There are many ways to win a fight. From forbidden knowledge to lost magics, a good sharp sword and a well-placed word, the protagonists of these epic adventures must expertly wield their chosen weapons to come out top.

In Anna Stephen's new book The Stone Knife, the fight for freedom takes it all: a veteran general seeks peace through war, a warrior and a shaman set out to understand their enemies, and an ambitious noble tries to bend ancient magic to her will.

To save the Republic in Matthew Ward's The Legacy Trilogy, three unlikely heroes must set aside their differences, and overcome decades of bad blood.

And Suyi Davies Okungbowa’s Son of the Storm is a sweeping tale of violent conquest and forgotten magic set in a world inspired by the pre-colonial empires of West Africa.

About the event:

Chaired by Andrew Lindsay

Running time: 60 minutes

Tickets: £3 / £5 (plus 50p booking fee)

The event will be live on Zoom.

About the authors:

Anna Stephens is the UK-based author of the Godblind trilogy, a grimdark, epic fantasy feast concerning gods, religious and political warfare, betrayal, love and the end of all things. The Stone Knife is her latest publication. She has a BA (Hons) in Literature and a Diploma in Creative Writing, both from the Open University. Anna has previously been published in several small presses over the years. She’s currently attempting to be a full-time writer, much to her husband’s amusement. Anna loves all things speculative, from books to film to TV, but if you disagree keep it to yourself as she’s also a second Dan black belt in Shotokan Karate.

Cat-servant and owner of more musical instruments than he can actually play, Matthew Ward is also the author of Legacy of Ash, architect of Coldharbour and Creative Consultant on Vermintide 2. He’s afflicted with an obsession for old places - castles, historic cities and the London Underground chief amongst them. After a decade serving as a principal architect for Games Workshop’s Warhammer and Warhammer 40,000 properties, Matthew embarked on an adventure to tell stories set in worlds of his own design. He lives near Nottingham and writes to entertain anyone who feels there is not enough magic in the world.

Matthew is on Twitter.

Suyi Davies Okungbowa is the author of Son of the Storm (Orbit, May 2021), first in The Nameless Republic epic fantasy trilogy, and the god punk novel, David Mogo, Godhunter (Abaddon, 2019). His shorter works have appeared internationally in periodicals like Tor.com, Lightspeed, Nightmare, Strange Horizons, Fireside, and anthologies like Black Panther: Tales of Wakanda and Year's Best Science Fiction and Fantasy. He earned his MFA at the University of Arizona.

Suyi Davies is on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.

Welcome to worlds of endless nights and midnight suns.

The rich mythology and history of the Norse people have inspired the new epic fantasy stories of John Gwynne (The Shadow of the Gods) and Thilde Kold Holdt (Northern Wrath)

Meanwhile, Mike Brooks combines both Northern and Southern settings and cultures to create the truly epic world for his book The Black Coast.

Prepare yourself for vengeful gods, cold shores and epic battles.

About the event:

Chaired by T.L. Huchu

Running time: 60 minutes

Tickets: £3 / £5 (plus 50p booking fee)

The event will be live on Zoom.

About the authors:

John Gwynne is the author of The Faithful and the Fallen quartet and the Of Blood and Bone trilogy. He studied and lectured at Brighton University. He's been in a rock 'n' roll band, playing the double bass, travelled the USA and lived in Canada for a time.

Mike Brooks is the author of The God-King Chronicles epic fantasy series, beginning with The Black Coast; the Keiko series of grimy space-opera novels, DARK RUN, DARK SKY and DARK DEEDS; and various works for Games Workshop’s Black Library imprint, including BRUTAL KUNNIN and ALPHARIUS: HEAD OF THE HYDRA. He was born in Ipswich, Suffolk, and moved to Nottingham to go to university when he was eighteen, where he still lives with his wife, cats, and snakes. He worked in the homelessness sector for fifteen years before going full-time as an author, plays the guitar and sings in a punk band, and DJs wherever anyone will tolerate him. He is queer and partially deaf (no, that occurred naturally, and a long time before the punk band).

