West Midlands Group: In conversation with Nigel Oakley

Join the West Midlands Group on Friday 27 February from 1pm at the next online group meet-up in conversation with Nigel Oakley. Topic: “Is Reading Work? Researching the Anglo-Saxons for my Third Novel”

Nigel says: “The danger with bringing my heroes back to England for the third (and final) part of my historical trilogy, is that there’s more history to research. In book 2, knowing there was so little information (at least in the English language), coming across a gap in the literature was not too much of a problem. For book 3, the gaps are fewer and further between, so I have to be a bit more careful about how I fill them – of course a lot of my characters are made up, but Elgiva/Emma isn’t. So, how to do the research, how to know when to stop, and how to deal with those wonderful – and wonderfully annoying gaps? Speaking as someone who used to be an academic, it is not the same as doing a PhD thesis!”

About Nigel Oakley: Nigel was originally a Shropshire lad, being born and raised in Shrewsbury. His teaching career took him from the south-west of England to Teesside via Botswana, Africa. He has also served as World Development Officer for the Diocese of Durham for five years.

2025 was the year of two novels: ‘Warrior Princess, Errant Page’ came out in March, followed by ‘Podevin and the Queen’s Death’ in December.

Now settled in Lichfield, he spends his time writing short stories, and other pieces – as well as drafting the third part of the trilogy about Podevin and Emma, provisionally titled ‘Podevin and Elgiva’s Return,’ and scheduled to come out in Easter 2027.

Don’t worry if you haven’t been to a meet-up before – all members welcome!

To attend the meeting, click the Going button below and fill out the RSVP form. If you do not receive a confirmation email, or have trouble signing up, please contact localgroups@societyofauthors.org.