For novelist Victoria Hislop "courage" lies in the lives of every day people, whose stories act as the source of inspiration in her novels. Her stories either set in the island of Crete or in Granada are all connected by the common thread of courage, as exemplified by her heroes. In this talk Hislop unfolds the inspirational stories of courage behind her novels.

Victoria Hislop read English at Oxford, and worked in publishing, PR and as a journalist on several national newspapers and magazines before becoming a novelist. Her first novel, The Island, held the Number One slot in the Sunday Times paperback chart for eight consecutive weeks and has sold over two million copies worldwide. Victoria was the Newcomer of the Year at the Galaxy British Book Awards 2007, and her second novel, The Return, was also a Number One bestseller. The Thread, which was published in the autumn of 2011, spent nine weeks in the Sunday Times hardback chart, and was widely acclaimed. It was Number One in Kathimerini and Vima when it was published in Greek last December. Her books have been translated into more than 25 languages. Victoria also writes short stories and her first collection, One Cretan Evening, is available as an ebook. She is married with two children.



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