Historical Novel Society Conferences

Mark your calendars for our next conference: 29-30 September, 2012, at the University of Westminster on Regent Street in central London. Bookings are now open at the conference website - with full programme details and stellar cast list to come! This will be our largest UK conference yet, and we look forward to seeing you there.

We're also pleased to announce our 5th North American conference. It will take place Friday June 21, 2013 to Sunday June 23, 2013, at the historic Vinoy Renaissance Resort in St. Petersburg, Florida. Visit the 2013 conference site for updates as our plans develop.

Our 4th North American conference was held on June 17-19, 2011, at the Holiday Inn on the Bay in San Diego, California. Our guests of honor are Cecelia Holland and Harry Turtledove, with special guest Susan Vreeland. View a slideshow of conference photos.

If you wish to be placed on a mailing list for the latest information on our events, please contact us.

Our past events:

In 2001 the society held its first UK Conference at the New Cavendish Club in London. Speakers were Richard Lee, Carole Blake, Lindsey Davis, Julian Rathbone and Julian Stockwin. We sold out of tickets three months in advance, and the day was such a success that we felt committed to repeating the event. In 2002 we moved to the Open University Conference Centre in London, where a bigger room could hold more than a hundred delegates. This time there were speakers (Barbara Erskine, Claire Conville and Bernard Cornwell), but also a panel discussion (with Richard Lee, Jane Jakeman, Derek Wilson, Manda Scott and Elizabeth Chadwick), and writing master-classes (with Simon Scarrow, Wendy Robertson and Marina Oliver). Again the day was a huge success.

In 2003 we moved the venue of our annual conference again so that we could be a part of the Cambridge History Festival - on Saturday 6th September 2003. The speakers for 2003 were Tracy Chevalier, Beryl Bainbridge, Louis de Bernieres, Sarah Waters, Paul Doherty, Lindsey Davis, C.J. Sansom, Philip Gooden and Jane Stevenson. There was a free lunch for members (sponsored by Constable and Robinson publishers), free wine-tasting (courtesy of Cambridge Wine Merchants), and a gala dinner in the evening with guest speaker David Starkey. The other two days of the festival also offered a feast of history. For full details on the Cambridge History Festival, contact Derek Wilson.

On October 2, 2004, we staged another successful London conference at our original venue, the New Cavendish Club. Speakers included CC Humphreys, Janet Gleeson, Helen Hollick, Debbie Taylor, Jane Jakeman, Elizabeth Hawksley, and Laura Wilson.

Our first North American conference was held on April 15-17, 2005, in Salt Lake City, Utah. Our special guests were authors Jack Whyte and Judith Merkle Riley, Crown historical fiction editor Rachel Kahan, Tor/Forge editor Natalia Aponte, and literary agent Irene Goodman. Please see the conference website for the complete program plus photos from the event! You can also read the published conference reports from Solander (May 2005 issue).

Our 5th annual UK conference took place on Saturday 22 October 2005 in London. View the programme.

The 2nd North American HNS conference took place on June 8-10, 2007, in Albany, New York. Visit the 2007 Albany conference website for conference photos and program.

Our 6th UK conference was held on Sat 12th April 2008 at the National Railway Museum, York.

Our 3rd North American conference was held June 12-14, 2009, at the Hyatt Regency Woodfield in Schaumburg, IL, in Chicago's northwest suburbs near O'Hare.

Our 2010 UK conference was held at the Mechanics Institute in Manchester on 17th October 2010. Speakers included Robert Low, Harry Sidebottom, Jean Fullerton and Douglas Jackson. Manchester Libraries' Readers day took place at the same venue on 16th October, and speakers included Alison Weir, Maria McCann and Sarah Dunant.

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