Writer
On 30 May 1593, celebrated young playwright Christopher Marlowe was killed in a tavern brawl in London… or did he re-invent himself as one William Shakespeare? Award-winning poet Ros Barber discusses her enthralling and hugely acclaimed new verse novel The Marlowe Papers with Shakespearean scholar Bill Leahy and writer Will Self. When: Tue 29 May […]
Sceptre is 25 Andrew Miller, Ros Barber, Jess Richards, Clare Morrall. Chaired by Dr Katy Shaw To celebrate Sceptre’s 25th anniversary, a selection of its established and emerging authors read from their latest and forthcoming books. Andrew Miller has just won the coveted Costa Book of the Year for his sixth novel, Pure, a gripping […]
Saturday 1st October Forest Row Festival Venue: Garden Room, Community Centre Time: 6-7pm Cost: £3/£2.50 At this event, Ros will be giving a sneak preview of ‘The Marlowe Papers’, a fictional autobiography of the 16th century playwright Christopher Marlowe, due to be published by Sceptre in 2012. As the Forest Row Festival states, “This promises […]
Thursday 28th May 7pm – 8.30pm Blackwells, Oxford To coincide with the Bodleian’s Marks of Genius exhibition (which displays, among other things, Edmund Malone’s quarto of Marlowe’s The Tragicall History of Doctor Faustus I’ll be reading from The Marlowe Papers and talking about Marlowe. If you’re in the area, do come along – it’s free! Includes […]
The Marlowe Papers – London reading On Sunday Sept 30th, Ros Barber will read from and talk about The Marlowe Papers. The event will be held in the wonderful historic setting of the excavated footings of the original Rose Theatre, not far from The Globe on the south bank of the Thames. Ros will read from […]
Ros Barber is an award-winning writer of both historical and speculative fiction. Her debut novel, The Marlowe Papers, described by the New York Times as “a remarkable book”, was awarded the Desmond Elliott Prize, jointly awarded the Author’s Club Best First Novel Award, and long-listed for the Women’s Prize for fiction.
Six-year-old Tyke is the spit of her half-brother, Mark, but there’s one crucial difference: Tyke is the result of rape. When her father sails into their Devon fishing village in 1695, Mark, to protect their Ma, decides to kill him. But the plan goes wrong and Mark goes missing. Tyke’s mother dresses her daughter as […]
The Rich Writer Myth One of the biggest myths about becoming a successful novelist is that it means you must be rolling in it. ‘Six-figure-advance’ trips off the tongue very easily, as if it were normal. ‘Royalties’ sounds juicy. Money: still something that people who want to write a novel want to write a novel for. […]
Fear of failure is the block that comes up more often than any other when I am working with writers. It is the holding category for about the half the content of ‘Write the Damn Book!‘ It is the bucket into which writers can throw a great deal of their negative self-talk: what if it’s rubbish? what […]
The Year In Brief If you have limited time to spend with me, or a short attention span, here is my year in terms of firsts. Because firsts always mean you are moving forward (unless they are shit ones… no, even if they are shit ones). First… appearance on Woman’s Hour review in the Times […]