Thilde Kold Holdt is a writer of fantasy novels. Her first series, the Hanged God Trilogy, centres around Vikings and the Old Norse gods. She is on Twitter and Instagram.

In the wastelands of a future Britain, the unlikely heroes of the new novels by T.L. Huchu and Jonathan Stroud just try to make a living.

In T.L Huchu's Edinburgh-set The Library of the Dead, Ropa makes her living delivering messages between the living and the dead.  When the ghosts star whispering of an evil targetting children, she sets out to discover the trush - armed with Zimbabwean magic and Scottish pragmatism. 

In Jonathan Stroud's The Outlaws Scarlett and Browne, Scarlett prefers bank robbery to a more traditional career path. A chance encounter in the wilderness opens up a whole new set of opportunities. All Scarlett has to do is survive the flight across hostile countryside with its giant otters and cannibals, and the company of Browne.

About the event:

Chaired by Patrice Lawrence

Running time: 60 minutes

The event premiered on YouTube.

After the premiere, the event will be hosted on the Member Area of the Cymera website.

About the authors

T. L. Huchu is a writer whose short fiction has appeared in publications such as Lightspeed, Interzone, AfroSF and elsewhere. He is the winner of a Nommo Award for African SF/F, and has been short-listed for the Caine Prize and the Grand Prix de l'Imaginaire. Between projects, he translates fiction from Shona into English and the reverse. The Library of the Dead is the first in his Edinburgh Nights series."

Jonathan Stroud was born in Bedford, England and grew up in St Albans. After graduating from York University he embarked on a publishing and writing career in the gamebook and non-fiction department at Walker Books. He moved to Kingfisher Publications to edit children's non-fiction, and for a time juggled working with writing, but Stroud is now a full-time writer. In May 1999, Stroud burst onto the children’s book scene with his first novel, Buried Fire. His second fantasy adventure, The Leap, was published in January 2001 as part of the new Definitions list. 2003 saw the publication of a brand new novel, the first title of The Bartimeus Trilogy called The Amulet of Samarkand, an enthralling new fantasy trilogy about a wickedly witty and thoroughly irresistible "djinni." The Last Siege, published in October 2006, tells the tale of a chance encounter on the snowy slopes of a castle moat which throws together three lonely teenagers whose playful dares turn into a frenzy of nightmarish action when a re-enactment of a castle siege becomes very real.

Jonathan is on Twitter.

Bonjour in 1930s Paris and God Bless you, England, in the Year of Our Lord 1145. 

That’s right: Barbara Stevenson’s The Dalliances of Monsieur D’Haricot and Lavie Tidhar’s The Hood will take you on a history lesson you won’t forget….

About the event:

Chaired by Justin Lee Anderson

Running time: 60 minutes

Tickets: £3 / £5 (plus 50p booking fee)

The event will be live on Zoom.

About the authors:

Barbara Stevenson has a background in veterinary medicine and subsequently, animals feature in many of her stories – some with outspoken things to say about humans. She studied creative writing as part of an Open University BA(Hons) degree and has had a novel and short stories published. In 2014 her humorous sketch ‘Commonwealth Conundrum’, about Martians trying to join the Commonwealth, was performed in the Tron Theatre, Glasgow. In 2016 she won the Scottish Association of Writers’ Livingstone scholarship trophy and the Castles in the Air Trophy for a short story in the fantasy genre. She lives in Orkney, where she finds inspiration for her writing.

Lavie Tidhar is the World Fantasy Award winning author of Osama (2011), Seiun nominated The Violent Century (2013), the Jerwood Fiction Uncovered Prize winning A Man Lies Dreaming (2014), and the Campbell Award and Neukom Prize winning Central Station (2016), and Locus and Campbell award nominated Unholy Land (2018), in addition to many other works and several other awards. His latest novels By Force Alone (2020) and debut children’s novel Candy (2018 UK; as The Candy Mafia 2020 US). He is also the author of the comics mini-series Adler. New novel The Escapement is forthcoming in 2021.

