Feature

Three Favourite Reads of 2023

Patricia was invited to compile her best books from the last year for the book recommendation website Shepherd.com

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News and Events

‍ JUNE 2023 

Narrative ethics and character in the representation of the past in Contemporary fiction

Friday 16th and Saturday 17th June 2023, University of Portsmouth UK

Guest speaker: Novelist Patricia Duncker


Following on from the success of Event 1 in Caen in October 2022, this conference further explores how the past is a key component of contemporary literature. Current years have seen an increased return of history and of the historical novel in mainstream fiction, from the historiographic metafictions of the 1990s to the “fresh commitment to what we might call the reality of history” (Boxall 2013) in 21st-century novels. Considering that character remains central to the novel, this two-day conference jointly organised by the Universities of Portsmouth and Caen wishes to address the issue of the past in contemporary fiction through the question of the choice of protagonists and their representation. Indeed, if we believe with Paul Ricoeur that narrative is the foundation of textual memory, if “narrative imagination is an essential preparation for moral interaction” since it develops compassion and understanding in the reader (Nussbaum 1998), then the question that begs to be asked is: can one write anything about the past in the name of the freedom of fiction and art or is there an ethical limit to representations of the past in contemporary fiction?


Call For Papers

Abstracts (with a short biographical note) are to be sent to Dr Armelle Parey (ERIBIA,

Université de Caen, France) at armelle.parey@unicaen.fr and Dr Christine Berberich, University of Portsmouth, UK) at christine.berberich@port.ac.uk by March 10th 2023. Notifications of acceptance or rejection will be sent within the following fortnight.

‍  JUNE 2023      

Chase of the Wild Goose

Saturday 3rd June 2023, 2-3:30pm, Plas Newydd, Llangollen, Wales

Publisher of Lurid Editions D-M Withers in conversation with novelist Patricia Duncker


Book launch celebrating the republication of Mary Gordon's Chase of the Wild Goose.

First published by Virginia and Leonard Woolf's Hogarth Press in 1936, Gordon's heartfelt homage to the Ladies is the forgotten queer novel of the interwar era.

Sarah Waters has described Chase of the Wild Goose as a "fascinating piece of queer literary history" and a "deeply feminist work, a celebration of courage and nonconformity."

Chase of the Wild Goose joyfully reimagines the life and times of Eleanor Butler and Sarah Ponsonby, and dreams them back into existence.

Join publisher D-M Withers and acclaimed novelist Patricia Duncker for an unforgettable conversation at Plas Newydd, where the spirit of the Ladies can still be felt intimately, rushing through the grounds.

Patricia Duncker is the author of many critically acclaimed novels including Hallucinating Foucault, James Miranda Barry and Sophie and the Sibyl: A Victorian Romance.

D-M Withers - Founder of Lurid Editions and Lecturer in Publishing at the University of Exeter


View poster for the event (pdf)

View press release (pdf)

Reserve a free ticket for the event

Read a short review of the event


‍ SEPTEMBER 2022 

Victorian Resurrections

22-24 September 2022. University of Vienna


Death and resurrection as well as the fears, fantasies and fads that surround them, pervade Victorian literature and culture in a myriad of ways. From literary representations of the dead coming back to life, to cultural practices of mourning and memorialising the dead, the Victorian era betrays a striking concern with how to cope with one's mortality. 


Patricia will be a keynote speaker at the Victorian literature international conference in September with a paper entitled Resurrecting the Ghost: Victorian Fictions of Revolution, Charles Dickens and George Eliot. For more information see the University of Vienna website.


View conference website

 JANUARY 2023 

Imagining Gender in Biographical Fiction 


“A Way Out of the Prison of Gender” Patricia is interviewed in this new Palgrave study edited by Julia Novak and Caitríona Ní Dhúill. 


Read more…


 NOVEMBER 2022 

Marlon James

“Louise Simpson the poet won the Pulitzer. Michelle Cliff, Olive Senior, Mervyn Morris, Patricia Powell, Patricia Duncker; all of these writers have written fantastic and brilliant novels. Patricia Duncker’s Hallucinating Foucault is taught in nearly every gender studies class. We’ve always had writers who’ve had a big influence on American writers, even if they’re not well-known. They are all brilliant and they all have books that deserve more readers.” 


Read the Marlon James interview in The Chimes newspaper

Previous News

‍ SEPTEMBER 2021 

Writing and Translation

4 September 2021


Patricia took part in a Zoom conference on Writing and Translation, organised by her Russian translators, Alexandra Borisenko and Victor Sonkin at the HSE University, one of Russia's top universities. HSE hosts the first Russian MA-level course in Creative Writing and Translation. Patricia gave a presentation on Narrative Structures, her approach to writing fiction and discussed being an engaged, committed reader.


Patricia's 2nd novel, James Miranda Barry, won the Yasnaya Polyana Literary Award for Foreign Fiction in 2020 and her translators were also justly honoured and recognised by the prize committee. Patricia says: "Translation is an art and a gift. I want to thank my extraordinary Russian translators who have made my fiction accessible to Russian readers."

 AUGUST 2021 

Editing Fiction

16-21 August 2021. Arvon, Totleigh Barton, Devon


Patricia will be one of the tutors on the fiction course at the Arvon centre with editor Richard Beswick and the literary agent,  Jo Unwin. 


View the Arvon website

 JUNE-JULY 2021 

Happy in Berlin?

22 June 2021.  Online launch


Patricia will be part of the team launching this exhibition around English writers in Berlin. Due to current restrictions the event will be online. 


View or download the poster/brochure (pdf)


View the Happy in Berlin website

 NEWS AND EVENTS ARCHIVE 

News and events since the website launched in 2011


Event archive 2011-2012

Event archive 2013-2014

Event archive 2015-2016

Event archive 2017-2020

All Rights Reserved. Patricia Duncker 2024