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IMC 2009: Sessions

Session 929: Heretics at the Airport: Contemporary Popular Literature and Medieval Religious Dissent - A Round Table Discussion

Tuesday 14 July 2009, 19.00-20.30

Sponsor:University of Glasgow
Organiser:Andrew P. Roach, School of Humanities (History), University of Glasgow
Moderator/Chair:James R. Simpson, Centre for Medieval & Renaissance Studies, University of Glasgow
Abstract

René Weis is Professor of English at University College, London. He is the author of numerous publications on Shakespeare, including an acclaimed biography of the bard (Shakespeare Revealed, 2007) and of The Yellow Cross (Penguin, 2000), an account of the Cathars' last stand in the Pyrenees in the 1290s. The Yellow Cross has been translated into 7 languages including French (Fayard). The book had the notable distinction of being effusively praised by Emmanuel Leroy Ladurie, author of the world bestseller Montaillou. 'In an utterly modern way, and with the freshness and vibrancy of real life, this book recaptures the Cathar experience in Languedoc 700 years ago.' Weis is currently editing Romeo and Juliet for the Arden Shakespeare and is writing a book about the real life story behind Verdi’s Traviata.

Kate Mosse is a short story writer, playwright, and novelist, the author of the international multi-million bestselling novels Sepulchre and Labyrinth, both set partly in 13th-century Languedoc against the backdrop of the crusade against the Cathars. Her work has been translated into 38 languages and published in 41 countries worldwide. The Co-Founder and honorary director of the Orange Prize for Fiction, which celebrates international writing of excellence by women, she is presenter for BBC Radio and television and is currently hosting 'A Good Read', the weekly book show on Radio 4. Her next novel, The Winter Ghosts, will be published in October 2009 and she is currently working on the third novel in her Languedoc Trilogy, Citadel, to be published in the UK in Spring 2011.

Katie Grant is an author and journalist. She has written regularly for, amongst others, the London Times, the Daily Mail, the Scotsman and the Sunday Times Scotland. She is also an occasional contributor to the Spectator. Blood Red Horse, the first part of her 'de Granville' trilogy is a Booklist Top Ten Historical Fiction for Youth and was a USBBY-CBC Outstanding International Book for 2006. Blue Flame, the first of the 'Perfect Fire' trilogy (Quercus, 2008, and greeted by the Financial Times as 'one of the best teen books of 2008') is set in the Languedoc of the 13th century. Through White Heat (published 2009) and Paradise Red (to be published 2010) we reach the pyre at Montségur. She has just returned from being one of Rochester, Michigan's Authors in April.