This event starts with a Brave New Words reading from Lindz McLeod

Fairytales, myths and legends are the oldest stories we tell, and they continue to inspire new ones. In the new books by Lucy Holland (Sistersong), A.G. Slatter (All the Murmuring Bones) and Hannah Whitten (For the Wolf), we encounter three rebellious sisters, learn not to meddle with vengeful sea creatures and meet the big but maybe not so bad wolf.

About the event:

Chaired by Ann Landmann

Running time: 60 minutes

Tickets: £3 / £5 (plus 50p booking fee)

The event will be live on Zoom.

This event includes a Brave New Words reading from Lindz McLeod

About the authors:

Angela Slatter is a writer based in Brisbane, Australia. Primarily working in the field of speculative fiction, she has focused on short stories since deciding to pursue writing in 2005, when she undertook a Graduate Diploma in Creative Writing. Since then she has written a number of short stories. Her latest work, All the Murmuring Bones, is published by Titan.

Angela is on Twitter and Facebook.

Hannah Whitten has been writing to amuse herself since she could hold a pen, and sometime in high school, figured out that what amused her might also amuse others. For The Wolf, her most recent book, is published by Orbit. When she’s not writing, she’s reading, making music, or attempting to bake. She lives in Tennessee with her husband and children in a house ruled by a temperamental cat.

Hannah is on Twitter and Instagram.

Lucy Holland works for Waterstones and has a BA in English & Creative Writing from Royal Holloway. She went on to complete an MA in Creative Writing under Andrew Motion in 2010. Lucy lives in Devon and co-hosts Breaking the Glass Slipper, an award-winning feminist podcast. She is the author of Sistersong.

Lucy is on Twitter.

This event starts with a Brave New Words reading from Ry Herman

What lengths would you go to to keep an empire?

In Tasha Suri's The Jasmine Throne, Emperor Chandra's attempt to burn his own sister Malini as a sacrifice to the gods is only the start. Imprisoned in exile, Malini plots revenge, and her newly acquired servant Priya and her strange magic may just be the key to Chandra's downfall.

In Andrea Stewart's debut The Bone Shard Daughter, Lin, the Emperor's daughter, vows to reclaim her birthright by mastering the forbidden art of bone shard magic. But the mysteries behind such power are dark and deep, and wielding her family's magic carries a great cost. When the revolution reaches the gates of the palace itself, Lin must decide how far she is willing to go to claim her throne - and save her people.

About the event:

Chaired by Elspeth Wilson

Running time: 60 minutes

Tickets: £3 / £5 (plus 50p booking fee)

The event will be live on Zoom.

This event includes a Brave New Words reading from Ry Herman

About the authors

Andrea Stewart is the daughter of immigrants, and was raised in a number of places across the United States. Her parents always emphasized science and education, so she spent her childhood immersed in Star Trek and odd-smelling library books. When her (admittedly ambitious) dreams of becoming a dragon slayer didn't pan out, she instead turned to writing books. She now lives in sunny California, and in addition to writing, can be found herding cats, looking at birds, and falling down research rabbit holes. She is the author of The Bone Shard Emperor, published by Orbit.

Andrea is on Facebook.

Tasha Suri is the award-winning author of The Books of Ambhaduology (Empire of Sand and Realm of Ash) and the upcoming epic fantasy The Jasmine Throne, published by Orbit. She is an occasional librarian and cat owner. She has won the Best Newcomer (Sydney J. Bounds) Award from the British Fantasy Society and has been nominated for the Astounding Award and Locus Award for Best First Novel. When she isn’t writing, Tasha likes to cry over TV shows, buy too many notebooks, and indulge her geeky passion for reading about South Asian history. She lives with her family in a mildly haunted house in London.

Tasha is on Twitter and Instagram.

