From Martin Clunes and Simon Armitage to Richard Ayoade to Sarah Raven – giving talks in venues including The Amelia Scott, the Assembly Hall Theatre and Trinity Theatre.
Following on from a wonderful evening last year interviewing Rosie Hewlett, author of Medea, Partner Victoria Sampson is to host another event, where she will be talking to Nikki May, author of This Motherless Land.
While Medea and This Motherless Land are quite different, they are both, in part, retellings of existing novels, with This Motherless Land drawing on some of the storylines in Jane Austen’s Mansfield Park. In both Austen and May’s books, we read about cousins brought up very differently and then thrown together.
This Motherless Land follows the lives of two cousins – Funke who has been born and raised in Nigeria and Liv, who has what appears to be enjoying a privileged upbringing in Somerset. Tragedy brings the cousins together and the story then moves between Somerset and Lagos over the course of two decades.
This Motherless Land is an examination of identity, culture, race, and love that asks how we find belonging and whether a family’s generational wrongs can be righted. In fact, many of the themes of Mansfield Park.
“I am so looking forward to interviewing Nikki about her wonderful novel,” says Victoria. “I felt swept up in the lives of Funke and Liv as they grew from children to adults, navigating what life throws at them over that time.”
Nikki May was born in Bristol and raised in Lagos. She ran a successful ad agency before turning to writing and now lives in Dorset with her husband, two standard schnauzers, and ‘way too many books’. Nikki’s first novel, Wahala, was inspired by a ‘long (and loud)’ lunch with friends and was the recipient of the ‘Comedy Women in Print – New Voice Award’. This Motherless Land is her second novel.
Victoria is interviewing Nikki May on Saturday 10 May at 4.30pm at The Council Chamber in The Town Hall. You can order a ticket here: https://twlitfest.co.uk/event/nikki-may-this-motherless-land/
