Bagwyn Books publishes well-researched historical fiction by academics. Symposium opens if for debate of whether it has its merits.
In 2011 The Arizona Center for Medieval and Renaissance Studies formed an imprint subsidiary to publish historical fiction centered in the medieval and Renaissance periods.
Created to give lovers of the medieval and Renaissance eras an opportunity to express their creativity in fiction, Bagwyn Books is a history-lover’s dream. Priority will be given to works centering on or connected to the medieval and Renaissance periods (400 C.E. to 1700 C.E.), but novels from all eras are welcome.
Bagwyn Books is dedicated to publishing well-researched historical fiction that is appropriate for an audience ranging from young adult (ages 14+) to an adult audience and which centers on the medieval and Renaissance periods (400 C.E. to 1700 C.E.).
Since 2011 the publishing company has published 8 novels. Ranging in Kindle-price between 7-8 dollars they are not quite in the league of New York Times bestsellers and have not so-far been noticed by Publishers Weekly. However, some of the authors have, and perhaps it is more a question of marketing.
Symposium on Historical Novels
Come November, ACMRS invites interested scholars and authors to take part in a one-day symposium titled: Reimagining the Past: Nation-Building to Bodice Ripping in Historical Fiction
Does historical fiction have potentially dangerous consequences? In some countries it is considered an aid to nation-building while in others it is seen as a bastardization of history.
The symposium delves into aspects of historical fiction that range from Biblical narratives to the conquest of the New World and images of the Native American to the question of historical fiction as a “female” or “illegitimate” literary genre. Join us as we explore the nexus between Biblical narrative and Latin American and English language epics and contemporary historical fiction publishing ventures.
Program:
- Introduction
- Dr. Sharonah Fredrick , Assistant Director, ACMRS: “Recovering Latin American History through Historical Fiction: Re-imagining Aztecs as Romans During the Spanish Conquest of Mexico”
- Prof. Robert Sturges, Professor of English, ASU: “The Bible as Historical Fiction: The Book of Judges”
- Melissa Slocum, PhD Student in English Literature, ASU: “Native Americans and Contemporary Historical Fiction”
- Kendra TerBeek, Acquisitions Editor, Bagwyn Books: “Bagwyn Books and Historically Accurate Fiction as Educational Outreach”
- Questions & Roundtable: Historical Fiction or Historical Romance? Reimagining the Past: Nation-Building to Bodice Ripping in Historical Fiction
Reimagining the Past: Nation-Building to Bodice Ripping in Historical Fiction
Labriola National American Indian Data Center
2nd Floor, Hayden Library, ASU Tempe Campus
Free and open to the public
07.11. 2015, 1:00-3:00pm
READ MORE:
Arizona Center for Medieval and Renaissance Studies
P.O. Box 874402, Tempe, AZ 85287-4402
Pachacuti: World Overturned
By Lori Eshleman
Bagwyn 2015
ISBN: 978-0-86698-806-3
Three centuries after Columbus, uprisings in South America still held out the hope of a Pachacuti, or world-turning, which would reverse the fortunes of the Spanish and the Indians. One such revolt in the eighteenth-century Kingdom of Quito entwines the lives of three people in a story of desire and unextinguished hope that mirrors the complex relations between conquerors and the conquered. For Santiago Huamán the revolt sparks a quest to become a medicine man; for young Ana Alfaro it brings exile and an illicit love affair; and for the Jesuit inquisitor Gregorio Moncada, it precipitates spiritual doubt. From the baroque city of Quito to a remote hacienda in South America’s largest crater, Pachacuti: World Overturned captures the grandeur and decay of the Spanish Empire on the eve of disintegration.
FEATURED PHOTO:
A Bagwyn from a bestiary. GKS 1633 4º- Bestiarius- 9 recto © Royal Library Copenhagen