Dianne Ascroft

I am a Canadian who has lived in Northern Ireland for more than half my life. I studied history at the University of Windsor, Canada, and I worked as a bookseller at The Bookshop at Queen’s, Belfast, for nearly a decade.

When my husband and I moved to County Fermanagh two decades ago, I discovered the county’s unique and rich Second World War history, and it inspired me to write The Yankee Years novellas. I also write the Century Cottage Cozy Mysteries, set in Canada during the 1980s. A decade hence they may be considered historical crime fiction.

I co-founded the HNS Irish chapter in 2011 and I am their unofficial organiser. The chapter is an informal, island-wide group, comprised of members from Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland, who meet quarterly in Dublin.

Ben Bergonzi

I’ve worked in various positions relating to history, as a museum curator and a manager of historical document digitization. I’m now a full time writer and reviewer, and one of the team of reviews editors for Historical Novels Review, liaising with thirteen large and small publishers.

I have published a non-fiction book on a specialist area of antiques and collecting. My first published novel, A Cruel Corpse, set in the 18th century, has been released by Holand Press.

Katherine Mezzacappa

I'm from Carrickfergus but have been living in Italy for the last twenty years. I am the author of The Maiden of Florence (Fairlight, 2024) and The Ballad of Mary Kearney (Histria, 2025). Writing as Katie Hutton, I am also the author of The Maid of Lindal Hall (2023), Annie of Ainsworth's Mill (2022), The Gypsy's Daughter (2021) and The Gypsy Bride (2020), all with Zaffre. I regularly review for the HNS and was on the organising committee of the Durham Conference in 2022 and Dartington in 2024.

I'm a committee member of the Irish Writers Union and also work as a manuscript assessor for TLC (London) and for the Romantic Novelists Association. I am represented by Annette Green Authors’ Agency.

Aidan K. Morrissey

I’m a lawyer by profession and have worked in many countries, lived in Italy, Germany, Brazil, the United States and India, and picked up several languages along the way. My enduring passion is for all things Ancient Egyptian. My first novel, The Awakening Aten, 12 years in research and another 3 in the writing, was published in 2019. I’m writing the next in the series alongside an Anglo-Saxon novel about a mysterious body found near my home in Northumberland.

My second published novel, The Atenisti, was in contrast, a present day, fast-paced, action-filled international noir/thriller set against the background of true newspaper stories.

I’m enthusiastic about encouraging others to write creatively, effectively and passionately. I run a fiction writer’s group based at the National Centre for the Written Word, in South Shields, UK, which now has around 200 members. I am a UK Editor for the Historical Novels Review, and I judge several international short story competitions.

Rebekah Simmers

I am the author of the Metzlingen Saga, which includes my first novel The King's Sword. In addition to being a military spouse and parent of five children, I am a member of the HNS Author Interview Team. For this UK Conference, I'm excited to work again on the First Chapters Competition, which I'm coordinating with Tracey Warr.

Currently residing in Italy, I'm working on my next writing projects, enjoying research of all kinds, and exploring with my family.

Margaret Skea

I'm primarily an historical fiction author, with five historical novels to my credit, as well as a commissioned contemporary biography and a collection of short stories. I have been fortunate enough to win and be placed in competitions with both my novels and short stories - credits include the Beryl Bainbridge Award for best first novel; 2nd in the Historical Novel Society New Novel Award; Neil Gunn Prose and overall winner; Mslexia, Rubery, Fish and Winchester Prize.

I currently straddle the divide between traditional and indie publishing, with experience in both. Much of my writing focuses on living within conflict and my aim is to provide stories that entertain, excite, challenge and move the reader, while giving them an authentic ‘you are there’ experience.

Maybelle Wallis

I was born in Brussels but grew up in England, where I became a doctor and worked in the NHS before relocating in 2017 to Wexford, Ireland.

Despite constant progress, medicine is steeped in tradition. ‘Barts’, the medical school where I trained, was founded by Rahere in 1123, under Henry I. As a paediatrician I was often based in former workhouse buildings. The history of medicine inspired three novels set in the 19th century.

My debut, Heart of Cruelty, explored passion, deception, and corruption in the Dickensian setting of 1840s Birmingham. Its sequel, The Piano Player, combined medicine and murder in cholera-stricken Dublin during the Great Famine. Daughter of Strangers brought my characters to 1850s Manhattan, searching for refuge or revenge.

I'm now writing a trilogy about Speranza, Lady Wilde.

Tracey Warr

I was born in London and live in a tiny medieval house next to a river in southern France, where I am surrounded by spectacular castles and fascinating stories about their medieval occupants. I draw on archeological sites, old maps, chronicles, poems and museum objects to create fictional worlds for my readers to step into. I have published six historical novels. Before becoming a full-time writer, I worked as a contemporary art curator and art history academic.

My Wales-based novels, Daughter of the Last King, The Drowned Court, and The Anarchy, tell the story of Nest ferch Rhys during the Norman conquest of Wales. My France-based novels have focused on the house of La Marche in The Viking Hostage (10th century) and Almodis the Peaceweaver (11th century). My latest novel, Love’s Knife, is the first in the Trobairitz Sleuth series featuring a female troubadour and another woman descended from the La Marches – Philippa of Toulouse, who married Duke Guillaume IX of Aquitaine, the troubadour duke. I am currently working on book 2 in the Trobairitz Sleuth series.