. In 2009, her short-story, Beyond the Blackout Curtain, won the Bristol Short Story Prize. Another, Silent Night, was short listed for the Allan Marshall Short Story Award. Her debut historical novel, The Tides Between, was named a Children’s Book Council of Australia Notable Book for older readers. She liked red shoes, dark chocolate, commuter cycling, and reading quirky, character driven novels set once-upon-a-time in lands far away. Sadly she passed away in early 2020.
Greg Johnston has edited and hosts the Imaging the Past podcasts sessions from the HNSA 2019 conference program. It is a treat for those who couldn’t attend our conference at Western Sydney University in October last year to hear some of the panel discussions such as this one. It’s also a chance for HNSA 2019 attendees to catch up on the sessions they missed because they couldn’t be in two rooms at once!
G.S. Johnston is the author of three historical novels – Sweet Bitter Cane (2019), The Cast of a Hand (2015), and The Skin of Water (2012), and a fourth novel set in contemporary Hong Kong, Consumption (2011). The novels are noted for their complex characters and well-researched settings. After completing a degree in pharmacy, a year in Italy re-ignited his passion for writing and he completed a Bachelor of Arts degree in English Literature. Feeling the need for a broader canvas, he started writing short stories and novels. Originally from Hobart, Tasmania, Johnston currently lives in Canberra, Australia.
