Lindsey Davis

Lindsey Davis is a prolific novelist who has been writing historical (crime) fiction for over 30 years. Born and raised in Birmingham, she read English Literature at Oxford before working for 13 years for the civil service. In 1985, Davis was inspired to become an author when her romantic novel was runner up for the Georgette Heyer Historical Novel Prize. Initially writing romantic serials for Woman’s Realm magazine, Davis was later inspired to delve into the Roman world by her interest in archaeology and history, leading to the creation of the hugely successful Roman detective, Marcus Didius Falco.  The first novel in the series, The Silver Pigs published in 1989, was awarded the Authors’ Club Best First Novel award. Her character of Falco won the Sherlock Award for the best comic detective and her stories have been serialised for Radio 4. Lindsey Davis has won many awards including the Crimewriters’ Association Dagger; the Ellis Peters Historical Dagger and was awarded the Crimewriters Association Cartier Diamond Dagger for lifetime achievement in 2011. She was the inaugural winner of the Barcelona Historical Novel Prize in 2013. The author has been Chair of UK Crimewriters’ Association, Honorary President of the Classical Association and Chair of the Society of Authors. Amongst many other accolades, Davis was honoured with the Premio Colosseo in 2010 by the city of Rome. Her books are published in the UK and US and have been translated into many other languages. Davis continues to live where she grew up and is the current President of the Birmingham and Midlands Institute.

Welsh author of the month - Heiddwen Tomos

Heiddwen Tomos is an author and Welsh and Drama teacher in Ysgol Bro Teifi, Ceredigion. She says her main inspiration for starting to write was her desire to create, and that writing is a way to create a picture but with words.  At a young age, she hated reading, she was better at taking photos but her mother was always telling her to read a book. Having reached GCSEs she finally got her teeth into the kind of books she enjoyed and since then she’s never looked back. What makes a good book in her view is the ability to identify with the character. Things like plot and dialogue are also key. Humour also helps to articulate an intense situation and keep the reader involved in the experience.

Heiddwen’s first book for young people is Heb Law Mam. As a teacher she says she has a lot of fun with pupils and her own children. From reading the book she hope’s the reader will find that there are difficult times in all our lives, but with the love of family and friends you can get through it. One day at a time and you'll see the sun again.  Heiddwen enjoys painting, she was the winner of the Drama Medal in the 2017 National Eisteddfod in Anglesey and she is a mother of three children.