Celebrating the world of words

Battle of the Genres

Join us for the Battle of the Genres! Where four authors go head to head to defend their writing genre. This year, we're bringing together fantasy, gothic horror, contemporary and golden age crime.

Laura Purcell is a writer of gothic horror and historical fiction living in Colchester. Her novels have won various awards including the WH Smith Thumping Good Read (2018), Fingerprint Historical Crime Book of the Year (2022) and the Dracula Society's Children of the Night Award (2023). They have also been selected for Radio 2 and Zoe Ball's ITV book clubs. Laura's short stories have been published in a number of best-selling collections. She worked as lead writer on Roanoke Falls, a Realm horror podcast executive produced by John Carpenter and Sandy King Carpenter.

Born in Bradford to Windrush generation parents, Marcia Hutchinson was the first from her family to go to university and first from her comprehensive school to attend Oxford University. After studying law she became a solicitor and then set up educational publishers’ Primary Colours whose aim was decolonising the curriculum. She was awarded an MBE for services to cultural diversity in 2011. Her debut solo novel The Mercy Step, inspired by her childhood in 1960’s Bradford, was published in July 2025. It was included in The Observer’s list of best debut novels of 2025, Longlisted for the Women’s Prize for Fiction and Shortlisted for the Bookseller Discover Award. Together with Kate Griffin she also writes historical fiction under the pen name of Lila Cain, whose debut novel The Blackbirds of Saint Giles was published in January 2025. Its sequel The Nightingale of Covent Garden will be published in January 2027. When not writing Marcia has developed a cult following for her Zumba classes at gyms across Manchester. Her students have even set up their own book club with The Mercy Step as their first ever read.

M. A. Kuzniar is the bestselling author of Midnight in Everwood and Upon a Frosted Star. She writes children's fiction under Maria Kuzniar. She lives in Nottingham, where she spends her time reading, writing, playing board games, and dreaming of magic. She is always planning her next adventure.

Tom Mead is a Derbyshire mystery writer and aficionado of Golden Age Crime Fiction. His novels include DEATH AND THE CONJUROR, THE MURDER WHEEL, CABARET MACABRE and THE HOUSE AT DEVIL’S NECK, and he also recently published a collection of mystery stories, THE INDIAN ROPE TRICK (AND OTHER VIOLENT ENTERTAINMENTS). His books have been translated into fourteen languages (and counting), nominated for various awards and named books of the year by The Guardian, The Telegraph, Publishers Weekly and Crimereads.