Events
Signings, festivals, meet and greets and more
Upcoming Events
12 October 2024
Cheltenham Literary Festival
Cheltenham, Gloucestershire
I’ll be talking spy fiction at this truly glamorous festival, along with remarkable bestselling authors
Ben McIntyre and Charles Cumming.
Tickets
19 October 2024
Shoreham Wordfest
Shoreham, Sussex
I’ll be on stage with some brilliant crime authors at this seaside festival. One-day tickets available!
Tickets
20 October 2024
Guildford Book Festival
Guildford, Surrey
I’ll be on stage, talking with author Kate Summerscale about her incredible non-fiction book, The Peepshow. You don’t want to miss this!
Tickets
29 October 2024
Petworth Festival
Petworth, Sussex
I cannot wait for this event, where I’ll be interviewing the brilliant author and journalist Hadley Freeman. Come join us!
Tickets
8 November 2024
Chester Literature Festival
Cheshire, England
Let’s explore our collective fascination with spy fiction past and present, at the gorgeous Chester Book Festival.
Tickets
Past Events
Capital Crime
London As The
Perfect Setting
1 September 2022, 1:20 pm
Leonardo St Paul’s Hotel, London
If you’ve read The Chase, you know London is more than a setting to me – I’ve used it as a character. With tangled streets and subterranean passageways, London provides a perfect backdrop for danger, and I’ll discuss this along with authors Amen Alonge, David Fennell, and Erin Kelly.
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Guildford Book Festival
Whispers, Secrets, and Lies
5 October 2022, 6:30pm
Guildford
I’ll be at the Guildford festival on the Whispers, Secrets, and Lies crime-writing panel along with authors Tom Hindle and Heidi Perks talking all things thriller. We’ll share our secrets on how to keep readers gripped from page one to the end!
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Lyme Crime
Event: Spies Like Us: From Fact To Fiction
16 June, 4.30pm
Lyme Regis, Dorset
I’ll join three other panellists – Charlotte Philby, undercover journalist Holly Watt, and historic fiction author and filmmaker Jack Jewers – to talk about writing spies. How do our experiences find their way into our writing? And why are female spies so rare in fiction?
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Bloody Scotland
The Evolution
of Espionage
16 September, 3 pm
Stirling, Scotland
I’ll join two other authors – John Brownlow and Chris Lloyd – to talk about writing spies in the modern age. What is a modern spy? How do our spies compare to the fictional spies of the past? What can we bring to our books that makes this genre feel immediate and new to readers who have read it all? Event hosted by author Charles Cumming.
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Shoreham Wordfest
Spies and Other Subterfuges
14 October
Shoreham, Sussex
I’ll be on a panel with Simon Toyne, Saima Mir, and Matthew Richardson talking about writing about spies. What are the rules? How do we craft the perfect spy? Find out all our tricks at this event in Sussex.
This event is sold out
Capital Crime Festival
Secrets & The Spies That Keep Them
1 October 2022, 3:30pm
London
Come see me in London at the Capital Crime Book Festival, where I’ll be on the Secrets & The Spies that Keep Them panel, talking thrilling espionage with Tim Glister, Mick Herron, Marina Palmer & James Swallow.
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Theakston’s Harrogate
Event: Writing Spies After Bond
21 July, 3.15pm
Harrogate, Yorkshire
I’ll join three other panellists – Greg Mosse, author of The Coming Darkness, Tim Glister, author of A Game of Deceit, and Jack Jewers, author of The Lost Diary of Samuel Pepys – to talk about writing spies in the shadow of the most famous spy of them all. Are we all trying to write a new James Bond?
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Instagram Live
with Ava Glass
26 September, 5pm UK / 11am US East Coast
Ava’s Instagram
I am so excited to be doing my first Instagram Live to celebrate the publication of The Traitor! Join me to chat all things spies, Emma’s latest adventure, and how I went about finding her as a character. I’ll answer your questions, too: email them ahead of time using the link below, or ask them live at the event! I can’t wait to see you there!
Hay Festival Winter Weekend
Spies, Lies and Illusion
25 November, 4pm
Hay-on-Wye, Wales
I’ll be talking with Kim Sherwood to journalist Oliver Bullough about the enduring appeal of spy fiction and why we still love it so much — but also how we’re bringing it up to date in our novels! Kim and Oliver are going to be brilliant company and I can’t wait for this one. Tickets are available now — I’m Event 22!
Book tickets
28 July 2024
Camp Bestival
Lulworth, Dorset
Talking Spies with Jack Jewers, Greg Mosse, and Tim Glister from 2-3pm in a tent somewhere. Come find us!
Tickets
20 July 2024
Theakston’s Harrogate Crime Festival
Harrogate, Yorkshire
Let’s dive into the world of spies with me, Mick Herron, Kim Sherwood, Terry Hayes and Charlotte Philby at the best crime fiction festival in the world.
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Chester Literature Festival
How To Write Your First Novel
23 November 2022, 7:30pm
The Garret Theatre, Chester
I’ll be on a panel with Bea Setton, author of the book Berlin, and Claire Alexander, author of Meredith Alone, discussing how you write that first novel! Everything from Chapter One to The End. Bring your questions and ideas!
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Aye Write Festival
Event: Spies At Home And Abroad
27 May 2023, 2:30pm
Glasgow Royal Concert Hall, Glasgow
Come see me and BBC Radio 4 presenter James Naughtie in conversation at the Aye Write festival in Glasgow, talking all things SPY at this fantastic festival in Scotland. Expect secrets and lies. Tickets for this will likely sell fast – so get in quickly!
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Chiswick Literary Festival
Writing Suspense: Keep the Pages Turning
10 September, 1:20 pm
Chiswick, London
How do authors build suspense and keep the pace moving in novels like The Chase and The Traitor? I’ll be chatting to the wonderful Victoria Selman, the Sunday Times bestselling author of Truly Darkly Deeply, about how we try to ratchet up suspense and keep our readers hooked.
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Cheltenham Literary Festival
The Life of
a Spy
10 October
Cheltenham, Gloucestershire
What does it take to be a spy? From James Bond to George Smiley to Emma Makepeace, we are all fascinated by the world of espionage. I’ll be joining psychologists and authors Adrian Furnham and John Taylor, who wrote a fascinating book called The Psychology of Spies, to explore the minds of secret agents – both real and imagined. This will be moderated by Clare Clark and I think it’s going to be fascinating!
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Farnham Literary Festival
Writing Spies in the Shadow of Bond
2 March
7:30pm Farnham Town Hall
From the very beginning of fiction, writers have plundered the world of spies, but for decades one spy dominated them all. Now though, espionage fiction is changing. Spies aren’t superheroes deploying magical gadgets. They’re flawed humans, doing a difficult but necessary job the hard way. The four bestselling authors on this panel have written spies operating in every kind of setting – from the historical to a future dystopia. Join them to talk about the enduring lure of spy fiction – past, present and future.
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3 August 2024
Bute Noir
Isle of Bute, Scotland
At the coolest literary festival in the Scottish islands, come join us as I join other writers to talk about where to set your novel.