Folklore Fantasy: Alexandra Beaumont, A.Y. Chao, Lucy Holland and Anna Smith Spark in conversation

Join authors Alexandra Beaumont, A. Y. Chao, Lucy Holland and Anna Smith Spark as they give an insight into writing folklore fantasy.

Alexandra Beaumont is a British fantasy novelist with a passion for folklore, playing musical instruments and exploring the wilds of the UK. Her latest release, Dissonance of Bird Song, is praised for being a “visceral and lyrical” page turner with “praiseworthy worldbuilding.” Specialising in gothic and folkloric literature, Alexandra's lyrical books weave together myth, magic and intrigue.  

Alice Chao is the #1 Sunday Times bestselling author of Shanghai Immortal, the first in a trilogy following charmingly profane half-fox spirit, half-vampire Lady Jing. She’s lived in Calgary, Taipei, Paris, Stockholm, Beijing, London, and Hong Kong, where she’s been interloper, compatriot, tourist, and foreigner. As a result of her experiences, she’s fascinated by the interplay between self-perceived versus imposed identity and how this intersects with belonging, themes she enjoys exploring in her stories.

Lucy Holland is the bestselling author of Sistersong, a reimagining of the folk ballad ‘The Twa Sisters’, encompassing fantasy, historical fiction and themes of gender identity. The book was a finalist for the Goldsboro Books Glass Bell Award and the British Fantasy Award for Best Novel in 2022. Song of the Huntress, her second historical fantasy novel, was published by Pan Macmillan in 2024. 

Anna Smith Spark is the author of the grimdark fantasy Empires of Dust trilogy and the folk horror high fantasy A Sword of Bronze and Ashes, book one in her The Making of This World Ruined series, as well as the standalones A Woman of the Sword and In the Shadow of Their Dying. Her writing has been described as ‘a masterwork’ by Nightmarish Conjurings, and ‘howls like early Moorcock, converses like the best of Le Guin’ by the Daily Mail.  

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