This event starts with a Brave New Words reading from M.E. Rodman

Caught between morale, politics and love, how can you be sure what to fight for?

In C.L. Clark’s The Unbroken, two women clash in a world full of rebellion and espionage and are caught between colonialism and revolution in a story rife with familial, political and romantic tension.

The Burning God, the exciting final volume in R.F. Kuang’s The Poppy War trilogy, combines the history of 20th-century China with a gripping world of gods and monsters, to devastating, enthralling effect.

About the event:

Chaired by Katalina Watt

Running time: 60 minutes

Tickets: £3 / £5 (plus 50p booking fee)

The event will be live on Zoom.

This event includes a Brave New Words reading from M.E. Rodman

About the authors

Cherae C. L. Clark is the author of The Unbroken, the first book in the Magic of the Lost trilogy and editor of the British Fantasy Award-winning PodCastle. She graduated from Indiana University’s creative writing MFA and was a 2012 Lambda Literary Fellow. She’s been a personal trainer, an English teacher, and an editor, and is some combination thereof as she travels the world. When she’s not writing or working, she’s learning languages, doing P90something, or reading about war and [post-]colonial history. Her work has appeared or is forthcoming in FIYAH, PodCastle, Uncanny, and Beneath Ceaseless Skies

C.L. Clarke is on Twitter.

Rebecca F. Kuang is a Marshall Scholar, translator, and the Nebula, Locus, and World Fantasy Award nominated author of the Poppy War trilogy. She has an MPhil in Chinese Studies from Cambridge and an MSc in Contemporary Chinese Studies from Oxford; she is now pursuing a PhD in East Asian Languages and Literatures at Yale.

Rebecca is on Twitter.

Join the journey and discover your destiny!

In Caroline Logan’s The Cauldron of Life a war between Heaven and Earth is brewing, the lines between good and evil are blurring, and Ailsa must decide where she stands.

And the forces of light and darkness clash once again in Katy Rose Pool’s As The Shadow Rises - can the approaching Age of Darkness be stopped or will it be unleashed?

About the event:

Chaired by Eleanor Pender

Running time: 60 minutes

Tickets: £3 / £5 (plus 50p booking fee)

The event will be live on Zoom.

Caroline Logan is a writer of Young Adult Fantasy. Her debut novel, The Stone of Destiny, is the first in The Four Treasures series. Caroline is a high school biology teacher who lives in the Cairngorms National Park in Scotland, with her fiancé and dogs, Ranger and Scout. Before moving there, she lived and worked in Spain, Tenerife, Sri Lanka and other places in Scotland. She graduated from The University of Glasgow with a bachelor’s degree in Marine and Freshwater Biology. In her spare time she tries to ski and paddle board, though she is happiest with a good book and a cup of tea.

Caroline is on Twitter and Instagram.

Katy Rose Pool was born and raised in Los Angeles, California. After graduating from UC Berkeley with a degree in history, Katy spent a few years building websites by day and dreaming up prophecies by night. Currently, she resides in the San Francisco Bay Area, where she can be found eating breakfast sandwiches, rooting for the Golden State Warriors, and reading books that set her on fire.

Katy Rose is on Twitter and Instagram.

Meet the two kick-ass priestesses at the heart of these two fantastic debuts. In A.K Larkwood's The Unspoken Name, Csorwe defies her god to make her own destiny, following a wizard who promises her a life beyond sacrifice.

Meanwhile, Hessa, the warrior priestess in Hannah M. Long's The Hall of Smoke, disobeys her goddess, which not only puts her on a path of great loss and struggle but also embroils her in the ultimate conflict, the war between gods.

About the event:

Chaired by Eleanor Pender

Running time: 60 minutes

Tickets: £3 / £5 (plus 50p booking fee)

The event will be live on Zoom.

About the authors:

A. K. Larkwood studied English at St John’s College, Cambridge. Since then, she has worked in higher education & media relations and is now studying law. She lives in Oxford, England, with her wife and a cat. Her debut novel, The Unspoken Name, has been published by Tor in 2020.

