Congratulations on being shortlisted for the 2023 Wolfson History Prize. How does it feel to be shortlisted?
I’m delighted and humbled to be shortlisted (and, as someone trained in English Literature, a bit imposter-syndrome-y about claiming to be an historian!). Over the last months, I’ve loved discussing my book with readers, especially the ways it draws on and reflects back their own bookish experiences, so the shortlist feels a wonderful opportunity to have more of those conversations.
What was the inspiration behind Portable Magic?
Books! And more books! Seriously, I wanted to understand the hold that books as objects have had across two millennia, and to put some of our current issues – book-banning, or writing in books, or shelfies – in a longer historical context. I hope I’ve captured that the magic of books (my title is from Stephen King’s brilliant book On Writing) is a powerful force, and not only a benign one.
The Wolfson Foundation funds a wide variety of museums, historic buildings and landscapes. Do you have a favourite historical place or a place that has inspired you?
I’m an absolute sucker for a Cistercian abbey. Jedburgh is mysterious, Tintern epic, Bolton domestic, but my favourite of all is Kirkstall Abbey, an unexpected medieval survival in suburban Leeds.
Kirkstall Abbey. Photo by Josh Couch on Unsplash.
Was there a particular writer, book, experience or event that first made you interested in history?
Almost everything in my life has, I now see, developed from the Puffin books I devoured as a child. In this context, I’d particularly mention stories by Rosemary Sutcliff, Barbara Willard, Joan Aitken, and the extraordinary long history of an oak tree, Lord of the Forest, by ‘BB’. And, of course, I’d add Asterix.
Why do you feel it is important to celebrate history writing?
We’re in a difficult moment for the humanities, and for the value of the skills of uncovering and interpreting evidence that are crucial to history writing and research. The support of the Wolfson Foundation through this prize – and their other funding – is thus a vital support for the wider enterprise of the humanities. The contested space of history writing – now as much as ever in the past – makes clear just how important it is.
Read an extract from Portable Magic.
