This conversation will never happen again. Margaret Atwood and Elif Shafak have never sat across from each other, live on stage, and discussed their collective body of exceptional work.

Neither author requires an introduction, but for the record: Margaret Atwood is the Booker Prize-winning author of The Handmaid’s Tale, The Testaments, Oryx and Crake, Alias Grace, and dozens more works that have defined and defied the boundaries of literature for over half a century.

Elif Shafak is the acclaimed author of The Bastard of Istanbul, The Forty Rules of Love, 10 Minutes 38 Seconds in This Strange World, and The Island of Missing Trees. She is a fearless writer and public thinker who has even faced trial in Turkey for the words of her fictional characters.

This will be an unscripted exchange between two of the most vital literary voices of our time. Together, they have written across continents, invented new forms of fiction, and spoken boldly on the world’s most urgent issues: authoritarianism, gender, freedom, silence, climate, and the power of the story.

Our evening will begin with a panel including some of the finest authors in Britain today. We will discuss the phenomenal worlds they have created and the female characters that glue us to the page.

Panellists:

Bolu Babalola writes stories of dynamic women with distinct voices who love and are loved audaciously. Her short story collection, Love In Colour, was published in 2020, became a Times bestseller and was shortlisted for Waterstones Book of the Year. Her debut novel, Honey and Spice, was published in July 2022, was a Reese Witherspoon Book Club pick and won the inaugural TikTok Award for Book of the Year. The sequel, Sweet Heat, is publishing in Summer 2025.

Lucy Foley is a No.1 Sunday Times, New York Times and Irish Times bestselling author. Her novels, including contemporary murder mystery thrillers, The Hunting Party, The Guest List and The Paris Apartment have sold over 5 million copies worldwide. The Guest List was a Waterstones Thriller of the Month, a Reese’s Book Club pick, one of The Times and Sunday Times Crime Books of the Year, and it won the Goodreads Choice Award for best mystery/thriller. It was announced in March 2025 that Lucy will be penning the first-ever new Miss Marple mystery, due to be published by HarperCollins in autumn 2026.

Emilia Hart’s first novel, Weyward, was an instant New York Times bestseller, the winner of two Goodreads Choice Awards, and has sold over 700,000 copies worldwide. Her latest novel, The Sirens, was an instant Sunday Times bestseller, an instant New York Times bestseller and a Good Morning America book club pick. Emilia lives in London with her partner, a black cat called Luna and far too many books.