A. K. Larkwood is on Twitter.

Hannah M Long is a Canadian writer who loves history, hiking, and exploring the world. She inhabits a ramshackle cabin in the wilds of Muskoka, Ontario, where she writes books and tames squirrels. However, she can often be spotted snooping about European museums or wandering the Alps with her husband. Hannah is the author of numerous books, including Hall of Smoke and Temple of No God. ​ She also writes fantasy set in the 18th century, Edwardian period, and science fiction.

Hannah is on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.

This event starts with a Brave New Words reading from Jim Alexander

Fantastic(al) worldbuilding is at the heart of the work of Shona Kinsella and Alex Pheby.

In Shona Kinsella’s novella The Flame and The Flood, one child in a hundred is born with an affinity: a magical link to an element, able to shape and use it as they choose. If they are lucky they will become a master craftsman, able to command high prices; if they are unlucky, the factories always demand new wielders, kept as slaves and worked to exhaustion.

Alex Pheby’s Mordew is a city built on the dead body of a god, where strange creatures are born out of the mud. In the slums of the sea-battered city a young boy called Nathan Treeves lives with his parents, eking out a meagre existence by picking treasures from the Living Mud. Until one day his desperate mother sells him to the mysterious Master of Mordew. The Master derives his magical power from feeding on the corpse of God. But Nathan, despite his fear and lowly station, has his own strength - and it is greater than the Master has ever known.

About the event:

Chaired by ABS

Running time: 60 minutes

Tickets: £3 / £5 (plus 50p booking fee)

The event will be live on Zoom.

This event includes a Brave New Words reading from Jim Alexander

About the authors:

Alex Pheby was born in Essex and moved to Worcester in his early childhood. He currently lives with his wife and children in London, where he teaches at the University of Greenwich. Alex’s second novel, Playthings, published by Galley Beggar Press in 2015, was shortlisted for the 2016 Wellcome Book Prize. His third novel, Lucia, published in 2018, went on to be the joint winner of the 2019 Republic of Consciousness Prize. Alex’s fourth novel, Mordew - the first in an epic fantasy trilogy - was published by Galley Beggar in August 2020.

Alex is on Twitter.

Shona Kinsella is an author of speculative fiction who lives in the West of Scotland, near picturesque Loch Lomond. She has a degree in Law and has worked in varied jobs, from acting to the civil service. Shona is an avid reader with a love for language and is most often to be found with her nose in a book. Shona lives with her husband and three children. When she's not writing, doing laundry or wrangling the children, she enjoys cooking, geocaching and nature walks with her family.

Shona is on Twitter and Instagram.

Mythology is the source of inspiration for these two authors: Rachel Burge’s The Crooked Mask is part ghost story, part murder mystery steeped in Norse Myth, and Gabriela Houston’s The Second Bell a provocative spin on Slavic striga mythology.

Prepare to be stunned, terrified and absolutely thrilled!

About the event:

Chaired by Linda Strachan

Running time: 60 minutes

The event premiered on YouTube

After the premiere, the event will be hosted on the Member Area of the Cymera website.

About the authors

Rachel Burge is an author living in East Sussex, England. She used to work as a freelance copy writer but now writes creepy YA novels surrounded by candles, usually with a horror soundtrack playing. She doesn’t get out much, but can sometimes be found muttering plot ideas to herself whilst walking in the woods with her black Labrador, Biff. Rachel has always been drawn to the macabre. As a child, she would write stories and draw pictures that her mum would take away because they gave her nightmares. She has seen a ghost, and to this day swears she once saw a doll’s hand move by itself when she was a kid. Unfortunately, her first proper writing job was on The Dolls House Magazine, which meant handling dolls and styling them for photoshoots (oh the horror!). crow-cut-out Thankfully, dolls don’t feature in her work – much. Oh, and she also has a thing about crows. Don’t forget the crows.

Rachel is on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.

