Catz40: Women in Publishing - London Branch Literary Event

The St Catharine's College Society, London Branch with Kate Cox (1990), has arranged a series of events to mark Catz40. The third of these events focuses on Women in Publishing. 

This event will take the form of a hosted panel discussion, to be held in the early evening of Thursday 14th May  2020 at Waterstone’s in London, with four published authors and Catz alumnae sharing their experience of getting published for the first time. The discussion with be hosted by Sir Tim Waterstone (1958) alongside:

Honorary Fellow Dr Joanne Harris MBE (1982) After studying Modern and Medieval Languages at Catz, Joanne briefly trained as an accountant and then spent 12 years as a teacher before her first novel was published in 1989. In 1999, her third novel, Chocolat, became a Sunday Times best seller, shortlisted for the Whitbread prize, made into a Hollywood film and subsequently sold over a million copies.   Joanne’s books are now published in over fifty countries and have won a large number of UK and international awards.

Kate Smith (1993) After studying English Literature at Catz, where she wrote and performed comedy as part of Footlights' Smokers, Kate qualified as a lawyer. Kate is now a freelance law lecturer, and as well as fiction, and creative non-fiction, she also writes comedy for television and radio. She completed an MA in Creative Writing at Manchester Met obtaining the Michael Schmidt prize for an early draft of her first novel The Negligents. She was a finalist in the BBC's search for new radio voices, and is currently writing her second novel and a comedy podcast about commuting.

Dr Abigail Brundin (2000) has been a Fellow of St Catharine’s College since 2000 and is a Reader in Early Modern Literature and Culture in the Faculty of Modern and Medieval Languages. In her published work she aims to move attention away from literary canons and traditional, top-down views of the Italian Renaissance in order to introduce new perspectives and attend to marginalised and hard-to-hear voices, including in particular those of women.  Her published works include:, 'Vittoria Colonna and the Spiritual Poetics of the Italian Reformation' (Ashgate, 2008); and ‘The Sacred Home in Renaissance Italy’ (Oxford University Press, 2019), which has been awarded one of the Bainton prizes in 2019.

Catherine Blyth (1992) 'While studying English at Catz, Catherine moonlighted for Germaine Greer, researching the lives of seventeenth-century female poets. She tried her hand at gossip, arts P.R. and then as an editor, working with the likes of Rachel Cusk, Hilary Mantel and Carol Shields. She discovered the other side of life for women authors when her books about conversation and marriage were published all over the world. Her latest, On Time (William Collins), has not improved her punctuality. She also broadcasts, edits and writes journalism.'

The discussion with be moderated by Sir Tim Waterstone (1958) who also studied English at Catz. After leaving college, Sir Tim had a varied career across India and the UK eventually working for WH Smith.  He set up Waterstone’s in 1982 in London and by 1992 the business had grown to be the largest bookselling group in Europe. Sir Tim has published four novels: a semi-autobiographical business book, Swimming Against The Stream (Macmillan 2006) and his memoir, The Face Pressed Against A Window, was published by Atlantic Books in February 2019.

The charge is £20 per person, with a £10 ticket for students, including light refreshments and you are welcome to bring a guest. Please click here to book.