Elizabeth Knox
Elizabeth Knox appeared at the inaugural Marlborough Book Festival in 2014 and returns in the wake of rave reviews for her epic fantasy The Absolute Book.
She is the author of 13 novels, three novellas and a collection of essays. Her book The Vintner's Luck (1999) won the Deutz Medal for Fiction and has been published in 10 languages.
2021 festival sessions
A Fantastic Life
- in conversation with Kim Hill
Elizabeth Knox has been imagining fantastic worlds and characters since she was a child. Some of those plots are still unfolding.
The writer shares stories from publishing rejections to publishing sensations starting with The Vintner’s Luck, and how she emerged from family loss to write her latest book, The Absolute Book, which she feels is her best yet.
The Absolute Book
- in conversation with Jane Forrest Waghorn
The Guardian praised The Absolute Book as "everything a fantasy should be: original, politically engaged and teeming with literary allusion”.
Elizabeth discusses her inspiration for the story, the references within to other fantasy traditions, and important messages the novel conveys about reality and the challenges of current times.
If you haven’t read the book before the session, we wager you won’t be able to resist after hearing all about it.