Gabriela Houston is a London-based writer. She was born in Poland and raised in a book-loving household on the nourishing diet of mythologies, classics and graphic novels. She had spent much of her early school years holed up in the library, only feeling truly herself in the company of Jack London’s trappers and Lucy Maud Montgomery’s red-headed orphan, among many others. She came to the UK at 19 to follow her passion for literature and she completed her undergraduate and Masters degrees at Royal Holloway, University of London. After her studies, she worked in publishing for a few years. She now lives with her family in Harrow, where she pursues her life-long passion for making stuff up.

This event starts with a Brave New Words reading from C.C. Peñaranda

Will the protagonists in Victoria Aveyard’s Realm Breaker and Kesia Lupo’s We are Bound By Stars accept the card they have been dealt or will they change their fortunes?

The first tale has Corayne starting a desperate journey to complete the impossible task of saving the world from destruction after a surprising encounter and the latter sees Livio and Beatrice attempting to stop a deadly revolution in a thrilling, plot-driven adventure. All carry the fate of their worlds on their shoulders…

About the event:

Chaired by Eleanor Pender

Running time: 60 minutes

Tickets: £3 / £5 (plus 50p booking fee)

The event will be live on Zoom.

This event includes a Brave New Words reading from C.C. Peñaranda

About the authors:

Kesia Lupo studied History at Oxford University and Creative Writing at Bath Spa. She lives in Bristol with her husband and works as a children's book editor, writing in the mornings before work. Her debut YA novel, We are Blood and Thunder, and its follow-up We are Bound By Stars are published by Bloomsbury.

Kesia is on Twitter.

Victoria Aveyard is an author and screenwriter, born and raised in a small town in Western Massachusetts. Both her parents are public school teachers, as well as avid film, television, and literature fans. Victoria grew up on a steady diet The Lord of the Rings, Star Wars, Indiana Jones, Harry Potter, and LOST. She pursued a degree in Writing for Film & Television at the University of Southern California’s School of Cinematic Arts. After graduating college in 2012, Victoria moved home from Los Angeles and began writing the manuscript that would become Red Queen. She has since published four #1 New York Times bestselling and USA Today bestselling books, two New York Times bestselling novellas, a New York Times bestselling short story collection. She lives full-time in Los Angeles and is hard at work on her next young adult fantasy series. The first instalment, Realm Breaker, publishes in 2021.

Victoria is on Twitter and Instagram.

May it be by outsmarting the enemy and outrunning the galaxy in an attempt to save the Earth during an intergalactic warfare - as in Charlie Jane Anders’ Victories Greater Than Death - or by hopping through the galaxies and returning treasures that have the power to stop (and start) wars - as in SM Wilson’s The Infinity Files, there are many ways to save the universe, sometimes from itself!

About the event:

Chaired by Sarah Barnard

Running time: 60 minutes

Tickets: £3 / £5 (plus 50p booking fee)

The event will be live on Zoom.

About the authors

Charlie Jane Anders' latest novel is The City in the Middle of the Night. She's also the author of All the Birds in the Sky, which won the Nebula, Crawford and Locus awards, and Choir Boy, which won a Lambda Literary Award. Her story "Six Months, Three Days" won a Hugo Award, and her story "Don't Press Charges And I Won't Sue" won a Theodore Sturgeon Award. Charlie Jane also organizes the monthly Writers With Drinks reading series, and co-hosts the podcast Our Opinions Are Correct with Annalee Newitz.

S.M. Wilson lives on the west coast of Scotland with her fiancé and two sons. Her day job is as a nurse in public health – and her dream job is writing fiction. Her love of YA fiction started as a teenager and has never stopped. She wrote The Extinction Trials to try and infect her sons with the same love of reading that she has – watch out, she’s hoping it’s contagious!

This event starts with a Brave New Words reading from Ian Green

Dragons are the ultimate fantasy creature – great in a fight, comfortable to ride and handy if you have forgotten your firelighter. 

In RJ Barker’s The Tide Child Trilogy, people have even built ships out of the bones of supposedly extinct dragons, while Mark De Jager takes a more undercover approach in The Chronicles of Stratus. Buckle up for a wild ride!

About the event:

Chaired by EM Faulds

Running time: 60 minutes

Tickets: £3 / £5 (plus 50p booking fee)

The event will be live on Zoom.

This event includes a Brave New Words reading from Ian Green.

About the authors:

Mark De Jager is a fanboy, reader, writer, gamer and self-confessed pizza addict. Aside from that, he’s also a fantasy author. His debut novel, Infernal, is being published by Del Rey on 11th August. Originally from Cape Town, South Africa, he now lives in south London with his wife Liz (herself a published author) and their sometimes loony but always lazy dog in a house that is equal parts library and home.

Mark is on Twitter.

RJ Barker lives in Leeds with his wife, son and a collection of questionable taxidermy, odd art, scary music and more books than they have room for. He grew up reading whatever he could get his hands on, and has always been 'that one with the book in his pocket'. Having played in a rock band before deciding he was a rubbish musician, RJ's fourth novel, The Bone Ships, won the 2020 Robert Holdstock best novel award. His first trilogy The Wounded Kingdom (Age, Blood and King of Assassins) was nominated for the Gemmel award the Kitschie Award, The Compton Crook and the British Fantasy Society’s Best Debut and Robert Holdstock Best novel. His latest trilogy is the critically acclaimed, and pleasingly alliterate, Tide Child Trilogy: The Bone Ships, Call of the Bone Ships and The Bone Ships Wake.

RJ Barker is on Twitter and Facebook.

In Cari Thomas' Threadneedle, Anna is counting down the days to the ceremony that will bind her magic forever. After all, Anna's Aunt has always warned her of the dangers of magic. Until she meets Effie and Attis, who open her eyes to a London she never knew existed. But as she is swept deeper into this world, Anna begins to wonder if her Aunt was right all along. Is her magic a gift. or a curse?

In Witches Steeped in Gold by Ciannon Smart, two witches enter a very untrustworthy alliance. For Iraya Adair, her magic is the only way to reclaim her birthright and to bring vengeance to those who exiled and imprisoned her. Jazmyne Cariot grew up dressed in gold, with stolen magic at her fingertips. Daughter of the self-crowned doyenne, her existence is a threat to her mother's rule. But unlike her sister, Jazmyne has no intention of dying to strengthen her mother's power. Sworn enemies, the two witches enter a deadly alliance to take down the woman who threatens both their worlds.

About the event:

Chaired by Sonali Misra

Running time: 60 minutes

Tickets: £3 / £5 (plus 50p booking fee)

The event will be live on Zoom.

This event includes a Brave New Words reading from Lindsey Stirling

About the authors:

Cari Thomas’ first story, at seven years old, was about a witch who took over her school. Many years later she graduated with first class honours from Warwick’s English Literature and Creative Writing course and gained a Distinction in Magazine Journalism at The Cardiff School of Journalism. She landed her first journalism job at teen magazine Sugar where she was put in charge of the YA book club. Writing book reviews and attending launches confirmed her suspicion that this was her world. She went on to work in consumer publishing and as a digital strategist at a creative agency, learning how to apply storytelling techniques to multimedia brand campaigns. All spare moments were spent dreaming up ideas for her book series while accumulating an odd collection of research books on magic and the occult. Her first novel, Threadneedle, set in contemporary London, is also about witches and they’re still causing just as much chaos.

Cari is on Twitter and Instagram.

Of Jamaican heritage, Ciannon Smart grew up in a small town in the south-east of England. As the only daughter in a house full of boisterous sons, she developed a voracious appetite for reading from an early age, preferring anarchy in stories rather than real life. In YA she loves her heroines exactly as she loves her villains: wilful, wily, and unpredictable. When not writing, Ciannon can be found reading, painting, or taking the long way home to listen to a good song more than once.

Ciannon is on Twitter and Instagram.